One of the best ways to make websites faster is to use gzip compression on your files. Many CMSs have options (or plugins) that allow automatic compression. But what if your site doesn’t use a fancy pants CMS? Then what, huh?
Actuall the solution is pretty simple. All you have to do…
Category Archives: HOWTO
The Power of GZIP
HOWTO:Use hCard Microformats for Local Search
With the explosion of mobile devices and geo-targeting in search, providing accurate contact and location information to search engines is critical. Some of the more obvious steps to take involve making sure that you are listed in local directories with the appropriate information, as well as registered with Google’s Local Business Center.
On your site, you…
Anatomy of a Basic SEO Audit
Nothing bothers me more than a bad presentation. To that end, I’ve been playing around with Prezi which is a very cool online app for building flash-based presentations. Here is my first try: Anatomy of a a Basic SEO Audit. It’s an overview of what I look for, the tools I use and the steps…
HOWTO: Create and Use a Robots.txt File
The robots.txt file is a mysterious little document for the uninitiated. The purpose of the robots.txt file is to provide a broad set of instructions for the search engine spiders when they arrive at your site. In general, the file is used to tell the spiders which parts of your site they should not be…
HOWTO: Generate an XML Sitemap
Generating an xml sitemap is an important, if basic, step in getting your site thoroughly crawled. If you use CMS, there are usually plugins available that will generate the sitemap for you. On this site, for example, which runs on WordPress, I use the Google XML Sitemaps plugin, which automatically updates the sitemap when I…