Mac SEO Blog

This video is an update to an older video tutorial. In this video, we will show you how to properly verify your website with Google Webmaster Tools using Sitemap Automator, and then submit your Sitemap to Google and the other major search engines. If you haven’t already, please watch the first part of this tutorial which will show you how to create and publish an XML Sitemap.

Video Transcript:

So now that our Sitemaps have been published to our websites, we must notify the search engines. To do so, we’ll simply press the Notify Search Engines button. When you press this button, you will most likely see this window popup. This window is for instructions on notifying Google about your Sitemap. Notifying Google is slightly different from notifying other search engines. To notify Google, we will be creating an account for what is called Google Webmater Tools. In Google Webmaster Tools, we will be provided with some very useful information about our websites.

So to begin the process, first click on the Create account button. Your web browser will appear at the Google Webmaster Tools website. The first thing you’ll need to do is sign in with you Google account. If you don’t have an account, you can easily create one by clicking on the button for signing up for a new account.

When you are logged in the first thing you will need to do is click on the Add a site button. Then, you will need to paste your site’s URL and press the Continue button. Note that you did not copy your URL, but it was copied for you when you pressed on the Create Account button to be taken to Google Webmaster Tools.

Our next step is to verify our website. The reason we must verify is because Google Webmaster Tools will provide us with certain information about our sites. Information that only the webmaster should have, and not the general public. Because of this, we verify that we are the actual owner of the site.

First, we’ll click on the link to download the HTML verification file.

Then we’ll go back to Sitemap Automator, and select File in the menu bar, followed by Publish Verification File. Then press the Select Verification File button, and locate the verification file that you just downloaded. Highlight it and click Open.

Now we must Publish the verification file. If you publish to iDisk, click the Publish to iDisk button. If you publish to FTP, press the Publish to FTP button. Publish the file just like you did when you published the Sitemap.

When you are done publishing, go back to your web browser to where Google Webmaster Tools is open, and click on the link to confirm that the uploading of the file was successful. If you see a page like this, then you have done it correctly. If you get an error, then you have not done it correctly and you must try it again.

If you have published it correctly, click the Verify button.

You have now successfully verified your site. We have just a couple more steps left at this point. If you see this page, click the Continue button.

Make sure you get to your site’s Dashboard in Google Webmaster Tools. Click on Site Configuration, and then select Sitemaps. Then click on Submit a Sitemap and then type in sitemap.xml just like I am doing.

At this point, you have just submitted your Sitemap to Google.

Now just go back to Sitemap Automator and click on the Notify Search Engines button and your Sitemap will have been submitted to Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.

Remember to subscribe and visit our site for the next steps in our Sitemap Automator Instructional series.

We’ve just posted an all new update for WebCrusher. WebCrusher optimizes your website so it loads as fast as possible for your website visitors.

Version 2.1, which is free for registered users, provides faster publishing features, better support for Sandvox, the easy to use web building software, and a few other optimization fixes.

Download the WebCrusher trial for free and have a faster loading websites in just minutes!

The video tutorial below will show you the basics of creating an XML Sitemap using Sitemap Automator. We will also cover the basic points of publishing your Sitemap to your server.

Video Transcript:

To create an XML Sitemap using Sitemap Automator, the first thing you must do is add your site’s URL by clicking the New Sitemap button, and typing in your URL. Pay close attention to make sure there are no mistakes in your URL such as seeing http more than once.

Then click on the Create Sitemap button. Sitemap Automator will now scan through your website and find all of the available internal links on your site. When it is done you will be able to see all of the links that it was able to find.

Your next step is to click the Generate Sitemap button.

Now we must publish this Sitemap to our server. From the drop down menu, select to publish either to your iDisk or to your FTP server, and then press the Publish button.

If you publish to iDisk, your publish window will look like this. Select the option to publish to the root folder if you only have one website on your MobileMe account. If you have more than one, select the option to publish to selected website, and then select the website that you want to publish the Sitemap to, and then press the Publish button.

If you publish to FTP, your publish window will look like this. Enter your FTP login details in each of the fields. The Server field is usually just your website’s URL without the http, or www. If you are unsure of what your username, password, or root directory path may be, you will need to contact your web host to find out. When you are finished filling all the fields out, press the Upload button.

Your Sitemap should now be live on your site.

Remember to subscribe and visit our site for the next steps in our Sitemap Automator Instructional series.

We have just posted an update to Domainer, bringing it to version 2.1. This free update fixes problems with getting incoming links and Google PageRank for domains.

