Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, Seo, and Beyond

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 14
The Companion Website......Page 15
Chapter 1 Introducing Findability......Page 16
 What Is Findability?......Page 17
 The Development Side of Findability......Page 18
 The Deepest Desires of Search Engines......Page 19
 Get Your Team on Board from the Start......Page 21
 Using Your Moral Compass To Guide Your Way......Page 23
Chapter 2 Markup Strategies......Page 26
 A Web Standards Primer......Page 27
  Getting Started with Web Standards......Page 28
  The Benefits of Web Standards......Page 30
 Web Standards and Findability Sitting in a Tree.........Page 31
  An Issue of Semantics......Page 32
  Will Search Engines Really Reward Adherence to Web Standards?......Page 34
  Essential Tags that Promote Findability......Page 35
  The Myth of Meta: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly......Page 39
  Preventing Content Indexing......Page 41
  Let Go of the Past To Embrace a Findable Future......Page 43
 Accessible Content Is Findable Content......Page 44
  Making Images Visible......Page 45
  Clearing the Roadblocks Caused by Image Maps......Page 47
  Image Replacement: Accessibility, Findability, and Beauty Converge......Page 48
  The Right and Wrong Way To Use Tables......Page 50
  More Keyword Opportunities in Accessibility Related Elements......Page 51
 The Findability Benefits of Microformats......Page 52
  Making Event Data Portable with hCalendar and hCard......Page 53
  Marking Up Your Contact Information with hCard......Page 57
  Tagging Content with rel-tag......Page 58
  More Microformats Worth Investigating......Page 59
  Using Icons To Point Out Microformat Content......Page 60
  Do Search Engines Recognize Microformat Content?......Page 61
Chapter 3 Server-Side Strategies......Page 64
 File and Folders: The Power of a Name......Page 65
 Choosing and Managing Domain Names......Page 66
  Solving the Google Canonical Problem......Page 67
 Building Search Engine Friendly URLs......Page 69
  A Simple Solution......Page 70
 Moving Pages and Domains with 301 Redirects......Page 73
 Getting Users Back on Track with Custom 404 Pages......Page 75
  The Elements of a Successful 404 Page......Page 76
  Cache and Dash: Getting Clients To Cache Files......Page 79
  Managing File Size......Page 84
  Compressing Files with Gzip......Page 86
  Reducing HTTP Requests......Page 89
  Diagnosing Performance Problems with YSlow......Page 90
 Controlling Search Engine Indexing with Robots.txt......Page 91
Chapter 4 Creating Content that Drives Traffic......Page 94
  The Story of Tom......Page 95
  Blueprint CSS Framework......Page 97
  Open Content Generates Attribution......Page 98
 The Mark of Quality Content......Page 99
  Fill a Niche......Page 100
  Be Trustworthy......Page 101
  Appeal to Your Audience’s Interests......Page 103
  Be Original......Page 104
  Keep It Coming......Page 105
 All Roads Lead to Content......Page 106
  Blogs......Page 108
  Articles, Case Studies, and White Papers......Page 109
  Reviews and Recommendations......Page 111
  User-Generated Content (UGC)......Page 113
  Researching and Selecting Keywords......Page 115
 Placing Keywords in Your Content......Page 120
  Evaluating Keyword Density......Page 121
  Displaying RSS Content on Your Site......Page 122
  More RSS Parsing Opportunities......Page 130
  Using the RSS Parsing System To Create a Link Library......Page 132
Chapter 5 Building a Findable Blog......Page 138
 Blogging Best Practices To Improve Findability......Page 139
  Create Your Own Blog Template......Page 140
  Put Keywords in Your Post Titles......Page 141
  Archive by Topics......Page 142
  Summarize Posts To Direct Traffic Better......Page 143
  Add a Recent Posts Section......Page 144
  Promote Your RSS Feed......Page 145
  Encourage Users To Share Your Content With Others......Page 146
  About Duplicate Content Indexing......Page 147
 Working with WordPress......Page 149
  Creating Your Own Themes......Page 150
  Defining Update Services......Page 151
  Remapping Your Permalink URLs......Page 153
  Summarizing Posts To Direct Traffic Better......Page 155
  Displaying Your Most Popular Posts......Page 156
  Displaying Your Most Recent Posts......Page 158
  Encouraging Social Exchanges of Your Content......Page 159
  Displaying Related Posts......Page 160
  Other Handy SEO Plugins for WordPress......Page 161
  Tagging Your Posts......Page 162
  Optimizing Content Delivery with Caching......Page 164
Chapter 6 Adding Search to Your Site......Page 166
  Using Google Custom Search Engine (CSE)......Page 168
  Using Google’s Ajax Search API......Page 174
  Using Rollyo......Page 180
  Using Atomz......Page 182
  Using Yahoo! Search Builder......Page 183
  Using FastFind......Page 185
  Using Zoom Search Engine......Page 186
  Creating a Custom Product Search Tool......Page 188
 Adding OpenSearch To Your Site......Page 191
  Setting Up OpenSearch on Your Site......Page 192
Chapter 7 Preventing Findability Roadblocks......Page 194
 Avoiding JavaScript Pitfalls......Page 195
 Progressive Enhancement......Page 196
  Solving JavaScript Navigation Problems......Page 197
  Solving Scripted Style Problems......Page 198
  Solving Ajax Problems......Page 204
 Findable Flash......Page 213
  Using SWFObject for Flash Progressive Enhancement......Page 216
 Findable Audio and Video......Page 222
  Creating Text Transcripts......Page 223
Chapter 8 Bring Traffic Back With a Mailing List......Page 228
  Earn Their Trust......Page 229
  Make It Obvious......Page 230
  Tell Them What To Expect and Make It Valuable......Page 231
  Why Use a Mailing List Management System?......Page 233
  Monkeying Around with MailChimp......Page 235
  Sign Me Up! The Big Picture of the System......Page 237
  Creating the Subscription Form......Page 238
  Building the storeAddress() Function......Page 240
  The Ajax Layer......Page 244
Chapter 9 Putting Findability Into Practice......Page 248
  Priority 1......Page 249
 Discovering Problems on Your Site......Page 250
  Watch Your Stats......Page 251
 When Will You See Results?......Page 252
 Final Notes: The Day Findability Saved the World......Page 253
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