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Excerpt: To be honest, I'm not even sure this matters much anymore, but I thought I'd mention it.  Like the issue with parameter ordering (?a=1&b=2 vs. ?b=2&a=1) I mentioned here, a slash at the end of a URL can pose a similar ambiguity problem.  Fortunately, at least for non-rewritten pages, Apache takes care of this issue.  If the resource is a directory, it gets 301-redirected to the-url/, and vice versa. But when mod_rewrite is used, we're not dealing with a file-system, and nothing is done automatically.  Ideally, we'd perform the same thing manually in our scripts and 301-redirect a URL "missing"…

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Excerpt: Aaron Wall of Seo Book states here that many sites have no way to easily garner links naturally, despite providing a useful service or information.  He cites traditional examples of link bait, like the Flying Spaghetti Monster.  These are amazingly effective ways to get traffic and visibility.  The problem with this form of marketing, though, is that it's usually not suitable for a site that has to maintain a semblance of professionalism.  For example, publishing a spoof article about "Aliens Stealing Sperm from Heavy Viagra Users" may amuse the public, but it will probably only attract irrelevent traffic, not to…

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Excerpt: This is a question I'm currently researching. I have never looked into it before, because I haven't really used dynamic URLs for anything visible to a search engine recently; I always use mod_rewrite these days. The question goes as follows:When designing a dynamic URL and constructing it by hand (something I never do, but many do; using a function to make URLs will achieve a better level of consistency),  and number_of_parameters >= 2, you have n! choices for order.  Granted, for 2-3 parameters, that's only 2 or 6 permutations respectively, but are these the same?"?a=1&b=2""?b=2&a=1"It's actually an interesting question.  The…

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Excerpt: This neat little class can return the HTTP status code of a URL.  It uses cURL to do so.  Simply take the result of "parseResponseCode"  and see if it's a 200.  Depending on your requirements, 302 or 301 may also be a satisfactory answer, or you may want to update the record (at least in the case of a 301), or recurse.  If the answer is a 404, you know you've found trouble.  It's important to check for dead links, as too many of them can be detrimental to your site's ranking, not to mention it's annoying for the user….

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Excerpt: I was reading through the documentation for mod_rewrite, and I noticed that "G," the gone directive sends a status code of "410," which means "gone," and not "404," which means not found. Strictly speaking there's a slight difference in meaning.  I suppose "not found" implies it was never there, and "gone" implies it was deleted; but does anyone actually use it?  I don't think so.From mod_rewrite documentation (http://httpd.apache.org/docs/1.3/mod/mod_rewrite.html):[G] (force URL to be Gone) Forces the current URL to be gone. Send the HTTP response, 410 (GONE).Anyone care to comment? I know on my sites (http://www.lawyerseek.com/, http://www.camerarepair.com/ ….), I just send…

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Excerpt: Unfortunately, the concept of "index" pages (index.php, Default.asp, etc.), a feature since the beginning of time on the web, causes yet another duplicate content problem.  If no file name in a directory is provided to a webserver, the "index" page is typically provided by default, but without redirection. The problem arises when both URLs are linked, either internally or from other sites.  Bang - duplicate content.  Strictly speaking, neither URL is more correct, though shorter URLs are usually desirable, and hence "/" is favored over "/index.php." The word "index.php" really doesn't add any useful information anyway.This is a similar problem…

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Excerpt: Once upon a time, in a place far away, your web server is chugging along and everything is fine.  Then, all of a sudden, something terrible happens, and the database goes down. Since this is an unanticipated error condition (all of us could do better error checking …), many pages return erroneous blank pages or 404s. Or perhaps the webserver goes down altogether.  Worse still, you don't have a hot standby to replace it.  Meanwhile, Google is trying to index your pages, not finding anything, getting blank pages, pages with heaps of errors, or 404s. Let's go through the possibilities:Returning…

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Excerpt: This is a technique I've seen applied to bulletin boards, but never on eCommerce sites, and I'm not sure why. Really, I'm not sure. So you have an eCommerce site, let's call it something cliche like "DiscountWidgets.com." A user types the query "inexpensive macintosh compatible widget." He sees a SERP that's highlighted with relevant-looking text bolded in the excerpted copy, but he want to see more.  That's nice, but when he gets to the page, it's not bolded anymore, so he's lost. If he's not totally determined to find what he's looking for (and most users…