Wordpress Security Tweaks

December 19th, 2008

I’m constantly on the lookout for security problems with software I maintain.  Matt Cutts correctly points out that our own software tends to get away from us.

Follow his three tips, and lock down your Wordpress install today!

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Take That Spammers

December 16th, 2008


days

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Updated to Coltrane

December 11th, 2008

Seo-domains.com upgraded to Wordpress 2.7, Coltrane. Enjoy!

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Upgraded to Latest Wordpress

December 4th, 2008

I just completed an upgrade of this blog to the latest stable release of WordPress (Version 2.6.5).

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Search Wiki On Google

November 21st, 2008

Google has enabled yet another change to the SERPs.  This one lets the user mark up the search results.

See more on the Google Official Blog.

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Get Creative with Domainr

November 3rd, 2008

With ICANN going down the path of new TLDs, now, more than ever, it is time to get creative with your domain names.

Enter domainr.

While too-cool-for-school domains like cr.yp.to and del.ico.us may not have had the benefit of such a search engine, now you do!

Head over now and then come back for SEO advice for your new domain!

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Browse Faster With Chrome DNS Pre-Fetching

October 20th, 2008
Chrome

Chrome

Faster than a Speeding DNS Lookup

Google’s Chrome browser draws many favorable reviews for its speed.  But how exactly is Chrome faster?  Google utilized DNS pre-fetching as one method to speed up their browser.

About:DNS

Prefetching DNS records produced benefits for 4 hostnames

Host name Applicable Prefetch
Time (ms)		 Recent Resolution
Time(ms)		 How long ago
(HH:MM:SS)
flickr.com 49 1 03
vsnax.com 84 0 07
www.cnn.com 83 0 19
clients1.google.com 93 0 08:35
—minimum— 49 0 03
—average— 77 0 02:16
standard deviation 17 0 n/a
—maximum— 93 1 08:35
—–SUM—– 309 1 n/a

Prefetching DNS records was not yet beneficial for 114 hostnames

Previously cached resolutions were found for 8 hostnames

Prefetching DNS records revealed non-existance for 7 hostnames

Future startups will prefetch DNS records for 10 hostnames

Host name Applicable Prefetch
Time (ms)		 Recent Resolution
Time(ms)		 How long ago
(HH:MM:SS)
a56.g.akamai.net 0 92 09:17
cache.gawker.com 0 66 08:13
cache.lifehacker.com 0 110 08:15
clients1.google.com 93 0 08:35
img0.gmodules.com 0 194 08:33
lifehacker.com 0 1 08:16
skins.gmodules.com 0 65 08:33
tags.lifehacker.com 0 69 08:16
www.google.com 0 1 09:24
www.united.com 0 69 09:18
—minimum— 0 0 08:13
—average— 9 66 08:40
standard deviation 28 56 n/a
—maximum— 93 194 09:24
—–SUM—– 93 667 n/a

About:histograms/DNS

Histogram: DNS.PrefetchFoundNameL recorded 134 samples, average = 176.9, standard deviation = 172.9 (flags = 0x1)
   0 ...
  47 -----O                                                                    (3 = 2.2%) {0.0%}
  64 ---------------------------------O                                        (19 = 14.2%) {2.2%}
  87 ---------------------------------------------O                            (26 = 19.4%) {16.4%}
 118 ------------------------------------------------------------------------O (42 = 31.3%) {35.8%}
 160 ---------------------------------O                                        (19 = 14.2%) {67.2%}
 217 ------------------------O                                                 (14 = 10.4%) {81.3%}
 294 ------------O                                                             (7 = 5.2%) {91.8%}
 398 ...
 989 -------O                                                                  (4 = 3.0%) {97.0%}
1340 ...
Histogram: DNS.PrefetchPositiveHitL recorded 4 samples, average = 77.0, standard deviation = 17.2 (flags = 0x1)
  0 ...
 47 ------------------------------------O                                     (1 = 25.0%) {0.0%}
 64 ------------------------------------------------------------------------O (2 = 50.0%) {25.0%}
 87 ------------------------------------O                                     (1 = 25.0%) {75.0%}
118 ...
Histogram: DNS.UnexpectedResolutionL recorded 43 samples, average = 84.3, standard deviation = 55.9 (flags = 0x1)
   0 ---------------------------------------------------O                      (3 = 7.0%)
   1 ---------------------------------------------------O                      (3 = 7.0%) {7.0%}
   2 ...
  64 ------------------------------------------------------------------------O (21 = 48.8%) {14.0%}
  87 -------------------------------O                                          (9 = 20.9%) {62.8%}
 118 -------O                                                                  (2 = 4.7%) {83.7%}
 160 --------------O                                                           (4 = 9.3%) {88.4%}
 217 ---O                                                                      (1 = 2.3%) {97.7%}
 294 ...

