Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Thanks Yannick,

Quick question, I have dropped both snippets into the htaccess file. When I view my url in internet explorer it still has the trailing slash. All instances of the www. have been removed however. Is this just something IE does leaving the trailing slash even if it is in fact being redirected?

Is there a tool or a way to check to make sure the action has been completed correctly?

Thanks again for the help, this technical stuff is NOT my background.

One thing I like to do to find fresh content to write about is the following.

Set some google alerts for topics in your own industry as well as vertical industries. When you get the alerts you will be able to sift through them and find new stories, products, happening etc.

This can give you things to talk about as well as gives you more insight into what is going on in your industry. There have been many times where I have also discovered other things I should be doing in my business this way.

I am cleaning up a fairly large site.

Some pages have a trailing slash on the end some don't. Some of the existing backlinks built used a trailing slash in the url and some didn't.

We aren't concerned with picking a particular one but just want to get one set and stick to it from now on.

I am wondering, would I clean this up within the same redirect in the htaccess file that takes care of the www and non www?

example

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.domain.com/ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://domain.com$1 [L,R=301]

I currently use that to redirect the www. to the non www as you can see. However here is what I was confused about.

Would this code be enough to redirect ALL pages with a / to the ones without?

or would I also need to add another code (so there is 2) to my htaccess like below?

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^domain.com/ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://domain.com$1 [L,R=301]

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.domain.com/ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://domain.com$1 [L,R=301]

That way, now, even the non www pages with a trailing slash will redirect to the non www without the trailing slash.

Hopefully you understand what I am getting at. I just want to redirect EVERYTHING to the non www WITHOUT a /

Thank you

Jake

Awesome suggestion James thank you!

I was wondering if I can get a couple recommendations for good info graphic designers. The person I previously used is no longer available.

Also, how do you guys go about outsourcing the actual information procurement that will go into the info graphic? I am doing everything in house but am now expanding to where I was wondering if it was possible to outsource the actual info gathering and process flow in addition to the creation/design of it.

Any thoughts and info would be appreciated. Thank you

I hear a lot of conflicting opinions regarding when to use pages over posts.

If you were using wordpress mainly as a static site and less of a blog would you use pages over posts?

Let's say it is a yacht review site. Would you set up most of the content (boat review pages) as pages or posts?

I hear some say in that case you would want to use mostly pages and use posts for news related items.

Then there are others that suggest only making the few (contact, about, privacy, terms) as pages and everything else created as posts organized into categories.

Any thoughts?

Also, is there a tool to find out if a website that is not yours is using a page or a post?

Thanks

Mik,

I agree with everything you said. My plan is to move it to a subfolder and redirect everything. I appreciate the example of the long tail traffic example.

Someone told the owner of the site to put it on a subdomain for seo and there are very few instances where I could see that as being the way to go.

I am wondering what my fellow mozers think. Pretty set about my direction but want to get any other input to aid in my decision.

Have an ecom site with a www.blog.maindomain.com. The blog is fairly new and no major rankings. There are only about 30 posts.

This isn't a super competitive market and the blogging won't be a huge part of our content strategy but I would like to use it for passing juice etc.

Would you go through the trouble to move the blog to www.site.com/blog and redirecting all the old content to new?

I am running a large ecommerce fitness equipment store. It is on magento and there are lots of little issues with the site. Things like url strucutre, not enough text for google to read as far as menus and too many images etc.

I am wanting to work with a company that totally understands what I need done to the site to fix it and make sure its in its absolute best shape for seo. I need a real consultant that can help me make changes to my site. I cannot seem to find someone when outsourcing to overseas like india and stuff.

Does anyone know of anyone or a company I can contact? If you know of multiple please list. Thank you very much

Jake

I have a wordpress site that is about a product that is now getting some great traffic. Right now It has affiliate stuff on it. I want to sell my own product so I will be turning this wordpress site into an ecommerce site.

I want to redesign it so I am not looking for simple plugins to just add a cart.

The part I am really confused about is what to do with my posts and categories? How does that work when turning this site into an ecommerce site?

Lets say the site is "hats for adults" My post pages are things like "funny hats for adults", "hats for adult men" etc etc. Would I turn these posts pages into like category pages that have a category of products.

Or should I create real categories and have my developer turn those into the ecommerce category pages and then redirect my posts to those categories?

