Stephan Spencer's Scatterings

The Scattered Wisdom of a scientist turned web marketing virtuoso

March 2010
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The "Hidden" Text of a Title Tag: An Exploit for Search Engine Spammers?

The most important on-page factor for SEO is the title tag -- that bit of text between the <title></title> tags. There are already some outstanding articles out there on how to craft successful title tags -- specifically, Netconcepts' own Bri… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 04/28/2008 | Permalink

Comments (1)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability, Search Engines search engine spam, title tags            

Sitemaps: What are they good for?

Sitemaps of the XML variety and the site maps of the HTML variety: two great tastes that taste great together! The XML sitemap is the one that you typically use an automated tool to generate (such as one of these) and to upload to your root directory.… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 03/20/2008 | Permalink

Comments (2)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability, Search Engines            

Macaroni and Spam

With two natural listings in the top 10 on the Google SERPs for “dating” it’s hard to argue with Match.com’s SEO tactics. It works well for them - a flashy front page with a novel of text below the fold. Since this has worked so well for Match.com and… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 03/13/2008 | Permalink

Comments (2)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability, Search Engines, Content, Web Design black hat seo, keyword stuffing, search engine spam            

Web 2.0 Isn't Friendly to the Search Engines

Two of the most popular Web 2.0 interactive elements, Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) and Flash, might be great for customers and a fresh experience on many sites, but they are inherently unfriendly to the major search engine spiders. In my articl… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 11/20/2007 | Permalink

Comments (0)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability, Web Design ajax, flash, web 2.0, web development            

Tag your Blogs and Company Sites for Users and SEO

Tagging isn't just a tool for usability (even though it's typically mostly thought of in those terms), it's also a powerful weapon for search engine optimization. That's because tagging allows you to rejig your internal hierarchical linking structure, fl… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 11/19/2007 | Permalink

Comments (1)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability, Content, Blogging tag clouds, tagging            

Printer-Friendly vs. Search Engine-Friendly

We've all experienced frustration trying to print out an important web page or form. Some web designers have felt our pain, creating duplicate pages that are "print-friendly." Unfortunately, these duplicates aren't great for SEO, as the search engines ge… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 11/14/2007 | Permalink

Comments (1)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability, Web Design duplicate content, print friendly            

Good Progressive Enhancement is Great for SEO

Progressive enhancement, a "sister" to graceful degradation, is often talked about in web design circles right along with other technical topics like JavaScript, Flash, Ajax, and basic applications of CSS. While it may not be easy to understand what thes… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 11/13/2007 | Permalink

Comments (0)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability, Web Design graceful degradation, progressive enhancement            

Multi touch displays - oooh I want one!

I am a diehard Mac fan, so you can bet that I watched Steve Jobs' keynote from start to finish (Well, except for the part at the end where John Mayer came out on stage and sang. That didn't do much for me.) Wow, that iPhone was pretty darned cool. I c… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 02/01/2007 | Permalink

Comments (4)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability apple, displays, iphone, multi-touch, multitouch, user interface            

Getting the balance right between SEO and usability

Finding the right balance between SEO and a usability can sometimes be a challenge. The two strategies can conflict and companies may mistakenly favor one over the other. For example, one company may choose to stuff the same keywords into every alt tag i… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 11/10/2006 | Permalink

Comments (1)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability, Search Engines seo, web accessibility            

Ecommerce Best Practice Tip #10 - Incorporate "breadcrumb navigation"

Breadcrumb navigation is wonderful for usability and for search engine optimization (SEO). Breadcrumb navigation, if you're not familiar with the term, is text-based navigation that shows where in the site hierarchy the currently viewed web page is locat… more »
Posted by Stephan Spencer on 07/11/2006 | Permalink

Comments (1)| Comments RSS | Filed under: Usability, Search Engines, Ecommerce, Online Retail best practices, breadcrumb navigation, seo            
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