Disabling DNS Pre-Fetching

Don’t like all this fancy business?  Go to Options->Under the Hood, and deselect the DNS-Prefetching option.

Firefox Users Have Option Too

If you are a die-hard Firefox user not willing to give up your trusty browser, you too can have the benefit of DNS pre-fetchings.  Try out the DNS Prefetch Firefox Plugin.

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Bounce Rate: 50% or Less

October 20th, 2008
Bounce Rate

Bounce Rate

Bouncy, Bouncy, Bounce

Bounce rate is defined as the percentage of users who, upon landing on your site, redirect elsewhere instead of clicking through within the site.  One of the best metrics you can use to measure your site is the bounce rate. Google calls it “the sexiest metric ever.”

Industry Averages

Most sites have a bounce rate between 40%-60%.  For the purposes of this discussion, lets shoot for less than 50%.  With Google Analytics, you can drill down on a bounce rate from the various referrers that send traffic to your site.

Referrer Analysis

The best sites will send you highly qualified traffic.  These users will tend be “sticky.”  This mean they will surf around on your page and are more likley to convert, for example by signing up for your RSS feed.

Analyze Per Site

You should track your bounce rate per site.  This will tell you how targetted your overall traffic is.

Analyze Per Referring Site

Also, analyze your bounce rate per referring site.  This bounce rate will tell you how relevant traffic is from the referrer.

Closing

If you look at just one metric for your site, it should be bounce rate.  Once you unlock this number and start tracking it, you are on your way to better targetting.  So, what is your bounce rate?

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Three Ways to Successfully Linkbait

October 16th, 2008

Linkbait: Setting the Hook

Have you been wondering what SEOs mean when they talk about linkbaiting? Do you  whant to know how and why linkbaiting  is done?  Put simply, linkbaiting is the process of creating link-worthy content that gets other bloggers and sites to link back to linkbait content.   The bait, in this case, is the content.  The link is what you are trying to catch.  Linkbaiting is a powerful techniuqe for any professional in the world of internet marketing. In its core, linkbaiting means simply influencing other sites to position a direct link to your content.

Lists

Lists are the number one tool you can use to create linkbait style content.  People love lists.  The top stories on Digg frequently have titles like Top 10 Notorious Gangs, 20 Excellent AJAX Hacks You Should Know, Top 25 Sexiest Newscasters.

Get the picture?  Lists work.

Tools

Provide users with a nice  tool that they can use on their blog.  Have a link that points back to your site.  Everyone loves a freebie. Offer free tools to your users and they’ll reward you by referring their friends and readers.  For great examplea, check out DNS Stuff and SEOmoz.

Controversy

Sometimes it is better to be controversial than right. You can get people to read your linkbait article if for no other reason than they title has upset them in some way.  Here’s one attempt at a controversial topic that didn’t quite do it.  Can you do better?

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Google Tests New Snippet Length (S, M, L)

September 29th, 2008

S, M, L

Starting today, my search result pages in Google have a new feature.  Now, the user can select the length of the snippet that is displayed below the search result.  S takes away the snippet completely.  M seems to display the standard snippet from before this feature.  L displays a much longer snippet, two or three paragraphs worth of data.  Also, chosing either S, or L seems to increase or decrease the number of search engine results shown on the first page.

Effects on SEO

So, what will the effects of this new feature be on SEO?  First of all, we all need to figure out how Google is determining what to place in the large (long?) version of the snippet.  This information should be forthcoming shortly if this S,M,L feature is around for the long term.  Second, we’ll need to determine what the SEO effects will be if users decide to go with the S (short?)

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