Maybe I don't even know what I am talking about. Is this even making sense? This is a small site (5posts and 1 category) and most of the traffic will come from the homepage keywords anyways.

I am starting to work on an ecommerce site that I am part owner of. My partner who is the other owner started the site a while back and because he has no internet marketing experience the site didn't come out very well.

I am currently overhauling the site and here is a list of things first on my list so I can at least get started on some seo and even ppc.

I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at our store and see if you think I am missing anything or you could suggest anything else that really should be done immediately or something that is wrong.

The site is www.clubfitnesswarehouse.com

1. Update magento to newest version
2. Fix url structure to be SEO friendly for homepage, category pages, product pages etc. For an example of a site that has great seo friendly urls please refer to examples on http://www.bigfitness.com/ site. For example these pages. http://www.bigfitness.com/treadmillstore.html , http://www.bigfitness.com/bosplincy.html ,
3. Remove top navigation menu and instead create left sidebar navigation menu created to navigate site and products. For example of these types of sidebars please refer to sidebar on http://www.bigfitness.com/ or http://www.americanfitness.net/ We will NOT be using same structure as what is in top navigation currently. Categories and keywords of categories will be changed and some will stay the same structure as is currently in navigation
4. For header we would like to feature our shipping policy, returns, privacy policy, no sales tax etc. For example I have seen that I like refer to http://www.spiderofficechairs.com/ Obviously we do not want to copy but something similar for our own site.
5. All images on homepage must be changed to include clickable txt so google can read text not just pictures.
6. We would also like product pages modified to make more user friendly and conversion increased. Add to cart button needs to be changed, text needs to be brighter instead of dull grey color. Add to cart button must also be moved ABOVE THE FOLD!
7. Also on product pages we would like to add sections in addition to Product Description, of Specs, and About section for each product page. We also need the ability to change this information as needed when we need to.

Michael,

Thank you for the answer and suggestions. I was wondering if you could please clarify one thing.

What metric led you to suggest that Aviva is a good one to pay and submit to? Is it mostly based on the moz rank of the page? I am assuming you did but was there anything else? If not what is the number you look for in the mozrank for the page? is it above a certain number as a generality?

Thanks!

Good point and that's kinda what I'm trying to figure out. I know about those directories and those are DEF without question good ones to belong to as well as DMOZ.

But as part of an overall strategy that's what I am wondering if anyone is still incorporating this? You say that you are concerned with two things one of them being passing pr. Well in my first link example you would be listed on a pr4 page. So in that case would you consider that link or do you ONLY consider the 5 or 6 bigger directories we know about.

Thanks!

I was wondering if there was still effectiveness in the finding of directories via: plastic surgery "submit site". Below is an example of the directories I found that offer paid listings into their directory.

How do you measure what a good price is versus too expensive? How do you evaluate which directories are worth it? Alexa rank, pr and inbound links? If so what are the metrics you use? Obviously we are purely looking from a rankings/seo perspective because nobody actually uses these directories right?

Avia directory pr5 - the featured page your link would be on is pr 4. http://www.avivadirectory.com/Health/Cosmetic-Surgery/
A permanent link is $149 and a annual link is $49

Findelio pr 4 - however page where my liink would be is pr0 http://www.findelio.com/5981/Cosmetic_and_Plastic_Surgery/
One time fee is $39. So although this is much cheaper but the pr is none. So in this instance do you not buy the submission?

I do notice some of my competition in some of these directories. Should that be my indicator?
I thought that maybe these companies bought into these directories a long time ago and wouldn't still do so today. Is there more effective uses of my $50, $100 or $150 or whatever?

Interested to see what peoples thoughts are on this type of linkbuilding in todays world. Or if that even matters and this will always be beneficial? Thanks!

I have a couple of old wordpress sites that are old affiliate blogs. I currently sell products that are on amazon on these sites and sell quite a bit of volume. I have found a source and can afford the inventory to replace Amazon with my own product. So the dilema is how to turn these wordpress sites into ecommerce sites.

The thing I am worried most about is that each site gets about 100-200 visitors a day for great buying keywords. I obviously don't want to lose my rankings.

What are the options of turning a wordpress site into a store. I am not interested in plugins or some of the other solutions that make the store look very cheap and I would assume horribly convert.

If you have inner pages ranking for keywords how does that work? Do the post pages become product pages?

