You’ve just redesigned some pages of your web site. The pages have high search engine rankings that you don’t want to lose. How can you safely redirect web site traffic from your old pages to the new pages without losing your rankings? You can do this by using a ” 301 redirect ”

What is 301 redirect?

301 redirect is the best method to preserve your current search engine rankings when redirecting web pages or a web site. The code “301″ is interpreted as “moved permanently”. After the code, the URL of the missing or renamed page is noted, followed by a space, then followed by the new location or file name. You implement the 301 redirect by creating a .htaccess file.

What is a .htaccess file?

When a visitor/spider requests a web page, your web server checks for a .htaccess file. The .htaccess file contains specific instructions for certain requests, including security, redirection issues and how to handle certain errors.

How to implement the 301 Redirect

1. To create a .htaccess file, open notepad, name and save the file as .htaccess (there is no extension).

2. If you already have a .htaccess file on your server, download it to your desktop for editing.

3. Place this code in your .htaccess file:
redirect 301 /old/old.php http://www.you.com/new.php

4. If the .htaccess file already has lines of code in it, skip a line, then add the above code.

5. Save the .htaccess file

6. Upload this file to the root folder of your server.

7. Test it by typing in the old address to the page you’ve changed. You should be immediately taken to the new location.

Notes: Don’t add “http://www” to the first part of the statement – place the path from the top level of your site to the page. Also ensure that you leave a single space between these elements:

redirect 301 (the instruction that the page has moved)

/old/old.php (the original folder path and file name)

http://www.you.com/new.php (new path and file name)

When the search engines spider your site again they will follow the rule you have created in your .htaccess file. The search engine spider doesn’t actually read the .htaccess file, but recognizes the response from the server as valid.

During the next update, the old file name and path will be dropped and replaced with the new one. Sometimes you may see alternating old/new file names during the transition period, plus some fluctuations in rankings. According to Google it will take 6-8 weeks to see the changes reflected on your pages.

Other ways to implement the 301 redirect:

1. To redirect ALL files on your domain use this in your .htaccess file if you are on a unix web server:

redirectMatch 301 ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com
redirectMatch permanent ^(.*)$ http://www.domain.com

You can also use one of these in your .htaccess file:

redirect 301 /index.html http://www.domain.com/index.html
redirect permanent /index.html http://www.domain.com/index.html
redirectpermanent /index.html http://www.domain.com/index.html

This will redirect “index.html” to another domain using a 301-Moved permanently redirect.

2. If you need to redirect http://mysite.com to http://www.mysite.com and you’ve got mod_rewrite enabled on your server you can put this in your .htaccess file:

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example\.com
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/$1 [R=permanent,L]

or this:

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

Tip: Use your full URL (ie http://www.domain.com) when obtaining incoming links to your site. Also use your full URL for the internal linking of your site.

3. If you want to redirect your .php pages to .php pages and you’ve got mod_rewrite enabled on your server you can put this in your .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule (.*).php$ /$1.php

4. If you wish to redirect your .html or .php pages to .shtml pages because you are using Server Side Includes (SSI) add this code to your .htaccess file:

AddType text/html .shtml
AddHandler server-parsed .shtml .html .php
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Includes
DirectoryIndex index.shtml index.html

Frequently Asked Question: What’s the difference in using a 301 redirect versus a meta redirect?

Meta Redirect
To send someone to a new page (or site) put this in the head of your
document:

<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”10;

url=http://mynewsite.com/”>

Content=”10; tells the browser to wait 10 seconds before transfer, choose however long you would like, you can even choose 0 to give a smoother transition, but some (really old) browsers aren’t capable of using this so I’d suggest putting a link on that page to your new site for them.

With a meta redirect the page with the redirect issues a 200 OK status and some other mechanism moves the browser over to the new URL. With a 200 OK on both pages, the search engine wants to index both the start page and the target page – and that is a known spam method (set up 10,000 domains full of keywords for the search engines to index then meta redirect the “real visitor” after 0 or 1 seconds to the “real site” ) so using it gets you penalized.

The 301 redirect simply issues a Permanently Moved message in the HTTP header which tells the search engine to only index the target URL.

Conclusion: The safest way to redirect old web pages to the new pages or old web site to the new web site and keep the same search engine rankings is to use the 301 redirect. It will also pass on the page rank from your old site to your new site.

