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How Important is PageRank in SEO?
“PageRank” is not the same as Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Rank. The latter refers to whether you show up as the first result in response to a specific Google query, or the fifth, or the twentieth, etc. The former, PageRank, is one of over 200 factors Google uses to rank pages. PageRank has many flaws, but in general is a complicated formula to determine a web page’s reputation based on the number and quality (as judged by PageRank) of pages linking to it. Matt Cutt’s post on PageRank Sculpting gives an overview of how PageRank works. How important is it to getting to the front page of Google? SEOmoz crunched some numbers and wrote an article...
Read MoreGreenGeeks vs HostGator
Selecting a web host is a challenging experience for a web designer, or anyone else making their own website. There are a great many web hosts out there, and it can be hard to tell the difference. The obvious differences–such as price–are typically small and don’t mean much in the long run. What does an extra dollar a month mean, if it results in faster load times? What do a few more megabytes more matter, if the server is frequently down? Unfortunately, the important questions are very difficult to tell without personal experience. I’ll share some of my thoughts here, comparing these two hosts: HostGator and GreenGeeks from the perspective of...
Read MoreHow Do I Tell if my Website is Fast Enough?
Measuring website speed is important for any web designer. Google uses website loading speed to rank webpages, although they state “fewer than 1% of search engine queries are affected.” Loading times matter. Even small differences in load times can cause users to leave your site, or to not spend as much time on your site enjoying your content as they might otherwise. A small difference for people with high-speed connections can be quite profound for people with slower connections. Figuring out how fast your website is is actually more difficult than you might expect! There are many wonderful tools out there; some give you a scorecard with suggestions of what...
Read MoreWhen to Use a WordPress Plugin and When Not To
WordPress Plugins are immensely useful. The fact that WordPress has so many plugins is one of the reasons I, as a web designer, favor WordPress for small business websites. However, it’s important to be aware that plugins come with their own share of problems. Let’s examine the advantages and disadvantages; sometimes it’s better to do without, or to actually hard-code a fix or find another approach instead of using a solution. Advantages of Plugins They’re very easy to install They’re the most user-friendly; as a web designer, I like to set up plugins so the client can easily turn it off or change the settings. Someone else is maintaining...
Read MoreGoogle Plus One Double Plus Good
The Google +1 is similar to a Facebook Like. It appears to have replaced the star feature in Google Search results, which has disappeared. It’s simply a way to say “hey, this is a good site.” Now webmasters and web designers have the capability to add the Google +1 button to their websites. It’s pretty easy, and there is excellent information in the FAQ on Google’s plusone-button page. You can use the +1 button as a sort of bookmarking tool, marking your favorite websites and then viewing the list in your profile (click your email address in the upper right hand corner of the screen when signed in, click “View Profile” then the...
Read MoreChanging Your WordPress Site URL
When you move your WordPress site, letting the site know about its new URL can be a hassle, but can lead to many types of errors if you are not careful: the site may not load at all, only the home page may load, images may not load properly, internal links may be broken, and so on. Here is a checklist for the next time you have to do this. There are two main ways to do this; one requires access to run SQL queries (usually by using the PHPMyAdmin tool in your web host’s dashboard, which is typically CPanel), and the other requires editing files through FTP and using a plugin. No matter which method you use, make sure afterwards to login to...
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