So to sum up I guess I am asking, what are the options that are of the higher quality that will also help me keep my rankings?

Thanks

I would think they do use ctr in their Algo. It would make sense and is an important factor in ppc. If someone searches for something and everyone is clicking the third listing and assuming bounce and re search rate isn't high that would make sense don't you think?

Awesome Ryan! Thank you. This kind of stuff is the part I am SO lost about. I bet I would increase my rankings 500% if I could figure out the technical stuff!

Ok just quick clarification.

So there is no "better" version between http:// and http://www.? That is what I thought but on this guide it says that http://www. is best? http://static.seomoz.org/user_files/SEO_Web_Developer_Cheat_Sheet.pdf
I guess to be safe I could do that but I wonder if it really matters?

Also do you see on there that he says its important to leave trailing / on folders.

I do know how to access my htaccess file is there a simple code I put somewhere in there? I am going to go with http://

Thanks for the awesome help!

Jake

I would like to 301 redirect all the variations of my site to a single url but would like some clarification on some issues. I have always been confused about how to handle cannonicalization and hopefully this can clear it up for me and others.

This particular site is about 1 year old and gets approximately 15k uniques a month in a great niche. I want to make sure I do this correctly as to not hurt my existing rankings which are quite good. Here is is what I am unsure about.

1. Basically I should pick the best url structure to redirect all the others to correct? What determines what url is best to redirect all the rest to? is it www.domain.com, http://domain.com or http://www.domain.com?
2. Is the best one to redirect to always standard and something I should set up at the beginning of my site? Or is picking the best url to redirect to based on what url starts to rank in google and you then use that one?
3. Should I be going through each of my rankings and seeing what url is ranking in google for each page? On this particular site ALL of my urls in google  have no www. or http but instead show up in the SE as domain.com or domain.com/inner-page/html. In that case what do I do?
4. I know the slow way to do redirects. I use my hostgator account and do it in cpanel and do it one by one. Is there a faster way where I can go and make lots of changes at once? Maybe I can choose all the variations and put in the one I want them all to redirect to?
5. After I figure the above out is fixing all of this as simple as redirecting ALL variations to the one I will use moving forward for each page on my site? Then I am done?

Thanks again for the help!

Jake

The more I read the more I become confused lol. I am now considering going with a hosted solution as well as a licensed solution so I can learn for myself which is better.

For my clients sites they will probably need a solution such as Magento as they can hire a team etc.

I however only operate stores that cary 5 to 50 products. I am thinking going with a hosted solution like big commerce or 3dcart will allow me to get it set up worry free and concentrate on my marketing. They seem to tell me absolutely everything can be customized if I hire someone and let them work on the code. Is this not correct?

Any thoughts?

Also, I think that would be a great blog post! There is a real lack of clarification on what peoples options are and what they should be doing based on their situation.

LuxWork,

Thank you as you clarified a LOT for me. I have been considering going with a hosted shopping cart solution for one of my new sites and now it appears that is not a good idea. If you wouldn't mind clarifying a few more things in line with what you said.

1. One thing the hosted solutions lean on is all the added services such as social media integration, amazon/ebay integration etc etc. So if I were to go with a self hosted solution I will have to have a developer create these things for me when he modifies or creates my site?
2. If my stores are generally small 50 products or less and one that is 150 products this still all applies correct?
3. Do you have any suggestions for which shopping cart solution would be best for this situation: I would like something that is fairly user friendly, something that makes seo easy to implement and. Maybe you could give me a list of the top 5 best choices and I can do some research on them.

Thank you

Ryan, thank you for your detailed and in depth answer. I now have more grasp on what is going on. Could you clarify a few things?

1. Will I always need a CMS with a shopping cart platform? So I will need to pick a CMS to go with whether I go with Zen, Magento, 3dCart, Volusion, BigCommerce, Xcart, etc? I am a little confused because don't some of those already come with CMS? Or am I TOTALLY lost here?
2. You said there are basically 2 types of shopping cart software. One where it stays on your site and the other where it is external? Which is an example of an external one? I do know that 3d cart for example if you dont get your own payment gateway you will be using their system versus your own correct? Is that what you mean?
3. You also said- "the cart should provide SEO control over it's pages. The cart should either provide friendly URLs and control over titles, meta descriptions, etc." I am a little confused here. Are you just talking about friendly urls inside the shopping cart or accross the entire site? Does the shopping cart control that or the cms system?

