Southend SEO – Course Notes

Posted by EssexMax on 26 January 2012 under Course Notes | 25 Comments to Read

This page is intended to supplement the Southend Search Engine Optimisation Course, which is run at South Essex College in Southend as part of its family of weekend and evening courses.

If you’re looking for details of the course, and to sign up for a future SEO course, please see our Southend SEO Course page.

 

SEO Course – Week One

In the first week, we discuss the basics of web marketing and SEO.

Further reading:

SEO Course – Week Two

Now that the basics of SEO have been covered, and you’re comfy with Google Analytics, it’s time to look at ways to rank your website.

Further reading:

SEO Course – Week Three

For week three, we look at the tools provided by Google for webmasters, then dive into on-page optimisation:

More on Week 3’s topics:

SEO Course – Week Four

In the final week of the course, we move from on-page SEO, to off-page SEO, and cover link building, site optimising and some other hints and tips.

Wrap-up

If you’ve enjoyed the course, you may want to consider the Maximising Your Website course, which includes other ways to get more from your website

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  • mark frater said,

    Hi pete

    Got another question. I uploaded the sitemap to google and i got this message today
    http://www.octopusexpress.org.uk/robots.txt 3 hours ago 404 (Not found)
    What does this mean?

    Cheers Mark

  • EssexMax said,

    HI Mark. I think what you might have done is to try to upload a robots.txt file as a sitemap.

    The correct address for your XML sitemap is http://www.octopusexpress.org.uk/sitemap.xml , and it’s this address that you need to upload to Google Webmaster Tools. Have a try with sitemap.xml and see if that works.

  • Brian Formosa said,

    Hi Pete
    I have the same site map error but I have used the correct address and got this message from Webmaster tools:-
    General HTTP error: 404 not found
    HTTP Error: 404

    HELP!

    Thaks
    Brian

  • EssexMax said,

    What is the full address of the site map?

  • EssexMax said,

    OK. The sitemap looks OK, but it’s not in the location that Google Webmaster Tools is expecting it. I suspect it might be because some of your site is in a /html/ folder

    Go to Optimization > Sitemaps, and try to add a new sitemap . Make sure the address is http://www.cordellcleaning.co.uk/sitemap.xml (without the /html/) and resubmit. You can then test it. If you get a 404, it’s probably in the wrong folder

  • martin said,

    hi peter have put analytics on my site but it is not working the script is there what is wrong.martin.

  • EssexMax said,

    Hi Martin,

    I can see the code, but it is in the wrong place – it has to be before the (line 147) – At the moment, it’s in the section.

    Also, note that by default, Analytics will only report up to the previous day, so if you put the code live, you need to wait until the site has got some traffic and 24 hours has elapsed. If you want it the code though, there is the option in Admin to confirm that the code is working and Google is receiving data – you can also alter the date (top right of Analytics) to include today’s date instead of the default of yesterday.

    Does that help?

    Pete

  • martin said,

    followed instructions and magento placed it there how do i move it.thanks martin

  • EssexMax said,

    The official guidance from Google is that it should go before the <head> – See https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1008080?hl=en-GB

    However, if Magento is telling you to put it somewhere else, presumably they know what they’re doing.

    Have you looked in Analytics to check that the code tests OK, and is receiving data? Go to Google Analytics > Admin > Tracking Info > Tracking Code – See if you can see the message: “Status: Receiving Data” – If you see that, the code is working.

  • martin said,

    it says tracking not installed

  • EssexMax said,

    Assuming you’ve pasted in the correct bit of code, the only reason I can think that it’s not working, is because it’s not in the right place. It should be on the line before the <head>

    I’ve never used Magento, so I have no idea how their system works. It may be a case of you contacting their technical support people to find out how to get the code inserted correctly using their system. It looks like they have a technical support forum where you can ask them for help – I’d assume this is a common requirement, so they should be able to tell you how to get the code inserted in the right place and working as it should.

  • martin said,

    tried the forum getting nowhere, can you help me in any way martin

  • EssexMax said,

    I don’t have an account with Magento and I’ve never used them, so I’m not sure how helpful I can be. I have done a Google search, and there are loads of pages with people explaining how to set up Google Analytics correctly. Have a look at the following: Google Search Results. Alternatively, you may have to contact their tech support people.

  • martin said,

    I did follow one of those results i have just noticed that the code is different than the tracking code given by google?

  • EssexMax said,

    Use the tracking code given to you by Google – this is the correct code, and contains your unique tracking number. Don’t use anything else.

  • martin said,

    ok will do how do i delete it

  • EssexMax said,

    What you need to do, is go to Google Analaytics, copy the code into the clipboard (using Ctrl-C), and then paste it into the appropriate place on your website. I don’t use Magento, so I don’t know where exactly you have to paste the code, but there are several guides on how to do this on Google.

  • martin said,

    ok will do wont bother you any more thanks martin

  • EssexMax said,

    No worries. If you’re still having trouble, you (or your web person) may need to give Magento support a call, or try the forum again – I’m sure their system supports Google Analytics, and they should have people who can help.

  • martin said,

    I think i have done it now says tracking installed thanks martin.

  • martin said,

    hi pete when i google search for my different types of pots i am on 1st 2nd and 3rd page exept for when you search for terracotta planters which is on page 13 i have done the same work on this search term but it will not improve can you help

  • EssexMax said,

    Hi Martin,

    I’ve had a quick review of the page, and can see the following:

    – If you look at the page in Google, you will note that Google has not yet picked up your new description text
    – META keywords should be seperated by commas
    – Your key phrase does not appear in the body text for that page
    – Adding extra text on that page would certainly help getting it to rank
    – Link count and trust for that page is low

    Hope that helps,

    Pete

  • martin said,

    ok thanks thats very helpfull how do i put the key phrase in also did you get my emails as i had no reply.

  • EssexMax said,

    Hi Martin,

    Replied last week. Will resend.

    The text on the page reads: “Zisha clay terracotta pots exclusive to us in the u.k. high fired frost resistant also italian and vietnamese from 25cm up to 1meter diameter ideal for planting cacti to large olive trees”

    The phrase “terracotta planters” does not appear in that text. You could also do with more text on that page.

  • martin said,

    ok will change that now thanks.

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