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Monday, 9 January 2012
Welcome to Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide
Search Engine Optimization
Starter Guide PDF VERSION FREE DOWNLOAD
And Online Reading
but we thought it'd be just as useful to webmasters that are new to
the topic of search engine optimization and wish to improve their
sites' interaction with both users and search engines. Although this
guide won't tell you any secrets that'll automatically rank your site
first for queries in Google (sorry!), following the best practices
outlined below will make it easier for search engines to crawl, index
and understand your content.
Search engine optimization is often about making small modifcations
to parts of your website. When viewed individually, these changes
might seem like incremental improvements, but when combined with
other optimizations, they could have a noticeable impact on your
site's user experience and performance in organic search results.
You're likely already familiar with many of the topics in this guide,
because they're essential ingredients for any web page, but you may
not be making the most out of them.
Even though this guide's title contains the words "search engine",
we'd like to say that you should base your optimization decisions frst
and foremost on what's best for the visitors of your site. They're the
main consumers of your content and are using search engines to fnd
your work. Focusing too hard on specifc tweaks to gain ranking in the
organic results of search engines may not deliver the desired results.
Search engine optimization is about putting your site's best foot
forward when it comes to visibility in search engines, but your
ultimate consumers are your users, not search engines.
Your site may be smaller or larger than our example site and offer
vastly diferent content, but the optimization topics we discuss below
should apply to sites of all sizes and types. We hope our guide gives
you some fresh ideas on how to improve your website, and we'd love
to hear your questions, feedback, and success stories in the Google
Webmaster Help Forum.
Welcome to Google's
Search Engine Optimization
Starter Guide
Search Engine Optimization
Starter GuideTable of Contents
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1
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0
Googlebot
Crawling content
on the Internet for
Google's index
every day, every
night, non stop.
From here on, I'll be
explaining various points
on search engine
optimization (SEO)!
SEO Basics
Create unique, accurate page titles
Make use of the "description" meta tag
Improving Site Structure
Improve the structure of your URLs
Make your site easier to navigate
Optimizing Content
Ofer quality content and services
Write better anchor text
Optimize your use of images
Use heading tags appropriately
Dealing with Crawlers
Make efective use of robots.txt
Be aware of rel="nofollow" for links
SEO for Mobile Phones
Notify Google of mobile sites
Guide mobile users accurately
Promotions and Analysis
Promote your website in the right ways
Make use of free webmaster tools
An example may help our explanations, so we've created a fctitious
website to follow throughout the guide. For each topic, we've feshed
out enough information about the site to illustrate the point being
covered. Here's some background information about the site we'll
use:
Website/business name: "Brandon's Baseball Cards"
Domain name: brandonsbaseballcards.com
Focus: Online-only baseball card sales, price guides, articles,
and news content
Size: Small, ~ 50 pages
“Paid” Search, AdWords
Organic Search
Search engine optimization affects only organic search results, not
paid or "sponsored" results such as Google AdWords.
Create unique, accurate page titles
SEO Basics
Glossary
Indicate page titles by using title tags
Page title contents are displayed in search
results
(1) The title of the homepage for our baseball card site, which lists the business
name and three main focus areas.
<html>
<head>
<title>Brandon's Baseball Cards - Buy Cards, Baseball News, Card Prices</title>
<meta name="description=" content="Brandon's Baseball Cards provides a
large selection of vintage and modern baseball cards for sale. We also offer
daily baseball news and events in">
</head>
<body>
( ) A user performs the query [baseball cards]. Our homepage shows up as a result,
with the title listed on the first line (notice that the query terms the user searched
for appear in bold).
If the user clicks the result and visits the page, the page's title will appear at the top
of the browser.
( ) A user performs the query [rarest baseball cards]. A relevant, deeper page (its
title is unique to the content of the page) on our site appears as a result.
A title tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of
a particular page is. The <title> tag should be placed within the
<head> tag of the HTML document (1). Ideally, you should create a
unique title for each page on your site.
If your document appears in a search results page, the contents of
the title tag will usually appear in the frst line of the results (if
you're unfamiliar with the different parts of a Google search result,
you might want to check out the anatomy of a search result video by
Google engineer Matt Cutts, and this helpful diagram of a Google
search results page). Words in the title are bolded if they appear in the
user's search query. This can help users recognize if the page is
likely to be relevant to their search ( ).
The title for your homepage can list the name of your website/
business and could include other bits of important information like
the physical location of the business or maybe a few of its main
focuses or oferings ( ).
Search engine
Computer function that searches data available on the Internet using keywords or
other specifed terms, or a program containing this function.
<head> tag
An element that indicates the header in an HTML document. The content of this
element will not be displayed in a browser.
HTML
Abbreviation for HyperText Markup Language, a language used when describing web
page documents. It denotes the basic elements of web pages, including the document
text and any hyperlinks and images embedded within.
Search query
Single or multiple terms which are input by the user when performing a search on
search engines.
4SEO Basics Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis
Links
The anatomy of a search result
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 007/11/anatomy-of-search-result.html
Diagram of a Google search results page
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer= 5891
Best Practices
Page titles are an
important aspect of
search engine
optimization.
Choose a title that efectively communicates the topic of the page's content.
Accurately describe the page's content
choosing a title that has no relation to the content on the page
using default or vague titles like "Untitled" or "New Page 1"
Avoid:
Create unique title tags for each page
Each of your pages should ideally have a unique title tag, which helps Google know how the page is
distinct from the others on your site.
using a single title tag across all of your site's pages or a large group of pages
Avoid:
Use brief, but descriptive titles
Titles can be both short and informative. If the title is too long, Google will show only a portion of it in
the search result.
using extremely lengthy titles that are unhelpful to users
stufng unneeded keywords in your title tags
Avoid:
5Make use of the "description" meta tag
SEO Basics
Glossary
Summaries can be defned for each page
What are the merits of description meta
tags?
(1) The beginning of the description meta tag for our homepage, which gives a brief
overview of the site's offerings.
<html>
<head>
<title>Brandon's Baseball Cards - Buy Cards, Baseball News, Card Prices</title>
<meta name="description=" content="Brandon's Baseball Cards provides a
large selection of vintage and modern baseball cards for sale. We also offer
daily baseball news and events in">
</head>
<body>
( ) A user performs the query [baseball cards]. Our homepage appears as a result,
with part of its description meta tag used as the snippet.
( ) A user performs the query [rarest baseball cards]. One of our deeper pages, with
its unique description meta tag used as the snippet, appears as a result.
A page's description meta tag gives Google and other search
engines a summary of what the page is about (1). Whereas a
page's title may be a few words or a phrase, a page's description meta
tag might be a sentence or two or a short paragraph. Google
Webmaster Tools provides a handy content analysis section that'll tell
you about any description meta tags that are either too short, long, or
duplicated too many times (the same information is also shown for
<title> tags). Like the <title> tag, the description meta tag is placed
within the <head> tag of your HTML document.
Description meta tags are important because Google might use
them as snippets for your pages. Note that we say "might" because
Google may choose to use a relevant section of your page's visible
text if it does a good job of matching up with a user's query.
Alternatively, Google might use your site's description in the Open
Directory Project if your site is listed there (learn how to prevent
search engines from displaying ODP data). Adding description meta
tags to each of your pages is always a good practice in case Google
cannot find a good selection of text to use in the snippet. The
Webmaster Central Blog has an informative post on improving
snippets with better description meta tags.
Words in the snippet are bolded when they appear in the user's query
( ). This gives the user clues about whether the content on the page
matches with what he or she is looking for. ( ) is another example,
this time showing a snippet from a description meta tag on a deeper
page (which ideal ly has its own unique description meta tag)
containing an article.
Snippet
Text displayed beneath the title of a corresponding web page on the search results
pages of a search engine. A web page summary and/or parts of the page that match
the search keywords will be displayed.
Open Directory Project (ODP)
The world's largest volunteer-run web directory (a list of Internet links collected on a
large scale and then organized by category).