If you know anything about optimizing your Web site for the search engines, you know how important it is to choose the right keywords. If you fail to pick the words that you want your site to be found under, you risk untargeted traffic — or at worst, no traffic at all.

So what’s the trick to selecting the right keywords? First, don’t use single words; they are way too broad and the competition for them is fierce. Instead, you want to use two or three words strung together, also known as “keyphrases.” Studies have shown that most people type in 2- or 3-word combination’s when conducting searches; not single words.

Coming up with a list of the most targeted keyphrases for your Web site is not really that hard. It involves a bit of brainstorming and utilizing the right tools. One of the best methods is to think like your site’s visitors, and write down words and phrases that you think they would use when searching for a site such as yours. Be creative.

Another great resource to use is a good “old fashioned” Dictionary and/or a Thesaurus to come up with related or alternate words. If you don’t have a hard copy, use these online versions located.

If you find yourself falling short of ideas, look up your competitors online and do a view source on their pages. I’m not telling you to copy what they have; but to study what they are using, as you might see some words or phrases that you hadn’t thought of, which you can add to your collection.

Remember, stay away from using Trademarks. You don’t want any trouble from a high priced Attorney down the road.

If you’re trying to target a certain geographic location, make sure to include your city and state in your key-phrase list. This is especially important right now, as many of the search engines have branched out into offering “local search” and you want your site to be found when these types of searches are conducted.

Now that you’ve got a good solid foundation, I’m going to introduce you to some other online tools that you should find helpful in your quest for the right keywords. Some of these resources are free.

1) WordTracker:

This is the “Big Daddy” of keywords services and used by most Search Engine Optimization companies online today. The results are pulled from several meta search engines. Use the free trial to take her for a “test spin.” If you need more power, you’ll want to purchase a subscription. You can register for as little as one day for $7.80, one week for $26.00, or even a month, which runs only $52.00. You decide how much time you really need to access this powerful database.

2) Good Keywords:

Free software to download that will help you find the perfect set of keywords for your site. Windows based only.

3) Keyword
Suggestion Tool:

This online tool will show you the results of your keyword search from both Overture and Wordtracker. Find out how often a phrase is searched for and get suggestions for alternate words as well. Free.

4) Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool:

This free online tool is offered up by Overture. Type in your word or phrase and find out how many times that particular word was searched for last month, and related searches that include your term.

5) Google AdWords Keyword Tool:

This online tool is courtesy of Google AdWords. Type in your phrase and you’ll be shown a list of other possibilities. A slightly modified version of this tool is available too.

If you’re interested in creating “niche sites” and want to see the words people are searching for check out these:

Lycos 50 Daily Report

Kanoodle

MetaCrawler

Remember, when selecting keywords or keyphrases for your Web site you want to make very sure you’re choosing the right ones, or it could spell total disaster when it comes to the search engines. Also, each page of your site should be optimized for two or at the most three key phrases, but that’s a topic for another article.

Finding the right keywords isn’t brain surgery. It just takes a little time and ingenuity and the ability to put yourself in your customer’s shoes.

About The Author:
Merle operates www.EzineAdAuction.com “Where some of the BEST Deals in Ezine Advertising are Made”. Buy & Sell Ezine Ads in a live auction setting! Publishers sell off your excess inventory and Buyers pick up some Fantastic bargains. Free E-book on how to write “glowing” ezine ads…..Download Now

Article originally posted on SiteProNews

How does Google rank pages?

Google’s order of results is automatically determined by more than 100 factors, including our PageRank algorithm. Please check out our “Why Use Google” page for more details. Due to the nature of our business and our interest in protecting the integrity of our search results, this is the only information we make available to the public about our ranking system. Find out how..

What does Google recommend for webmaster?

Following these guidelines will help Google find, index, and rank your site, which is the best way to ensure you’ll be included in Google’s results. Even if you choose not to implement any of these suggestions, we strongly encourage you to pay very close attention to the “Quality Guidelines,” which outline some of the illicit practices that may lead to a site being removed entirely from the Google index. Once a site has been removed, it will no longer show up in results on Google.com or on any of Google’s partner sites. See the SEO Guidelines

Search Engine Optimizers?