Thanks Ryan!

I have done a ton of research trying to figure this out but still need help and clarification. My strength is marketing and not the technical aspects of ecommerce cms etc. I am ignorant in this area and don't mind if you explain to me like a 5 year old. I am ready to take my marketing knowledge and creativity to ecommerce but this one aspect is stopping me. I really want to understand this and would be appreciative of the option to do a skype instant message session where I would pay you for your time to ask for clarification.

I will explain my situation so you can better understand where I am coming from and can recommend something appropriately.

My ecommerce stores run between my own and my clients range from motorcycle, supplement and fitness equipment stores. None of the stores are very large with the biggest one having about 150 products. Mainly I am looking for a mix between an economical solution combined with being easy to use and great for search engine visibility.

I have a lot of questions here and appreciate in advance anyone reading all of this and helping.

1. Am I correct in my understanding that I basically have 3 options when doing ecommerce. One is I can go to a company like 3d cart or volusion and they can provide the merchant account, ssl cert, the cart and free and paid templates ready to go? Two is getting free cart software such as Magento or OScommerce etc. The third option is paid cart software like zen cart or others. Is that my main options?
2. Let's say I was to use 3d cart. What kind of cart platform will I be using then? One they created? Or do they use a (free/paid) solution like I talked about in question 1?
3. Is the main advantage of using a company like 3dcart and volusion the fact that they integrate many things into one? With Magento would I need a developer to customize my theme to integrate all those things?
4. Are there some major disadvantages to using companies like 3d cart?
5. How does the process and advantages work when using a solution like Magento or OScommerce. So for example I decide to use the Magento free platform. Am I then able to hire a designer to create a site from scratch that will work with the Magento platform? Or I could also go to template monster and purchase a theme already made and have it customized by someone?
6. Also what about paid cart software like zen cart etc? Why would I use that over the others? Would I also then hire a designer to create a site that works with zen cart or purchase a template made then customize?
7. Are you able to create almost ANY structure and design for a site no matter what its cart platform is? For example, although I would make a few changes to this site I think it's very close to a great site from a design/conversion standpoint. http://www.spiderofficechairs.com/ . Lets say for example I was using any one of the options I have so far mentioned. Would I be able to just tell a designer/developer that I have magento,3dcart, zencart etc and tell him I would like that type of layout for example?
8. How would I know how certain cart platforms are coded? Does that even make sense? For example I have created and ranked many sites and tested quite a bit also. I have always noticed that very clean basic static html sites have almost always ranked better and faster for me. Do these platforms come built a certain way such as html or (I don't even know what the names of other options are). Or does it not come as anything and when I have the site built I determine how I want it built?

Also if you have any suggested reading for me I would be appreciative. Thank you for the help.

Jake

Thanks so much Joe. This is awesome. This level of help is incredible. This is the main reason I am staying with SEOmoz. Hope to see you around more. Thank you!

Hmmm, I think all this confused me even more.

Maybe I should give a real life example. Lets say I have only ONE product page and url for the body solid g9s.

Let's say the url is www.site.com/home-gym-equipment/body-solid-g9s.html

There could also be a url that is www.site.com/body-solid/body-solid-g9s.html

Basically you are saying that it is ok to have that product page show up for both categories in my sites category product page. However, I should make sure that I choose only one of those paths to actually serve up as a product page? Also I would assume it makes more sense to serve up this page www.site.com/body-solid/body-solid-g9s.html no matter what path the use to get there as it would make more sense?

Am I understanding this? Thank you

Jake

I am currently building the site architecture for a very large ecommerce site. I am wondering how I should build it out if I have products that I want to include in multiple categories within my site.

For example: Lets say I sell fitness equipment and I have categories for things such as: Treadmill, Exercise Bike, Stair Stepper, Weight Benches etc.

But then I also have specific brand category pages such a: Precor, Life Fitness, Hammer, Body Solid

So my question is how do I structure this so I am building this correctly? If I sell a Precor Treadmill I will want to include that product under the "Treadmill" category page as well as under the "Precor Equipment" category page.

Can I get some advice for the best way to structure this? It's obviously something I want to avoid at all costs of doing improperly and having to fix later.

Thank you

Jake