Domainer is the fully features domain management software for Mac OS X and Windows. It keeps track of when domains are expiring and important SEO details.

This isn’t a goodbye, but a well deserved Thank You.

Thank you for your ideas. Thank you for your inspiration. Thank you for the positive influence you have had on all of us here.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.

Learn about the title tag of a website and how it plays a role not only on your website but in the search results as well. We’ll then take you through SEIntelligence and show you how you can update your title tags.

Video Transcript:

So now that we’re familiar with the on-page optimizations interface, let’s jump right in and begin learning how to optimize our sites. We’ll start with the title tag, which is one of the most important on-page SEO elements.

If you’re not too familiar with the title tag, it is the block of text that will usually appear at the very top of your web browser. The title tag also appears as the clickable link, when you do a search query.

The title tag tells search engines a lot about a website. Placing our primary and secondary keywords into our title tag is a good way to tell search engines about our webpage, so that our pages can be indexed accordingly.

On the Title Tag tab, you will see the suggestions for your page at the bottom. You will be told how often that keyword is being used in the title tag by the sites that rank in the top 10 for that keyword. Generally, the keyword will be used one or two times by the top ranked sites.

You will also see suggestions for optimal character length, and optimal word length.

In the text box near the top, you can type in your new title tag for this page.

Here is one very general suggestion for the way you can structure your title tag. This is just an example, and you can choose to try anything you’d like to see what works best for you.

The primary keyword is the main keyword you are targeting on this page. The secondary keyword can be another keyword that you are targeting, but maybe this keyword is not mentioned as often on this page. I also like to include a company name at the end of the title tag as a way to brand a business.

We have posted a new update to Domainer which features a fix for the last version not getting your top incoming links. We have also revamped the user interface so it looks more modern and added support for additional top level domains (TLDs).

Domainer is the number 1 domain management tool for Mac OS X and Windows. It can automatically get your domain whois information and important SEO details. If you have many domains and need to keep track of them, Domainer is a great way to stay organized.

Domainer provides a overview of the value of a domain by showing you important statistics such as number of incoming links, social tags, Google PageRank, AlexaRank and more. It also syncs your domain expiry dates with iCal so you can set up automatic reminders when your domains expire.

You can download the update for free if you are a registered user or purchase the full version for just $29.95 USD (regularly $39.95 USD).

There was, yet another, update to the Facebook Developers like button page, which has caused some confusion for iWeb users trying to put the Like button on their site. Here is an updated video to outline what user’s should now do in order to add the button. Note at the end where the button is not visible on the screen. Many of you can expect to see the same, which may make it a bit tricky to add the button.

READ THIS FIRST

The videos listed below give you detailed instructions on how to use iWeb SEO Tool the proper way. It is very important to follow these instructions in order to limit errors. The videos are in order and should be watched that way.

While these videos are very helpful in teaching you the proper ways of using iWeb SEO Tool, they cannot substitute the content that is in the SEO For iWeb Walkthrough Video Tutorial. That walkthrough video tutorial goes beyond the basics of using iWeb SEO Tool and can help you dramatically improve your website’s rankings in all major search engines. Your business is definitely worth it, so we highly recommend checking out that walkthrough video tutorial. It will also save you a lot of time and heartache in the future.

1. How to open your site in iWeb SEO Tool

2. How to optimize your site in iWeb SEO Tool

3. How to publish your site to FTP in iWeb SEO Tool

4. Updating your iWeb website and using iWeb SEO Tool

5. How to make sure you published your site correctly from iWeb SEO Tool

6. How to back up your data stored in iWeb SEO Tool

7a. How to have a shortened iWeb URL by using iWeb SEO Tool

7b. How to get rid of the site redirect AND shorten the iWeb URL

8. How to use the Favicon feature in iWeb SEO Tool

9. How to publish only changes with iWeb SEO Tool

10. Setting up a Mobile friendly iWeb site

iWeb to WordPress version 1.2 has been released. This small update fixes an issue with post dates and comment dates not being imported correctly.

This update is free for all registered users.

iWeb to WordPress will import your entire iWeb blog posts and comments to a WordPress site. Since Apple is discontinuing MobileMe, blog comments will no longer work with iWeb based sites. Switching to WordPress will provide a much more powerful, and easy to use, blogging system for your website.

iWeb to WordPress is currently being offered for free with a one year or more subscription for our web hosting services. We support both iWeb and WordPress sites, which can be used together with our web hosting. We also offer one-click installation of WordPress for easy set up.

Get in touch if you have any questions on how to easily switch to our web hosting services
services.