Domain
An address on the Internet that indicates the location of a computer or network. These
are administrated to avoid duplication.
6SEO Basics Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis
Links
Content analysis section
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 007/1 /new-content-analysis-and-
sitemap.html
Prevent search engines from displaying ODP data
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer= 5 64
Improving snippets with better description meta tags
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 007/09/improve-snippets-with-
meta-description.html
site: operator
http://www.brianwhite.org/ 007/04/ 7/google-site-operator-an-ode-to-thee/
Best Practices
Use description meta tags to
provide both search engines
and users with a summary of
what your page is about!
Accurately summarize the page's content
writing a description meta tag that has no relation to the content on the page
using generic descriptions like "This is a web page" or "Page about baseball cards"
flling the description with only keywords
copying and pasting the entire content of the document into the description meta tag
Avoid:
Write a description that would both inform and interest users if they saw your description meta tag as
a snippet in a search result.
Use unique descriptions for each page
using a single description meta tag across all of your site's pages or a large group of pages
Avoid:
Having a different description meta tag for each page helps both users and Google, especially in
searches where users may bring up multiple pages on your domain (e.g. searches using the site:
operator). If your site has thousands or even millions of pages, hand-crafting description meta tags
probably isn't feasible. In this case, you could automatically generate description meta tags based on
each page's content.
7Improve the structure of your URLs
Improving Site Structure
Glossary
Simple-to-understand URLs will convey
content information easily
URLs are displayed in search results
(1) A URL to a page on our baseball card site that a user might have a hard time
with.
( ) The highlighted words above could inform a user or search engine what the
target page is about before following the link.
( ) A user performs the query [baseball cards]. Our homepage appears as a result,
with the URL listed under the title and snippet.
Creating descriptive categories and flenames for the documents on
your website can not only help you keep your site better organized,
but it could also lead to better crawling of your documents by
search engines. Also, it can create easier, "friendlier" URLs for those
that want to link to your content. Visitors may be intimidated by
extremely long and cryptic URLs that contain few recognizable words.
URLs like (1) can be confusing and unfriendly. Users would have a
hard time reciting the URL from memory or creating a link to it. Also,
users may believe that a portion of the URL is unnecessary, especially
if the URL shows many unrecognizable parameters. They might leave
of a part, breaking the link.
Some users might link to your page using the URL of that page as the
anchor text. If your URL contains relevant words, this provides
users and search engines with more information about the page
than an ID or oddly named parameter would ( ).
Lastly, remember that the URL to a document is displayed as
part of a search result in Google, below the document's title and
snippet. Like the title and snippet, words in the URL on the search
result appear in bold if they appear in the user's query ( ). To the right
is another example showing a URL on our domain for a page
containing an article about the rarest baseball cards. The words in the
URL might appeal to a search user more than an ID number like "www.
brandonsbaseballcards.com/article/10 1 5/" would.
Google is good at crawling all types of URL structures, even if they're
quite complex, but spending the time to make your URLs as simple as
possible for both users and search engines can help. Some
webmasters try to achieve this by rewriting their dynamic URLs to
static ones; while Google is fne with this, we'd like to note that this is
an advanced procedure and if done incorrectly, could cause crawling
issues with your site. To learn even more about good URL structure,
we recommend this Webmaster Help Center page on creating
Google-friendly URLs.
Crawl
Exploration of websites by search engine software (bots) in order to index their
content.
Parameter
Data provided in the URL to specify a site's behavior.
ID (session ID)
Data provided for the identification and/or behavior management of a user who is
currently accessing a system or network communications.
01 redirect
An HTTP status code (see page 1 ). Forces a site visitor to automatically jump to a
specifed URL.
Subdomain
A type of domain used to identify a category that is smaller than a regular domain (see
page 6).
Root directory
Directory at the top of the tree structure of a site. It is sometimes called "root".
8SEO Basics Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis
Links
Dynamic URLs
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40 49
Creating Google-friendly URLs
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=76 9
301 redirect
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=9 6
rel="canonical"
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=1 9 94
Best Practices
Create a simple directory structure
Use a directory structure that organizes your content well and makes it easy for visitors to know where
they're at on your site. Try using your directory structure to indicate the type of content found at that
URL.
having deep nesting of subdirectories like ".../dir1/dir /dir /dir4/dir5/dir6/page.html"
using directory names that have no relation to the content in them
Avoid:
Choose a URL that will be
easy for users and search
engines to understand!
Use words in URLs
using lengthy URLs with unnecessary parameters and session IDs
choosing generic page names like "page1.html"
using excessive keywords like"baseball-cards-baseball-cards-baseballcards.htm"
Avoid:
URLs with words that are relevant to your site's content and structure are friendlier for visitors
navigating your site. Visitors remember them better and might be more willing to link to them.
Provide one version of a URL to
reach a document
Avoid:
To prevent users from linking to one version of a URL and others linking to a diferent version (this
could split the reputation of that content between the URLs), focus on using and referring to one URL
in the structure and internal linking of your pages. If you do fnd that people are accessing the same
content through multiple URLs, setting up a 01 redirect from non-preferred URLs to the dominant
URL is a good solution for this. You may also use canonical URL or use the rel="canonical" link element
if you cannot redirect.
having pages from subdomains and the root directory access the same content
- e.g. "domain.com/page.htm" and "sub.domain.com/page.htm"
using odd capitalization of URLs
- many users expect lower-case URLs and remember them better
9Make your site easier to navigate
Improving Site Structure
The navigation of a website is important in helping visitors
quickly fnd the content they want. It can also help search engines
understand what content the webmaster thinks is important.
Although Google's search results are provided at a page level, Google
also likes to have a sense of what role a page plays in the bigger
picture of the site.
All sites have a home or "root" page, which is usually the most
frequented page on the site and the starting place of navigation for
many visitors. Unless your site has only a handful of pages, you
should think about how visitors will go from a general page
(your root page) to a page containing more specifc content. Do
you have enough pages around a specific topic area that it would
make sense to create a page describing these related pages (e.g. root
page -> related topic listing -> specifc topic)? Do you have hundreds
of different products that need to be classified under multiple
category and subcategory pages?
A breadcrumb is a row of internal links at the top or bottom of the
page that allows visitors to quickly navigate back to a previous
section or the root page (1). Many breadcrumbs have the most
general page (usually the root page) as the frst, left-most link and list
the more specifc sections out to the right.
Navigation is very important for search
engines
Plan out your navigation based on your
homepage
Glossary
Ensure more convenience for users by
using ‘breadcrumb lists’
(1) Breadcrumb links appearing on a deeper article page on our site.
1900-1949
1950-1999
000-present
(root)
about
articles
008
009
010
price-guides
news
shop
The directory structure
for our small website on
baseball cards.
404 ("page not found" error)
An HTTP status code (see page 1 ). It means that the server could not fnd the web
page requested by the browser.
XML Sitemap
A list of the pages on a particular website. By creating and sending this list, you are
able to notify Google of all pages on a website, including any URLs that may have been
undetected by Google's regular crawling process.
10Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis SEO Basics Improving Site Structure
Links
Webmaster Tools
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
What's a preferred domain
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=44 1
Sitemap Generator Script
http://code.google.com/p/googlesitemapgenerator/
Guide to Sitemap fles
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=156184
Allow for the possibility of a part of the
URL being removed
Prepare two sitemaps: one for users, one
for search engines
( ) Users may go to an upper directory by removing the last part of the URL.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>http://www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/</loc>
<changefreq>daily</changefreq>
<priority>0.8</priority>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/news/</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/news/ 008/</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/news/ 009/</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>http://www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/news/ 010/</loc>
</url>
</urlset>
Examples of an HTML site map and an XML Sitemap. An HTML site map can help
users easily find content that they are looking for, and an XML Sitemap can help
search engines find pages on your site.
