Mark Phillipmarkphillip.com

From Easy to Geeky:A Top 10 List

Easy Geeky

favicon.icoTiny, little picture

favicon.ico

Options to display one on your site:

• Include:<link href="http://twitter.com/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" />

• Simply name it “favicon.ico”

Google Webmaster ToolsHey Google, does this code make my butt look

big?

Google Webmaster Tools

Verification process options:• Upload blank file to server with Google-

specified name• Add Google-specified <meta> tag

More Info: http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Sitemap FileTable of Contents for search engines

Sitemap File

<url><loc>http://markphillip.com</loc><lastmod>2009-06-11T20:40:03+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>daily</changefreq><priority>0.8</priority>

</url><url><loc>http://markphillip.com/2005/01/misfiring/</loc><lastmod>2000-02-05T19:09:36+00:00</lastmod><changefreq>monthly</changefreq><priority>0.3</priority>

</url>

Sitemap File

More Info:http://www.sitemaps.org/

Note: Best way to inform search engines about your sitemap file is to include it in your robots.txt file.

CanonicalizationFancy ComSci term popularized by Google

Canonicalization

These are completely different URLs: ups.com/contactwww.ups.com/contactups.com/contact/index.html

Rule of thumb:Ignoring anything after a “?”, each page should be reachable by just one URL.

Google AnalyticsWho is visiting?

Google Webmaster Tools

More Info:http://www.google.com/analytics/

Firebug & YSlowGeek X-Ray Glasses

Firebug & YSlow

Install Firebug:http://getfirebug.com/

Install YSlow:http://developer.yahoo.com/yslow/

NB:Firebug and YSlow add-ons are made for Firefox. IE, Opera, and Safari support can be replicated using Firebug Lite.

Multiple CSS, JS, IconsCarpooling for files

Multiple CSS, JS, Icons

Stylesheets look like:<link … rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

JavaScript files look like:<script type="text/javascript">

Images look like:<img src=“/img/logo.gif” height=“120”...>

Note: Search for underlined terms to find items in page source

robots.txtHouse Rules for Search Engines

robots.txt

SHAMEFULDon’t index anything:http://jcp.com/robots.txthttp://www.sears.com/robots.txt

SHADYDon’t let anyone see I that changed my policies:http://vonage.com/robots.txt

SOLIDIndex almost everything(and grab my sitemap while you’re here):http://www.llbean.com/robots.txt

robots.txt

Zoo Animal Puppet Kithttp://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?requestURI=processProductsCatalog&sku=48/2212&tabId=3&cm_re=FF-_-Feature-_-F1L2http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/tellAFriend/TellAFriendController.jpf?productCode=48/2212

Camp Journal Craft Kithttp://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/browse/processRequest.do?requestURI=processProductsCatalog&sku=48/3123&tabId=3&cm_re=FF-_-Feature-_-F2L3http://www.orientaltrading.com/ui/tellAFriend/

TellAFriendController.jpf?productCode=48/3123

Semantic URLsYour URLs should tell a story

Semantic URLs

Good:http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/standings

Bad:http://columbusdispatch.sportsdirectinc.com/

football/nfl-standings.aspx?page=/data/nfl/standings/2008-2009/pre/league/standings.html

External Presence?Blog? Facebook? Twitter?

External Presence?

Problem:http://twitter.com/markphillip/status/1528389248

Solution:http://twitter.com/HRBlock/status/1528525560

Thanks!

Mark Phillipmarkphillip.com