SEO is an abbreviation for “search engine optimizer.” Many SEOs provide useful services for Web site owners, from writing copy to giving advice on site architecture and helping to find relevant directories to which a site can be submitted. However, there are a few unethical SEOs who have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to unfairly manipulate search engine results. Listen to what the Google experts have to say

How Do I Get My Site Listed on Google?

Google is a fully automated search engine, which employs robots known as ‘spiders’ to crawl the web on a monthly basis and find sites for inclusion in the Google index. Since this process does not involve human editors, it is NOT necessary to submit your site to Google in order to be included in our index. In fact, the vast majority of sites listed are not manually submitted for inclusion. Find out more

The foundation of an effective search engine marketing campaign is selecting the best keywords that your potential customers use to find your site. Selecting the right keywords requires research.

Pretend that someone has never heard of your business but is looking for your type of product or service. Remember that you must determine the keywords that your potential customers would type in a search box, not the words that you would type in a search box.

You probably have a decent list of keywords already. Review your company’s printed materials. What words are used over and over? Remove all words used for sales and marketing hype from your printed materials. Many of the remaining words are possible keywords.

When you speak to new and current customers on the phone, what questions do they frequently ask and what words do they use? Do they mention a specific product or service? Do they frequently ask for a specific department? Ask your current customers how they would find you on the web. You might discover that your current customers use terms that you haven’t even thought of. Consider including these unexpected terms in your keyword list.

When you prepare a potential list of keywords, you must determine the various word combinations your target audience is most likely to type to a search query. Singular and plural versions of your most important keywords, synonyms, misspellings, acronyms, and abbreviations (with and without periods) are all potential keywords. Begin by brainstorming.

Generally, when people type words in a search box, they tend to type the words all in lowercase. Initially creating your keyword list in lowercase makes this task easier. Some search engines are case sensitive. This means that searching for “Chinese tea” might yield different search results than searching for “Chinese tea.” Later on when you narrow down your keyword list, you might determine that the uppercase version of a word is more frequently used than the lowercase version of a word.

When you create your keyword list, think up as many combinations as possible. When people are searching for something specific, they tend to use more than one word. For example, if a person is looking for “software,” he or she might find a wide variety of software listed in the search results. That person might be looking for “accounting software” and not “graphic design software.” If that person is running a small business, a more accurate search phrase might be “small business accounting software” or “accounting software for small businesses.”

It is usually better to target longer keyword phrases because the people who type specific keyword phrases are more likely to be converted into customers. Three-, four-, or five-word keyword phrases often yield more accurate results in the search engines.

Targeting longer keyword phrases does not mean that you give up the chance to rank well for other keyword phrases or a single word. When you target the keyword phrase “organic herbal tea recipes,” you are concurrently targeting all the following words and phrases:

· Organic tea recipes
· Herbal tea recipes
· Organic herbal tea
· Herbal tea
. Organic tea
. Tea recipes
. Herbal recipes
. Tea
. Recipes

After you have determined your initial keyword list, you can begin to narrow it down using many of the tools available online.

Tools, Techniques, and Tips

When you begin to analyze your keyword list, you are looking for trends. Whenever I prepare a keyword list, I always put the list into a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet can help you see the trends more quickly and easily.

The first set of data is your initial keyword list. After you have this keyword list, you need to determine which keyword combinations your target audience is most likely to type in search engine queries. Questions you need to ask yourself include the following: .

. Did people tend to use the singular or plural version of a word?
· What three or four words appeared together most often?
. What was the word order?

If you have a new web site and do not have any statistics on keywords, you can use the major search engines and directories to assist you.

Related Searches

Many search engines and directories offer a “Related searches” or “Others searched for” or “Narrow your search” feature in their search results. For instance, after searching for “organic tea” at AltaVista, the search box on the results page displays “Refine your search with AltaVista Prisma,”

What do you do when some phrases do not yield any related searches? This could mean that your targeted keyword phrase might not be a popular search phrase on the search services but it could be a popular search phrase by your target audience. Data from any site statistics program (such as WebTrends) and your site search engine, if you have one, can confirm the actual keyword phrases your target audience is actually using to find your site.

AllrheWeb.com ( FAST Search), Lycos, AskJeeves, and Teoma offer a version of “Related searches.” An online service called WordTracker can also assist you in your keyword research.