Consider what happens when a user removes part of your URL -
Some users might navigate your site in odd ways, and you should
anticipate this. For example, instead of using the breadcrumb links
on the page, a user might drop of a part of the URL in the hopes
of fnding more general content. He or she might be visiting http://
www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/news/ 010/upcoming-baseball-
card-shows.htm, but
then enter http://www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/news/ 010/ into
the browser's address bar, believing that this will show all news from
010 ( ). Is your site prepared to show content in this situation or will
it give the user a 404 ("page not found" error)? What about moving up
a directory level to http://www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/news/?
A site map (lower-case) is a simple page on your site that displays the
structure of your website, and usually consists of a hierarchical listing
of the pages on your site. Visitors may visit this page if they are
having problems fnding pages on your site. While search engines
will also visit this page, getting good crawl coverage of the pages on
your site, it's mainly aimed at human visitors.
An XML Sitemap (upper-case) file, which you can submit through
Google's Webmaster Tools, makes it easier for Google to discover
the pages on your site. Using a Sitemap fle is also one way (though
not guaranteed) to tell Google which version of a URL you'd prefer as
the canonical one (e.g. http://brandonsbaseballcards.com/ or http://
www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/; more on what's a preferred
domain). Google helped create the open source Sitemap Generator
Script to help you create a Sitemap file for your site. To learn more
about Sitemaps, the Webmaster Help Center provides a useful guide
to Sitemap fles.
11Make your site easier to navigate
Improving Site Structure
Best Practices
Create a naturally fowing hierarchy
creating complex webs of navigation links, e.g. linking every page on your site to every other page
going overboard with slicing and dicing your content (so that it takes twenty clicks)
Avoid:
Make it as easy as possible for users to go from general content to the more specifc content they
want on your site. Add navigation pages when it makes sense and efectively work these into your
internal link structure.
For navigation, the focus
should be on simplicity
and ease of use!
Use mostly text for navigation
Avoid:
Glossary
Controlling most of the navigation from page to page on your site through text links makes it easier for
search engines to crawl and understand your site. Many users also prefer this over other approaches,
especially on some devices that might not handle Flash or JavaScript.
having a navigation based entirely on drop-down menus, images, or animations
- many, but not all, search engines can discover such links on a site, but if a user can reach all
pages on a site via normal text links, this will improve the accessibility of your site; more on how
Google deals with non-text fles
Flash
Web technology or software developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated. It is able to
create web content that combines sound, video and animation.
JavaScript A type of programming language. It can add dynamic features to web
pages and is used by many web services.
Drop-down menu A system in which one chooses content from a menu. When one
clicks on the menu, the list of choices are displayed in a list in a drawn out manner.
Accessibility The ability for users and search engines to access and comprehend
content.
User experience
The experience gained by a user through using products, services, etc. Emphasis is
placed on providing an experience truly sought after by the user, such as "enjoyment,"
"convenience" and "comfort."
HTTP status code
A code that expresses the meanings of responses from the server when computers
are conveying information to each other. The code is allotted as three numerical digits,
with a diferent meaning depending on the number used.
1 SEO Basics Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis Improving Site Structure
Best Practices
Have a useful 404 page
Avoid:
Put an HTML site map page on your site, and
use an XML Sitemap fle
letting your HTML site map page become out of date with broken links
creating an HTML site map that simply lists pages without organizing them, for example by subject
Avoid:
A simple site map page with links to all of the pages or the most important pages (if you have
hundreds or thousands) on your site can be useful. Creating an XML Sitemap fle for your site helps
ensure that search engines discover the pages on your site.
Links
How Google deals with non-text fles
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=7 746
Custom 404 page
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=9 641
404 widget
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 008/08/make-your-404-pages-more-
useful.html
Sources of URLs causing "not found" errors
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 008/10/webmaster-tools-shows-
crawl-error.html
404 HTTP status code
http://www.w .org/Protocols/rfc 616/rfc 616-sec10.html
Users will occasionally come to a page that doesn't exist on your site, either by following a broken link
or typing in the wrong URL. Having a custom 404 page that kindly guides users back to a working
page on your site can greatly improve a user's experience. Your 404 page should probably have a link
back to your root page and could also provide links to popular or related content on your site. Google
provides a 404 widget that you can embed in your 404 page to automatically populate it with many
useful features. You can also use Google Webmaster Tools to fnd the sources of URLs causing "not
found" errors.
allowing your 404 pages to be indexed in search engines (make sure that your webserver is
confgured to give a 404 HTTP status code when non-existent pages are requested)
providing only a vague message like "Not found", "404", or no 404 page at all
using a design for your 404 pages that isn't consistent with the rest of your site
1 Ofer quality content and services
Optimizing Content
Interesting sites will increase their
recognition on their own
(1) A blogger finds a piece of your content, likes it, and then references it in a blog
post.
( ) The Google AdWords Keyword Tool can help you find relevant keywords on your
site and the volume of those keywords.
Glossary
Anticipate diferences in users'
understanding of your topic and ofer
unique, exclusive content
Creating compelling and useful content will likely influence
your website more than any of the other factors discussed here
(1). Users know good content when they see it and will likely want to
direct other users to it. This could be through blog posts, social media
services, email, forums, or other means.
Organic or word-of-mouth buzz is what helps build your site's
reputation with both users and Google, and it rarely comes without
quality content.
Think about the words that a user might search for to fnd a piece of
your content. Users who know a lot about the topic might use
diferent keywords in their search queries than someone who is new
to the topic. For example, a long-time baseball fan might search for
[nlcs], an acronym for the National League Championship Series,
while a new fan might use a more general query like [baseball
playofs]. Anticipating these diferences in search behavior and
accounting for them while writing your content (using a good
mix of keyword phrases) could produce positive results. Google
AdWords provides a handy Keyword Tool that helps you discover new
keyword variations and see the approximate search volume for each
keyword ( ). Also, Google Webmaster Tools provides you with the top
search queries your site appears for and the ones that led the most
users to your site.
Consider creating a new, useful service that no other site ofers. You
could also write an original piece of research, break an exciting
news story, or leverage your unique user base. Other sites may
lack the resources or expertise to do these things.
Social media service
A community-type web service that promotes and supports forging connections
among fellow users.
Google AdWords
An advertising service which places relevant advertisements on search results pages
and other content. When a user searches for keywords using Google, AdWords
advertisements related to those keywords are displayed on the right, top and/or
bottom of the search results pages alongside the organic search results.
14SEO Basics Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis
Best Practices
Stay organized around the topic
It's always benefcial to organize your content so that visitors have a good sense of where one content
topic begins and another ends. Breaking your content up into logical chunks or divisions helps users
fnd the content they want faster.
dumping large amounts of text on varying topics onto a page without paragraph, subheading, or
layout separation
Avoid:
Improving content and
services should be a
priority, regardless of the
type of website!
Write easy-to-read text
writing sloppy text with many spelling and grammatical mistakes
embedding text in images for textual content
- users may want to copy and paste the text and search engines can't read it
Avoid:
Users enjoy content that is well written and easy to follow.
Create fresh, unique content
New content will not only keep your existing visitor base coming back, but also bring in new visitors.
rehashing (or even copying) existing content that will bring little extra value to users
having duplicate or near-duplicate versions of your content across your site
- more on duplicate content
Avoid:
Links
Keyword Tool
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Top search queries
http://www.google.com/webmasters/edu/quickstartguide/sub1guide5.html
Duplicate content
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66 59
Hiding text from users
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66 5
Create content primarily for your users, not
search engines
inserting numerous unnecessary keywords aimed at search engines but are annoying or
nonsensical to users
having blocks of text like "frequent misspellings used to reach this page" that add little value for
users
deceptively hiding text from users, but displaying it to search engines
Avoid:
Designing your site around your visitors' needs while making sure your site is easily accessible to
search engines usually produces positive results.
15Write better anchor text
Optimizing Content
Anchor text is the clickable text that users will see as a result of a link,
and is placed within the anchor tag <a href="..."></a>.
This text tells users and Google something about the page
you're linking to. Links on your page maybe internal—pointing to
other pages on your site—or external—leading to content on other
sites. In either of these cases, the better your anchor text is, the easier
it is for users to navigate and for Google to understand what the page
you're linking to is about.
