SEO and Source Code

Source: Wikimedia

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), there are a good number of tools that can help you. 

However, it is the human intelligence, and the good skills of an analyst, which can really help you to promote your small business websites. 

SEO tools can only help you to a certain extent, and eventually, you would have to rely upon the source code of the website to derive exceptional results. 

The source code can provide incredible insights into the functioning of the site, and it allows you to solve SEO problems quickly. 

On the other hand, a small error can damage the website's reputation significantly. Here are a few things you can do to improve your SEO with source code modifications.

Canonical URL tags

Canonical URL tags are helpful when it comes to dealing with duplicate content issues. They are used to bind the links that contain the same content. It is a very good tool when it comes to SEO. 

However, if a Canonical URL tag is not used correctly it can confuse the search engine bots and the result can be disastrous. 

It is best to not use the canonical tag as much as possible and when you do, make sure you are doing it right. If you are not quite sure how the canonical tag may work, it is best to refrain from using it.

Meta robots

Like canonical URL tags, meta robots tags can cause a lot of SEO problems if they are not used correctly. 

The meta robots tags are generally used whenever you do not want the search engines to follow any links on a particular page or you don’t want them to index the page itself. 

Here too, using meta robots tag is not recommended unless it is absolutely necessary. For example, if you are creating a private portal for your business, you would not want it to show up on the search engines.  In this situation, a meta robots tag can come in handy. Otherwise, there is not much need to use these tags.

Script code

A good number of small business websites today use JavaScript. There are two methods you can use to implement JavaScript on your web pages, you can either embed the script on the page itself or you can create a separate file for the script and then call it on the page. 

Using a separate file is the ideal option as excessive script on the web page can slow down the pages and lead to errors. The first thing to do when it comes to SEO is to consolidate all the scripts on your page into separate files. While doing this, you can also check for unnecessary scripts and filter them out to quickly load your web pages

These are just a few different ways in which, your source code can sabotage your SEO efforts. While SEO tools can give you an external outlook at your site's performance, the source code could point you at internal errors that affect your site's performance. It is always a good practice to have a professional SEO analyst look at the source code of your small business websites, to eradicate any SEO issues.

Leverage Facebook's Graph Search in Your Small Business Social Marketing Efforts

Source: Flickr

Analysts have been making a lot of predictions lately about how social media and SEO would join hands in 2013. One of the factors that has been driving this change is Google's search engine strength and it’s ever growing presence on the world wide web. 

Social media platforms are currently under a lot of pressure to come up with some form of SEO integration in order to stay relevant.

Facebook's announcement of Graph Search – a comprehensive search tool - is just an example of how social media is evolving to make room for SEO. With developments quickly changing the SEO landscape, it is even more important for small businesses to understand how Graph Search can change the way social media is looked at and how to use it effectively in their online marketing efforts.

Search redefined – Graph Search

The graph search works by providing search suggestions that include groups, places, pages, apps and also people. 

Internet Marketing Essentials for Local Businesses

How do you market a local business online?
Source: Flickr

The internet is the most popular means through which consumers find out about local businesses. Including it in your overall marketing plan can help you get easy exposure to a large audience at a low cost. 

But then, you will also need to take care to reach out to your local audience. As a local business, a broader exposure might not help you with your sales.

Why local internet marketing?

Consumers prefer local businesses for products and services. Dealing with local businesses greatly reduces their costs such as shipping, and logistics. But consumers often find it hard to locate local businesses. As a result, they rely on search engines to help them out.

In order to find more clients/customers for your local business, you must make sure that the search engines known where you are located. Optimizing your site for such search queries is the ideal method to get yourself noticed. 

Other than this, a local internet marketing strategy can also help you gain a competitive edge for search results. It is quite difficult to rank higher for generic keywords but at the same time, ranking higher with a geolocator might not be as difficult simply because there are a less number of service providers that concentrate on specific locations.

Here's a thing or two that you can do to get started with local internet marketing.