Archive of published articles on February, 2009

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Analytics now tracking Iphones

27/02/2009

As reported by the ofGoogle Analytics traking iphone users nowficial Google Analytics Blogs, it is now possible to find out how many users are using an Iphone to browse your pages. Rather than a revolution it’s just another natural step towards the complete segment management feature of Analytics.

If you’re getting curious about this, take a look to this page, the guys at Google analytics know pretty well how to explain the segment feature. It’s kind of tricky at first, you just need to get used to it and it’s perfect.

Anyway, it could be cool to be able to get stats not only from Iphone users but also from all top-class mobile users. If you are into this, this guy who looks pretty much into analytics just came out with a regular expression which discriminates browsers for screen resolutions, hence finding out who’s got an tiny mobile browser.

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How to use Google Analytics in WordPress

26/02/2009

Wordpress add-ons for Google AnalyticsI always loved WordPress for it’s ease to use, user friendly interface, ever growing library of add-ons. All these qualities have contributed through the years in making WordPress the latest CMS revolution for the masses, allowing anyone to set up his own little space on the net.

At first I used to copy and paste the analytics code into the footer. Kind of lame I must say. If you’re using a template with a auto-update feature be ready to copy and paste again your analytics code when the latest update comes out.

In order to avoid this are available two tools which might make life easier while working on Analytics and WordPress

Google Analytics for WordPress: it features Google Image tracking which means that traffic from Images would be considered as a proper source instead of just as a referrer. Quite of a bonus considering how much traffic might come from Image sometimes.

Google Analyticator: This one is good as well. The bonus comes with the chance to embed code directly into pages from wordpress front-end.

It’s not over yet… I’ll describe some nice trick to twek your analytics account and get even more data about your blog… stay tuned.

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Back to a XP laptop

21/02/2009
macbook pro broken monitor

This is what happens when your laptop crashes on the ground… from 10cm height.

Unfortunately it pulled down a cd which smashed on the screen…

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5 most common web development mistakes which affect SEO

20/02/2009
seo code mistakes at semwired.com

seo code mistakes at semwired.com

While working on different SEO projects, I noticed several common development mistakes which can seriously affected rankings on the SERPS. I’ll go through a quick list of coding mistakes, general code structure and scripts.

1. Title tag not the first one inside the head tag

Considering how the title tag is important in SEO I wonder why loads of developers still make this mistakes. The right order of tags should be <head> and right after that <title>. Recently I bumped into a website on developed on .net and IIS in which the very first tag in the <head> section was a <script> linked to a external Javascript. In this case search engine might overlook the title tak and focus on the java link which will end up for being 100% useless since does not have any meaning to them. Needless to say fixing the <head> tag will be one of the top priorities for this site seo strategy.

Moreover the majority of the SEO tools available (IBP and WebCEO) usually point this out in their optimization page scan: there’s no way to miss this one really.

2. Stop words
To be honest, I’m not advocating the complete purge of stop words. Just like any other average user I’m not really into weird nonsensical machine tipe of titles but sometimes avoiding them may reveal an helpful trick especially when it comes to gain more space to include keywords or relevant words into titles. Less stop words means more keyword sometimes.

3. Keyword at the end of tag title or not present
Title and other tags have to be generally optimized thinking of the keyword we want a peg to be ranked for. What’s the point of working on a title tag without a relevant keyword to be stick on it?

4. Full-length embedded Javascript
I know sometimes javascript has to be there but why not putting a link to an external file instead of copy the whole thing? It’s kind of obvious that search engine cannot process java, otherwise we would not need to download a java virtual machine… Moreover Javascripts increase page size and do not increase keyword values since it’s code and has not semantic value.

5. Images with weird / random names and random ALT tags
People usually underrates ALT tags and image filenames in Google. Since my main focus on SEO is using even the tiniest piece of code to embed references and relevant keywordsg (not excessing though), ALT tags provide a priceless chance to embed some more words. So why not filling it up with your favourite keyword? Well, too many underestimate the power of alt tags… Same applies to images filenames which help drive traffic from Google Images and Windows Live. Since I’m talking about development mistakes, I’m not expecting coders to be SEO-minded and fill ALT tags with relevant keywords. However it would be nice to have tags filled up.

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10 must-have SEO and SEM Firefox add-ons

19/02/2009
10 best seo extensions for firefox

10 best seo extensions for firefox

Starting from the very beginning with this blog, makes me think of the most useful tools to work on SEO and SEM online. Since I spend most of the time on a browser, tweaking Firefox might come handy. Explorer has got some toolbars, but nothing comparable to the more customizable firefox.

1. Ghostery – I”l pick this up from most useful real time analysis tool the analysis tools. Basically it scans the page looking for scripts (analytics, adsense, other ads) and displays a tiny box on the upper left corner. While using it, you automatically agree with online bug research. If you too smuggy to join this then you can rummage through the options and untick the bo.

2. Search Status – This addon actually changed the way I looked at the internet. Whatever website, I feel like the urge to check the Search Status box that shows page rank and alexa rank. My navigation habit has been seriously affected by it. Since I do quite some research on potential affiliates for campaign or just about the competition I can come across in my projects the “quality assessment” I mentally do on website as affected my habits as normal user as well.Anyway this tiny tool as way more to offer than this, check this page out.

3.SEOpen – Ok if search status was not enough for you, you might try this. Probably it’s the most complete SEO Firefox Extension. Need to check backlinks, page rank, reputation in real time? SEOpen makes everything easier and quick.

4. Total validationOne of the most underrated factors in search engine optimization is probably a W3C certification for your website. It guarantees a clean and tidy code and Google seems to love this.
Anyway, If you do not want to spent too much time on the online W3c check page, you might think about installing this addon. It checks everything you need without having to point your browser to the W3C website.
Plus, it makes sure you links are ok and also runs accesibility tests.

5. Niche Watch If you really into niche website focused on specific content and long tail keywords traffic, this might come more than handy. This extension allows to keep track of whatever happens on your niche, analyzing competitors and SERP.

6. SEO Hand It’s good to always be able to track keywords positioning into SERPs. This one makes it for you.

7. Keywords Generator Need to create keywords from scratch? This one generates a whole lotta keywords for you. Straight from Firefox.

8. SEOQuest Up to 30 useful seo tools in one tiny extension. Probably the best of the lot

9. XRay This one probably will suit better webmasters rather than SEOs. Anyway, it is always nice to know something about the sourceĀ  code while you are surfing.

10.FireNES – Ok now we went through the whole list but there’s still something you need to install on firefox. It’s not about SEO or SEM it’s more like going back in time and turn your old NES on. 200 NES games on firefox available at any time!

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