Suitable anchor text makes it easy to
convey the contents linked
Glossary
<a href="http://www.brandonsbaseballcards.com/articles/ten-rarest-baseball-
cards.htm">Top Ten Rarest Baseball Cards</a>
This anchor text accurately describes the content on one of our article pages.
Website
Baseball card's product page
Toppage
Baseball card
News
Baseball card Baseball card
Product list
The linked page
is about baseball
cards.
Googlebot User
With appropriate anchor text, users and search engines can easily understand what
the linked pages contain.
CSS
Abbreviation for Cascading Style Sheets; a language for defning the design and layout
of a web page.
Text style
Formatting, such as the font, size and color of the text.
16SEO Basics Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis
Best Practices
Write concise text
Aim for short but descriptive text-usually a few words or a short phrase.
writing long anchor text, such as a lengthy sentence or short paragraph of text
Avoid:
Both users and search
engines like anchor text
that is easy to
understand!
Choose descriptive text
writing generic anchor text like "page", "article", or "click here"
using text that is of-topic or has no relation to the content of the page linked to
using the page's URL as the anchor text in most cases
- although there are certainly legitimate uses of this, such as promoting or referencing a new
website's address
Avoid:
The anchor text you use for a link should provide at least a basic idea of what the page linked to is
about.
Format links so they're easy to spot
Make it easy for users to distinguish between regular text and the anchor text of your links. Your
content becomes less useful if users miss the links or accidentally click them.
Think about anchor text for internal links too
using excessively keyword-flled or lengthy anchor text just for search engines
creating unnecessary links that don't help with the user's navigation of the site
Avoid:
You may usually think about linking in terms of pointing to outside websites, but paying more attention
to the anchor text used for internal links can help users and Google navigate your site better.
using CSS or text styling that make links look just like regular text
Avoid:
17Optimize your use of images
Optimizing Content
Image-related information can be
provided for by using the "alt" attribute
Glossary
Store fles in specialized directories and
manage them using common fle formats
(1) Our image wasn't displayed to the user for some reason, but at least the alt text
was.
( ) It is easier to find
the paths to images if
they are stored in one
directory.
(root)
images
about
articles
news
006
Images may seem like a straightforward component of your site, but
you can optimize your use of them. All images can have a distinct
flename and "alt" attribute, both of which you should take
advantage of. The "alt" attribute allows you to specify alternative
text for the image if it cannot be displayed for some reason (1).
Why use this attribute? If a user is viewing your site on a browser that
doesn't support images, or is using alternative technologies, such as
a screen reader, the contents of the alt attribute provide
information about the picture.
Another reason is that if you're using an image as a link, the alt text
for that image will be treated similarly to the anchor text of a text link.
However, we don't recommend using too many images for links in
your site's navigation when text links could serve the same purpose.
Lastly, optimizing your image flenames and alt text makes it easier
for image search projects like Google Image Search to better
understand your images.
Instead of having image fles spread out in numerous directories and
subdirectories across your domain, consider consolidating your
images into a single directory (e.g. brandonsbaseballcards.com/
images/). This simplifes the path to your images.
Use commonly supported filetypes - Most browsers support JPEG,
GIF, PNG, and BMP image formats. It's also a good idea to have the
extension of your flename match with the fletype.
Screen reader
Software for speaking on-screen information or outputting to a Braille display.
ASCII language
Abbreviation for American Standard Code for Information Exchange. A character
encoding centered on the English alphabet.
18SEO Basics Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis
Best Practices
Supply alt text when using images as links
If you do decide to use an image as a link, flling out its alt text helps Google understand more about
the page you're linking to. Imagine that you're writing anchor text for a text link.
writing excessively long alt text that would be considered spammy
using only image links for your site's navigation
Avoid:
Learn how to optimize
images on your site!
Use brief, but descriptive flenames and alt text
using generic flenames like "image1.jpg", "pic.gif", "1.jpg" when possible—some sites with thousands
of images might consider automating the naming of images
writing extremely lengthy flenames
stufng keywords into alt text or copying and pasting entire sentences
Avoid:
Links
Google Image Search
http://images.google.com/
JPEG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG
GIF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIF
PNG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Graphics
BMP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMP_fle_format
Image Sitemap
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=1786 6
Supply an Image Sitemap fle
An Image Sitemap fle can provide Googlebot with more information about the images found on your
site. Its structure is similar to the XML Sitemap fle for your web pages.
Like many of the other parts of the page targeted for optimization, flenames and alt text (for ASCII
languages) are best when they're short, but descriptive.
19Use heading tags appropriately
Optimizing Content
Use heading tags to emphasize important
text
</head>
<body>
<h1>Brandon's Baseball Cards</h1>
<h >News - Treasure Trove of Baseball Cards Found in Old Barn</h >
<p>A man who recently purchased a farm house was pleasantly surprised ...
dollars worth of vintage baseball cards in the barn. The cards were ... in news
papers and were thought to be in near-mint condition. After ... the cards to his
grandson instead of selling them.</p>
(1) On a page containing a news story, we might put the name of our site into an <h1>
tag and the topic of the story into an <h > tag.
Best Practices
Use headings sparingly across the page
Use heading tags where it makes sense. Too many heading tags on a page can make it hard for users
to scan the content and determine where one topic ends and another begins.
excessively using heading tags throughout the page
putting all of the page's text into a heading tag
using heading tags only for styling text and not presenting structure
Avoid:
Imagine you're writing an outline
Avoid:
Similar to writing an outline for a large paper, put some thought into what the main points and sub-
points of the content on the page will be and decide where to use heading tags appropriately.
Heading tags are an important
website component for
catching the user's eye, so be
careful how you use them!
Glossary
Heading tags (not to be confused with the <head> HTML tag or HTTP
headers) are used to present structure on the page to users. There are
six sizes of heading tags, beginning with <h1>, the most important, and
ending with <h6>, the least important (1).
Since heading tags typically make text contained in them larger than
normal text on the page, this is a visual cue to users that this text
is important and could help them understand something about
the type of content underneath the heading text. Multiple heading
sizes used in order create a hierarchical structure for your content,
making it easier for users to navigate through your document.
placing text in heading tags that wouldn't be helpful in defning the structure of the page
using heading tags where other tags like <em> and <strong> may be more appropriate
erratically moving from one heading tag size to another
HTTP headers
In HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), diferent types of data that are sent of before
the actual data itself.
<em>
An HTML tag denoting emphasis. According to standard, it will indicate emphasis
through use of italics.
<strong>
An HTML tag denoting strong emphasis. According to standard, it will indicate
emphasis through use of bold print.
Wildcard
A character (*) that takes the place of any other character or string of characters.
.htaccess
Hypertext access fle, a fle that allows you to manage web server confguration.
Referrer log
Referrer information that is written into the access log. When it is traced, one can fnd
out from which sites visitors arrived.
0SEO Basics Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis
Make efective use of robots.txt
Dealing with Crawlers
Restrict crawling where it's not needed
with robots.txt
User-agent: *
Disallow: /images/
Disallow: /search
Use more secure methods for sensitive content
Best Practices
Keep a frm grasp on
managing exactly what
information you do and don't
want being crawled!
( ) The address of our robots.txt file.
Avoid:
Links
robots.txt generator
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 008/0 /speaking-language-of-
robots.html
Using robots.txt fles
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=156449
Caveats of each URL blocking method
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 008/01/remove-your-content-
from-google.html
A "robots.txt" fle tells search engines whether they can access
and therefore crawl parts of your site (1). This fle, which must be
named "robots.txt", is placed in the root directory of your site ( ).
You may not want certain pages of your site crawled because they
might not be useful to users if found in a search engine's search
results. If you do want to prevent search engines from crawling your
pages, Google Webmaster Tools has a friendly robots.txt generator to
help you create this fle. Note that if your site uses subdomains and
you wish to have certain pages not crawled on a particular
subdomain, you'll have to create a separate robots.txt file for that
subdomain. For more information on robots.txt, we suggest this
Webmaster Help Center guide on using robots.txt fles.