Overture is a pay-per-click search engine that enables you to easily check for what Overture users are searching. The “Search Term Suggestions” feature is an excellent tool for refining your keyword list. The current URL for this tool is http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/.

Enter one of your keywords into the search box. The search results are a list of the most popular search terms containing your keyword.

Always perform multiple searches to get a clear picture of what your target audience is interested in reading. Search for single words, such as “tea” to see the variety of related searches. Based on that search, narrow down your list. Search for “herbal teas,” “herbal tea recipes,” and “tea recipes.” Keep track of your search results in a spreadsheet.

Google has its own research tool for its pay-per-click AdWords program. The current URL for this tool is https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox.

For this tool, you can enter one keyword or keyword phrase per line in the query box, and Google presents you with a list of keyword phrases.

Both Google and Overture have created these tools for their paying customers. To keep these services free, do not perform exhaustive numbers of searches daily to determine your keyword list. Generally, you can figure out your keyword list within 10 searches or fewer on each engine. After you determine your keyword list, you can rely on other tools, such as your site statistics software and site search engines, to maintain your list.

Stop Words and Filter Words

Filter words are common words (a, an, but, or, nor, for, the) that the search engines ignore during a search. Search engines filter out these words because the use of these words in a search query can slow down search results without improving their accuracy. Filtering out common words can save search engines enormous amounts of space in their indices.

Stop words are words that cause the search engine to stop recording all the text on a web page. In other words, when a search engine spider encounters a word or phrase from its list of stop words, it leaves the site without saving any of the site information to its index. Sites already in the search engine index can be removed and banned from resubmission if the search engine finds stop words on your web pages. Some search engines define “stop words” and “filter words” identically.

When preparing your keyword list, eliminate all filter words because they are ignored anyway. If you would like to determine whether a word is a filter word, perform a search on a search engine, such as Google. In the search results, Google tells you which words it ignores.

Your Own Web Site Search Engine

If you have a search engine on your own web site, the words entered into site search queries can also be potential words for your keyword list.

Many times, when your target audience finds your site through a search engine, they want to find the information they are searching for within five to seven clicks. The best-case scenario for your potential customers would be to go from the search engine results directly to the page on your site that contains the exact information for which they are searching. However, this scenario is not always realistic. In all likelihood, your potential customers will browse your site if they do not see the information immediately available. If your visitors cannot find the relevant information by browsing, they might use your site’s internal search engine.

Many usability experts report that people prefer to browse for information rather than to use a site search engine. Therefore, when you gather potential keywords from your site search engine, keep in mind that your potential customers probably cannot find that information from browsing your site.

After you have gathered a list of your 20 to 50 most popular keyword phrases, you can begin to place them in various HTML tags on your web pages.

Below are some more tools to help you find good keywords:

1) WordTracker:

This is the “Big Daddy” of keywords services and used by most Search Engine Optimization companies online today. The results are pulled from several meta search engines. Use the free trial to take her for a “test spin.” If you need more power, you’ll want to purchase a subscription. You can register for as little as one day for $7.80, one week for $26.00, or even a month, which runs only $52.00. You decide how much time you really need to access this powerful database.

2) Good Keywords:

Free software to download that will help you find the perfect set of keywords for your site. Windows based only.

3) Keyword Suggestion Tool:

This online tool will show you the results of your keyword search from both Overture and Wordtracker. Find out how often a phrase is searched for and get suggestions for alternate words as well. Free.

4) Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool:

This free online tool is offered up by Overture. Type in your word or phrase and find out how many times that particular word was searched for last month, and related searches that include your term.

5) Google AdWords Keyword Tool:

This online tool is courtesy of Google AdWords. Type in your phrase and you’ll be shown a list of other possibilities. A slightly modified version of this tool is available too.

If you’re interested in creating “niche sites” and want to see the words people are searching for check out these:

Lycos 50 Daily Report

Kanoodle

Remember, when selecting keywords or keyphrases for your Web site you want to make very sure you’re choosing the right ones, or it could spell total disaster when it comes to the search engines. Also, each page of your site should be optimized for two or at the most three key phrases, but that’s a topic for another article.

Finding the right keywords isn’t brain surgery. It just takes a little time and ingenuity and the ability to put yourself in your customer’s shoes.