There are a handful of other ways to prevent content appearing in
search results, such as adding "NOINDEX" to your robots meta tag,
using .htaccess to password protect directories, and using Google
Webmaster Tools to remove content that has already been crawled.
Google engineer Matt Cutts walks through the caveats of each URL
blocking method in a helpful video.
(1) All compliant search engine bots (denoted by the wildcard * symbol) shouldn't
access and crawl the content under /images/ or any URL whose path begins with /
search.
You shouldn't feel comfortable using robots.txt to block sensitive or confdential material. One reason
is that search engines could still reference the URLs you block (showing just the URL, no title or
snippet) if there happen to be links to those URLs somewhere on the Internet (like referrer logs). Also,
non-compliant or rogue search engines that don't acknowledge the Robots Exclusion Standard could
disobey the instructions of your robots.txt. Finally, a curious user could examine the directories or
subdirectories in your robots.txt file and guess the URL of the content that you don't want seen.
Encrypting the content or password-protecting it with .htaccess are more secure alternatives.
allowing search result-like pages to be crawled
- users dislike leaving one search result page and landing on another search result page that doesn't
add signifcant value for them
allowing URLs created as a result of proxy services to be crawled
Robots Exclusion Standard
A convention to prevent cooperating web spiders/crawlers, such as Googlebot, from
accessing all or part of a website which is otherwise publicly viewable.
Proxy service
A computer that substitutes the connection in cases where an internal network and
external network are connecting, or software that possesses a function for this
purpose.
1Combat comment spam with "nofollow"
Automatically add "nofollow" to comment
columns and message boards
( ) A comment spammer leaves a message on one of our blogs posts, hoping to
get some of our site's reputation.
Be aware of rel="nofollow" for links
Dealing with Crawlers
Glossary
<a href="http://www.shadyseo.com" rel="nofollow">Comment spammer</a>
(1) If you or your site's users link to a site that you don't trust and/or you don't want
to pass your site's reputation, use nofollow.
( ) An example of a CAPTCHA used on Google's blog service, Blogger. It can
present a challenge to try to ensure an actual person is leaving the comment.
Setting the value of the "rel" attribute of a link to "nofollow" will
tell Google that certain links on your site shouldn't be followed
or pass your page's reputation to the pages l inked to.
Nofollowing a link is adding rel="nofollow" inside of the link's anchor
tag (1).
When would this be useful? If your site has a blog with public
commenting turned on, links within those comments could pass your
reputation to pages that you may not be comfortable vouching for.
Blog comment areas on pages are highly susceptible to comment
spam ( ). Nofollowing these user-added links ensures that you're not
giving your page's hard-earned reputation to a spammy site.
Many blogging software packages automatically nofollow user
comments, but those that don't can most likely be manually edited to
do this. This advice also goes for other areas of your site that may
involve user-generated content, such as guestbooks, forums, shout-
boards, referrer listings, etc. If you're willing to vouch for links added
by third parties (e.g. if a commenter is trusted on your site), then
there's no need to use nofollow on links; however, linking to sites
that Google considers spammy can afect the reputation of your
own site. The Webmaster Help Center has more tips on avoiding
comment spam, like using CAPTCHAs and turning on comment
moderation ( ).
Comment spamming
Refers to indiscriminate postings, on blog comment columns or message boards, of
advertisements, etc. that bear no connection to the contents of said pages.
CAPTCHA
Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.
SEO Basics Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis Dealing with Crawlers
Links
Avoiding comment spam
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=81749
Using the robots meta tag
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 007/0 /using-robots-meta-tag.html
Another use of nofollow is when you're writing content and wish
to reference a website, but don't want to pass your reputation
on to it. For example, imagine that you're writing a blog post on the
topic of comment spamming and you want to call out a site that
recently comment spammed your blog. You want to warn others of
the site, so you include the link to it in your content; however, you
certainly don't want to give the site some of your reputation from your
link. This would be a good time to use nofollow.
Lastly, if you're interested in nofollowing all of the links on a page, you
can use "nofollow" in your robots meta tag, which is placed inside the
<head> tag of that page's HTML (4). The Webmaster Central Blog
provides a helpful post on using the robots meta tag. This method is
written as <meta name="robots" content="nofollow">.
About using "nofollow" for individual
contents, whole pages, etc.
<html>
<head>
<title>Brandon's Baseball Cards - Buy Cards, Baseball News, Card Prices</title>
<meta name="description=" content="Brandon's Baseball Cards provides a
large selection of vintage and modern baseball cards for sale. We also offer
daily baseball news and events in">
<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">
</head>
<body>
(4) This nofollows all of the links on a page.
Make sure you have solid
measures in place to deal
with comment spam!
Notify Google of mobile sites
SEO for Mobile Phones
Confgure mobile sites so that they can be
indexed accurately
Verify that your mobile site is indexed by
Glossary
(1) Example of a search for [baseball cards] on Google’s
desktop search (above) and mobile search (left). Mobile
search results are built for mobile devices and are
different from "standard" desktop results.
Make sure your mobile site is
properly recognized by Google
so that searchers can fnd it.
It seems the world is going mobile, with many people using mobile
phones on a daily basis, and a large user base searching on Google’s
mobile search page. However, as a webmaster, running a mobile site
and tapping into the mobile search audience isn't easy. Mobile sites
not only use a diferent format from normal desktop sites, but
the management methods and expertise required are also quite
different. This results in a variety of new challenges. While many
mobile sites were designed with mobile viewing in mind, they weren’t
designed to be search friendly.
Here are troubleshooting tips to help ensure that your site is properly
crawled and indexed:
If your web site doesn't show up in the results of a Google mobile
search even using the site: operator, it may be that your site has one
or both of the following issues:
1. Googlebot may not be able to fnd your site
Googlebot must crawl your site before it can be included in our search
index. If you just created the site, we may not yet be aware of it. If
that's the case, create a Mobile Sitemap and submit it to Google to
inform us of the site’s existence. A Mobile Sitemap can be submitted
using Google Webmaster Tools, just like a standard Sitemap.
Mobile Sitemap
An XML Sitemap that contains URLs of web pages designed for mobile phones.
Submitting the URLs of mobile phone web content to Google notifies us of the
existence of those pages and allows us to crawl them.
User-agent
Software and hardware utilized by the user when said user is accessing a website.
XHTML Mobile
XHTML, a markup language redefined via adaptation of HTML to XML, and then
expanded for use with mobile phones.
Compact HTML
Markup language resembling HTML; it is used when creating web pages that can be
displayed on mobile phones and with PHS and PDA.
4Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers Promotions and Analysis SEO Basics SEO for Mobile Phones
Google’s mobile search page
http://www.google.com/m/
site: operator
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer= 5 56
Mobile Sitemap
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/topic.py?topic=849
Submitted using Google Webmaster Tools
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=156184
Use DNS Lookups to verify Googlebot
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ 006/09/how-to-verify-googlebot.html
Mobile Webmaster Guidelines
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=7 46
Links
Verify that Google can recognize your
mobile URLs
SetEnvIf User-Agent "Googlebot-Mobile" allow_ua
SetEnvIf User-Agent "Android" allow_ua
SetEnvIf User-Agent "BlackBerry" allow_ua
SetEnvIf User-Agent "iPhone" allow_ua
SetEnvIf User-Agent "NetFront" allow_ua
SetEnvIf User-Agent "Symbian OS" allow_ua
SetEnvIf User-Agent "Windows Phone" allow_ua
Order deny,allow
deny from all
allow from env=allow_ua
( ) An example of a mobile site restricting any access from non-mobile devices.
Please remember to allow access from user agents including “Googlebot-Mobile”.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//WAPFOLUM//DTD XHTML Mobile 1.0//EN"
"http://www.wapfolum.org/DTD/xhtml-mobile10.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w .org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta ht tp-equiv="Content-Type" content="appl icat ion/xhtml+xml ;
charset=Shift_JIS" />
( ) An example of DTD for mobile devices.
2. Googlebot may not be able to access your site
Some mobile sites refuse access to anything but mobile phones,
making it impossible for Googlebot to access the site, and therefore
making the site unsearchable. Our crawler for mobile sites is
"Googlebot-Mobile". If you'd like your site crawled, please allow
any User-agent including "Googlebot-Mobile" to access your
site ( ). You should also be aware that Google may change its User-
agent information at any time without notice, so we don't recommend
checking whether the User-agent exactly matches "Googlebot-
Mobile" (the current User-agent). Instead, check whether the User-
agent header contains the string "Googlebot-Mobile". You can also
use DNS Lookups to verify Googlebot.
Once Googlebot-Mobile crawls your URLs, we then check for whether
each URL is viewable on a mobile device. Pages we determine
aren't viewable on a mobile phone won't be included in our
mobile site index (although they may be included in the regular web
index). This determination is based on a variety of factors, one of
which is the "DTD (Doc Type Defnition)" declaration. Check that your
mobile-friendly URLs' DTD declaration is in an appropriate mobile
format such as XHTML Mobile or Compact HTML ( ). If it's in a
compatible format, the page is eligible for the mobile search index.
For more information, see the Mobile Webmaster Guidelines.
5Guide mobile users accurately
SEO for Mobile Phones
Running desktop and mobile versions of
your site
Redirect mobile users to the correct
version
Homepage
Product page
Mobile version
Homepage
Redirect
Redirect
Mobile user
(1) An example of redirecting a user to the
mobile version of the URL when it's accessed
from a mobile device. In this case, the content
on both URLs needs to be as similar as possible.
Desktop version
Product page
Glossary
One of the most common problems for webmasters who run
both mobile and desktop versions of a site is that the mobile
version of the site appears for users on a desktop computer, or
that the desktop version of the site appears when someone
accesses it on a mobile device. In dealing with this scenario, here
are two viable options:
When a mobile user or crawler (like Googlebot-Mobile) accesses the
desktop version of a URL, you can redirect them to the corresponding
mobile version of the same page. Google notices the relationship
between the two versions of the URL and displays the standard
version for searches from desktops and the mobile version for
mobile searches.
If you redirect users, please make sure that the content on the
corresponding mobile/desktop URL matches as closely as possible
(1). For example, if you run a shopping site and there's an access from
a mobile phone to a desktop-version URL, make sure that the user
is redirected to the mobile version of the page for the same
product, and not to the homepage of the mobile version of the
site. We occasionally find sites using this kind of redirect in an
attempt to boost their search rankings, but this practice only results
in a negative user experience, and so should be avoided at all costs.
On the other hand, when there's an access to a mobile-version URL
from a desktop browser or by our web crawler, Googlebot, it's not
necessary to redirect them to the desktop-version. For instance,
Google doesn't automatically redirect desktop users from their mobile
site to their desktop site; instead they include a link on the mobile-
version page to the desktop version. These links are especially helpful
when a mobile site doesn't provide the full functionality of the desktop
version—users can easily navigate to the desktop-version if they
prefer.
Redirect
Being automatically transported from one specified web page to another specified
web page when browsing a website.
6SEO Basics Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers SEO for Mobile Phones Promotions and Analysis
Be sure to guide the user
to the right site for their
device!
( ) Example of changing the format of a page based on the User-agent. In this case,
the desktop user is supposed to see what Googlebot sees and the mobile user is
supposed to see what Googlebot-mobile sees.
Website
Desktop user
Googlebot
Googlebot-Mobile
Mobile user
Must be same
Must be same
Desktop contents
Mobile contents
Can be
diferent
Some sites have the same URL for both desktop and mobile content,
but change their format according to User-agent. In other words, both
mobile users and desktop users access the same URL (i.e. no
redirects), but the content/format changes slightly according to the
User-agent. In this case, the same URL will appear for both mobile
search and desktop search, and desktop users can see a
desktop version of the content while mobile users can see a
mobile version of the content ( ).
However, note that if you fail to confgure your site correctly, your site
could be considered to be cloaking, which can lead to your site
disappearing from our search results. Cloaking refers to an attempt to
boost search result rankings by serving different content to
Googlebot than to regular users. This causes problems such as less
relevant results (pages appear in search results even though their
content is actually unrelated to what users see/want), so we take
cloaking very seriously.
So what does "the page that the user sees" mean if you provide both
versions with a URL? As I mentioned in the previous post, Google
uses "Googlebot" for web search and "Googlebot-Mobile" for
mobile search. To remain within our guidelines, you should
serve the same content to Googlebot as a typical desktop user
would see, and the same content to Googlebot-Mobile as you
would to the browser on a typical mobile device. It's fine if the
contents for Googlebot are diferent from those for Googlebot-Mobile.
One example of how you could be unintentionally detected as
cloaking is if your site returns a message like "Please access from
mobile phones" to desktop browsers, but then returns a full mobile
version to both crawlers (so Googlebot receives the mobile version).
In this case, the page which web search users see (e.g. "Please
access from mobile phones") is different from the page which
Googlebot crawls (e.g. "Welcome to my site"). Again, we detect
cloaking because we want to serve users the same relevant content
that Googlebot or Googlebot-Mobile crawled.
Switch content based on User-agent
Google mobile
http://www.google.com/m/
Cloaking
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66 55
Links
Can be
diferent
7Promote your website in the right ways
Promotions and Analysis
About increasing backlinks with an
intention to increase the value of the site
Master making announcements via blogs
and being recognized online
My blog
Website
Product page
Glossary
( ) By having your business registered for Google Places, you can promote your
site through Google Maps and Web searches.
News: “I have a new card!”
User’s blogs Social media service
Newsletter, DM,
Posters, etc.
Online Ofine
(1) Promoting your site and having quality links could lead to increasing your site’s
reputation.
While most of the links to your site will be gained gradually, as people
discover your content through search or other ways and link to it,
Google understands that you'd like to let others know about the hard
work you've put into your content. Efectively promoting your new
content will lead to faster discovery by those who are interested
in the same subject (1). As with most points covered in this
document, taking these recommendations to an extreme could
actually harm the reputation of your site.
A blog post on your own site letting your visitor base know that you
added something new is a great way to get the word out about new
content or services. Other webmasters who follow your site or
RSS feed could pick the story up as well.
Putting efort into the ofine promotion of your company or site can
also be rewarding. For example, if you have a business site, make sure
its URL is listed on your business cards, letterhead, posters, etc. You
could also send out recurring newsletters to clients through the mail
letting them know about new content on the company's website.
If you run a local business, adding its information to Google Places
will help you reach customers on Google Maps and web search.
The Webmaster Help Center has more tips on promoting your local
business.
RSS feed
Data including full or summarized text describing an update to a site/blog. RSS is an
abbreviation for RDF Site Summary; a service using a similar data format is Atom.
8Improving Site Structure Optimizing Content Dealing with Crawlers Promotions and Analysis SEO for Mobile Phones SEO Basics
Google Places
http://www.google.com/local/add/
Promoting your local business
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=9 19
Links
Best Practices
Know about social media sites
Sites built around user interaction and sharing have made it easier to match interested groups of
people up with relevant content.
Reach out to those in your site's related
community
Chances are, there are a number of sites that cover topic areas similar to yours. Opening up
communication with these sites is usually beneficial. Hot topics in your niche or community could
spark additional ideas for content or building a good community resource.
spamming link requests out to all sites related to your topic area
purchasing links from another site with the aim of getting PageRank instead of trafc
Avoid:
attempting to promote each new, small piece of content you create; go for big, interesting items
involving your site in schemes where your content is artifcially promoted to the top of these services
Avoid:
Is your site doing OK?
9Make use of free webmaster tools
Promotions and Analysis
Major search engines, including Google, provide free tools for
webmasters. Google's Webmaster Tools help webmasters better
control how Google interacts with their websites and get useful
information from Google about their site. Using Webmaster Tools
won't help your site get preferential treatment; however, it can help
you identify issues that, if addressed, can help your site perform
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http://www.google.com/websiteoptimizer/
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Sunday, 8 January 2012
Melad e Mustafa In Quran Hadees عید میلاد النبی کا قرآن و حدیث سے ثبوت
Melad e Mustafa In Quran Hadees
Melad In Quran Hadees
Milad In Quran o Hadees
Eid Melad Un Nabi
عید میلاد النبی
عید میلاد النبی کا قرآن و حدیث سے ثبوت
Melad e Mustafa |
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Question:
Please give me the evidence about Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi in the light of Quran & Ahadith.
Ans.
Before writing the arguments of Eid Milad-un-Nabi (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him), I want to clear the meaning of Milad according to literature and Shariah.
The word Milad has been derived from "viladut" which means birth. Therefore, according to Arabic language, Milad is word which signifies the place and time of birth. In the light of Shariah, we means, Milad is to remember the events which took place at the birth time of the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) and we get the opportunity of narrating the Seerat of the Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) on this occasion, we also presents the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) gifts of Durood -o- salam. We mention before the people attributes and praises of the Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him). We do not believe that Milad is specified with same night but, we believe that the remembrance of the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) is incumbent in each minute and second of time and every Muslim should act it sunnahs in the whole life time. Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) is a great source of preaching. It is incumbent for scholars to teach Muslims nations on this Holy occasion, moral behavior of the Holy Prophet, (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) his antiquates, His affairs, His Seerat, His dealings and His worships.
Now I write the proofs of Milad from the Holy Quran, the hadith of the Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) and consensus of Ulemas.
Evidence of the Holy Quran The Qur’anic verses proves that to celebrate Milad is not only a proper deed but it is also a praiseworthy. 1) Allah Almighty says in Quran: "The peace is on Him the day when he was born and the day when he will die and the day when he will be raised alive." (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Al-Maryam, Verse 15) In the above verse Allah Almighty has mentioned the complete Milad of Hazrat Yahya (Alaihis Salam). And before this Allah Almighty has mentioned the events which took place before the birth. It is the same way of celebrating birth day as Ahle Sunnat adopts for the Milad of the last Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) of Allah Almighty. In other words the Prophet of Allah Almighty Hazrat Isa (Alaihis Salam) celebrates his own Milad. 2) As Allah Almighty says: "And the same peace on me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I would be raised alive." (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Al Maryam, Verse 33) Before this verse Allah Almighty has stated the whole story of Maryam (Allah may pleased with him) that who she got pregnant and gave birth her great son, the Prophet of Allah Isa (Alaihi Salam). Allah Almighty also mentioned the words of Isa (Alaihis Salam) by which Isa (Alaihis Salam) praised himself. This style of narrating story is nothing but celebration of Milad of Isa Alaihis Salam. Ahle Sunnat also narrate the story of Holy Prophet Muhammad (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) in the same style. We too narrate the events which took place before the birth and after it as Allah Almighty narrated about Yahya and Isa (Alaihimus Salam). Therefore, a person who has eyes of justice will obviously accept that to celebrate Milad is an important deed which Allah Almighty has done. So it proves that the basis of Milad is found in the Holy Quran. 3) Allah Almighty says: "And remind them of the days of the Allah." (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Ibrahim, Verse5) In this verse Allah Almighty orders his prophet Musa Alaihis Salam to remind his nation the days of Allah Almighty. "The days of Allah" are those days in which great events took place or Allah Almighty bestowed his great rewards to his creature. As the Holy Quran testifies this explanation of the days of Allah Almighty. In the Holy Quran Musa Alaihis Salam says: "And when Musa said it his people remember Allah's favor upon you, when he delivered you from Firawn's people who used to afflict you worstly, and slaughter your sons and let your daughters live and in it there was shown great mercy of your lord." (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Ibrahim, Verse 6) According to the Qur’anic verse emancipation of the nation of Musa Alaihis Salam from Firawn is a day of Allah, so the birth day of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) is, with any doubt, also a day of Allah, because the Prophet Muhammad (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) emancipated whole world from the darkness of ignorance and brought them to the light of guidance. Therefore, the birthday (Milad) of the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) deserves to be celebrated then the celebration of any other event. In case we would not be grateful to Allah Almighty for his favor, which is Muhammad (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him). He will punish us severely. As Allah Almighty says: "And remember when your lord proclaimed, if you will be great full then I shall give you more and if you’re thankless then my treatment is severe." (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Ibrahim, and Verse 7) 4) Allah Almighty says: "Then remember the bounties of Allah and wander not in the earth spreading mischief." (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Araf, Verse 74) In the above verse Allah Almighty orders us to remember his bounties and rewards. The last Prophet of Allah Almighty Muhammad (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) is, undoubtedly, great blessing of Allah Almighty for whole mankind. Allah Almighty himself considers the Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) his great favor for mankind as He says: "Undoubtedly, Allah did a great favor to the Muslims that in them from among themselves sent a messenger who recites unto them His signs and purifies them and teaches them the book and wisdom and necessarily before that they were certainly apparent error. (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Ale Imran, Verse 164) Therefore, according to the Qur’anic commandments we must remember the beloved Prophet of Allah Muhammad (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) and Milad-un-Nabi is a best way of remembrance of the greatest Prophet (Allah’s Grace and Peace be upon him). In another words Allah Almighty says: "And publicize well the favor of your lord" (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Al Duha, Verse 11) The companion of the Holy Prophet (Allah’s Grace and Peace be upon him) Hazrat Abdullah Ibne Abbas (Allah is well pleased with Him) explained the word favors. He says here, In this verse favor signifies the prophet hood and Islam. (Tafseer Ibne Abbas, Sure Al Duha, Page 651). So in the light of the given explanation by the cousin of the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him), we can say that Allah Almighty orders us to remember Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) in our gatherings between the people, in our mosque between the worshiper and in our houses between our families and Milad un Nabi (Allah’s Grace and Peace be upon him), as I have written is a best way for this Qur’anic purpose. 4) Allah Almighty orders us: "Say you oly Allah's grace and his mercy, on it therefore let them rejoice. That is better then all their wealth." In this verse Allah Almighty orders us to enjoy on his grace and mercy. If we see around us we find that each favor of Allah Almighty is great mercy for us. Even our existence is also a mercy of Allah Almighty. But the greatest of Allah is the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him). As Allah Almighty says: "And we sent not you but mercy for all worlds." (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Al Ambiyaa, Verse 107) So according the Qur’anic teachings it is necessary for us that ewe must be happy and pleased on the birthday of the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him). The one who pleases with the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) is really a true follower of the Quran. And it is obvious that, in whole world Muslims celebrates Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him). Specially for enjoying the mercy of Allah Almighty that is the beloved prophet of Allah Almighty (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him)Therefore the Holy Quran itself confirms the Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) 5) The gathering of Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) incite Muslims on saying Durood and Salam ( to pray for prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) of blessing and peace) Allah Almighty says: "Oh you who I believe send upon Him blessing and salute Him fully well in abundance. (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Al Ahzab, Verse 56) According to the law of Shariah, a thing which is desired by Shariah, is exactly a like an aim of Shariah. And the benefits of Durood -o- salam are so much in numbers that can not be counted. Durood -o- salam causes for the help of Allah Almighty in this world and here after. So Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) is a source of fulfilling the commandments of Allah Almighty 6) Allah Almighty says: "And all that we narrate to you of the tidings of the messengers is for the purpose of strengthening your heart therewith." (Kanzul Iman the translation of Holy Quran, Sura Hood, Verse 121) This Qur’anic verse reveals that the wisdom of mentioning the stories and events of Prophets (Alaihis salam) was to stand fast the heart of the last prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him). And it is obvious that we are, also today, in need of being stand fast. We must know that how; the prophet of Allah (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) faced the problems of his time so that we may face the problems of our times according to the Sunnah. Therefore Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) provides us an opportunity to know about the affair of the Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him). Evidence of Hadith (Narrations of the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) There are many narrations, which proves the Milad Sharif but I write a few. 1) The Prophet of Allah (Allah’s Grace and Peace be upon him) himself stated his own birth from very beginning He says: "I had been transferred, continuously, from purified offspring to purified wombs. I had been given birth by a lawful marriage not by adultery. When Allah Almighty sent Adam Alaihis Salam on earth so He put me in his spine and then transferred in Nuh Alaihis salam in his boat, and then in Ibrahim Alaihis salam Allah Almighty transferred me continuously from noble offspring to the purified wombs up to that He brought me in my parents who never committed adultery." (Tafseer Ruhul Bayan, Vol. 3, Page 54) As I have written in the beginning that Milad means the time of birth or place of birth. So the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) himself celebrated his own Milad. In the same way Ahle Sunnat following the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him)narrate the events of the birth of the Holy Prophet (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) .This hadith is the clear proof Milad un Nabi (Allah’s Grace and Peace be upon him) and as well as tell us that to celebrate Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) is not innovation (bidat) but it is a sunnah (tradition) of Prophet (Allah’s Grace and Peace be upon him). There are many other narrations which narrate that the Prophet of Allah (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) celebrate his own Milad several times, some of those narrations have been written in Mishkat Sharif. 2) "The one who rejoices on the birth day of the Holy Prophet would not be severely punished and it is hopped that a Muslim who celebrate the Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him), will not be punished in hell. Imam Bukhari Rahmatullah Alaih narrates that Abu Lahab would be punished lightly in the hell on Monday. Because he rejoiced and freed his handmaid indicating by his finger, when the Prophet of Allah Almighty (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) took birth. So as a reward of happiness on Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) he would be given water by his finger. (Saheehul Bukhari Vol. 2, Page 764) Imam shams ud din Naseer Al Damaishqi narrates this hadith in poetry. Here is its translation. If such kafir was denounced (in the Quran) And perished are his hands, and in the flame is his eternal abode. It is narrated every Monday. His torment is made easy for his joy at the birth of Ahmad. (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) What is the expectation then of a servant who spent all his life. Happy with the arrival of Ahmad (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) and died on the one ness of Allah Almighty. (Haul-ul-Ahtifal Bil Mawlid Al-Nabvi Al Sharif, Page 11) 2) The Holy Prophet Muhammad (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) celebrated his own Milad by having fast. Imam Wali ud din write this narration with reference to the Saheeh Muslim. When the Prophet of Allah (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) was asked about the fast of Monday. He (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) said: "I took birth and the Quran was revealed upon me in this day." (Mishkat Sharif, Page 179) This narration proves that to celebrate Milad un Nabi is a tradition of the Holy Prophet (Allah’s Grace and Peace be upon him) on every Monday. Secondly it is lawful to fix a particular day for Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him). Thirdly it is an act of sunnah to worship in the pleasure of the Milad un Nabi (Allah's Grace and Peace be upon him) Evidence of general consensus of Muslim ummah and scholars (Ulema) 1) Imam Al-Hafiz Al-Suyuti in his famous book "Al-Hawii Lil-Fatawii" allocated a special chapter on that topic and named it "The Excellence of Objective in Celebrating the Mawlid" where he said: The question under consideration is what the verdict of the Shari'ah on celebrating the Holy Birthday of the Noble Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) during the month of Rabbi-ul-Awwal. From the point of view of Shari'ah is this a praiseworthy action or a blameworthy one? And do those who arrange such celebration Receive blessings or not? He said: "The reply to this question is that in my view the Milad Shareef (Celebration of the Birthday of the Noble Prophet Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) is in fact such an occasion of happiness on which people assemble and recite the Holy Qu'ran to the extent that is easy. Then they relate the prophecies concerning the appearance of the Noble Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) that have been transmitted in Ahadith and Author, and the miraculous events and signs that took place on his birth. Then food is set before them and according to their desire they partake thereof to satisfaction. This festival of celebrating the birthday of the Noble Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) is a Bid'ah Hasanah (good Innovation) and those arranging it will get blessing, since in such a celebration is found the expression of joy and happiness at the greatness and eminence of the Noble Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) and his birth". Even Ibn Tay'miah said in his book "Necessity of the Right Path", p. 266, 5th line from the bottom of that page, published by Dar Al-Hadith, the following: "As far as what people do during the Milad, either as a rival celebration to that which the Christian do during the time of Christ's birthday or as an expression of their love and admiration and a sign of praise for the Noble Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him), Allah Almighty will surely reward them for such Ijtihad". He then said: "Although Milad was not practiced by (Salaf), they should have done so since there was no objection against it from the Shari'ah point of view". And we certainly only celebrate Milad out of love and admiration to the Prophet of all Mankind. 2. Imam Al-Hafiz Al-Qastalani, who gave commentary on Sahih Bukhari, said: "May Allah Almighty shower his Mercy upon a person who takes the days of the month of Rabbi-ul-Awwal, in which the Noble Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) was born, as days of feast and celebration for doing so is the best cure for the heart of an ailing person." 3. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar was asked, same reference of Imam Suyuti, about Milad Shareef. His reply was: "Milad Shareef is, in fact, and innovation, which was not transmitted from any pious predecessor in the first three centuries. Nevertheless, both acts of virtue as well as acts of abomination are found in it (i.e. Sometimes acts of virtue are found therein and sometimes acts of abomination). If in the Milad Shareef only acts of virtue are done and acts of abomination are abstained from, then the Milad Shareef is a Bid'ah Hasanah (good innovation), otherwise not." He then added " "To do any virtuous act and to observe it annually as means of recollection for any special day on which Allah Almighty has bestowed any favor or removed any calamity is a form of showing gratitude to Allah Almighty. Gratitude to Allah Almighty is expressed through different kinds of Ibaadah (worship) -prostration and standing in prayer, charity and recitation of the Holy Qu'ran. And what is a greater favor from Allah Almighty can there be than the appearance of the Prophet of Mercy (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) on this day (i.e. 12th of Rabbi-ul-Awwal)?" Some people do not limit it and celebrate the Milad Shareef on any day of Rabbi-ul-Awwal. Nay, some people have extended it even more and increased the period to the whole year. According to the latter, the Milad Shareef can be celebrated on any day of the year. The objective here is the same, i.e. to rejoice at and celebrate the Holy Birth of the Noble Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him). 4. Imam Abu-Bakr Abdullah Al-Dimashqi compiled a number of books on the subject and called them "Collection of Traditions on the Birth of the Chosen Prophet", "The Pure Expression on the Birthday of the Best of Creations" and "The Spring for the Thirsty One on the Birth of the Rightly Guided". 5. Imam Al-Hafiz Al-Iraqi wrote a book and called it "The Pure Spring on the Sublime Birth". 6. Imam Ibn Dahyah wrote a book and called it "Enlightenment on the Birthday of the Bearer of Good News, The Warner". 7. Imam Mulla Ali Qari wrote a book and called it "The Quenching Spring on the Birthday of the Prophet". (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) 8. Imam Shams ul-Din bin Naseer Al-Dimashqi, said in his book: "The Spring for the Thirsty One on the Birth of the Rightly Guided" about the story of Abu Lahab that he will receive a light punishment every Monday for expressing joy at the birth of the Noble Prophet (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon him) on that day. The Imam said the following verse of poetry, the translation is: If such Kafir was denounced in the (Qur'an) and perished are his hands, and in the Flames is his eternal abode It is narrated that every Monday. His torment is made easy for his Joy at the Birth of Ahmad What is the expectation then of a servant who spent all his life Happy with the Arrival of Ahmad (Allah's Grace & Peace be upon Him) and died on the Oneness of Allah. 9. Imam Shams Ul-Din Ibn aL-Jazri, the Imam of reciters, wrote a book and named it "The Scent of Notification on the Blessed Birthday". 10. Imam Al-Hafiz Ibn Al-Jawzi said in the description of Milad: "Peace and Tranquility takes over during that year and a good glad tiding to obtain your wish and inspiration". 11. Imam Abu-Shamah, The Sheik of Al Hafiz Al Nawawi, said: |
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