Monday, June 29, 2009
Revised Image Replacement
As part of a project I have been looking into the different methods of displaying a "header" image but having a proper H1 tag underneath it.
This is needed as a client wants pretty images as headers for their pages but from an SEO (and accessibility) perspective there should be H1 tags at the top of the page acting as a header.
After trawling through several forums and websites I came across a page giving examples of hiding headers under images along with the code and drawbacks of each method.
I was even more interested to see that there was an update in 2008 giving details of how Google treats hidden headers. This seems to suggest that what I want to do is not frowned upon - a very important consideration when dealing with clients sites.
Of course, more reasing up is needed to confirm the Google comments (I never trust anything I find on a webpage until I have seen it elsewhere on another good quality site - especially after seeing V2 rockets described as Doodlebugs and that Queen Elizabeth the first of England married King Phillip of Spain) but it's a good start.
Other blogs that link to this item
As part of a project I have been looking into the different methods of displaying a "header" image but having a proper H1 tag underneath it.
This is needed as a client wants pretty images as headers for their pages but from an SEO (and accessibility) perspective there should be H1 tags at the top of the page acting as a header.
After trawling through several forums and websites I came across a page giving examples of hiding headers under images along with the code and drawbacks of each method.
I was even more interested to see that there was an update in 2008 giving details of how Google treats hidden headers. This seems to suggest that what I want to do is not frowned upon - a very important consideration when dealing with clients sites.
Of course, more reasing up is needed to confirm the Google comments (I never trust anything I find on a webpage until I have seen it elsewhere on another good quality site - especially after seeing V2 rockets described as Doodlebugs and that Queen Elizabeth the first of England married King Phillip of Spain) but it's a good start.
Labels: google, h1, headers, image replacement, search engines, SEO
Monday, June 15, 2009
A personal rant
I have a business bank account with a bank here in the UK. It seems that their systems had a problem in January and thay they have just realised that customers may have gone overdrawn in December and not been charged. It certainly came as a suprise to me to see a note on my statement issued for the month from 7th May to 6th June that the bank were going to charge me £32 for a transaction on the 6th December.
Banks wonder why they have such a bad reputation, well - having a system that doesn't recognise that you should have charged a customer and finding out 6 months later does tend to suggest that they are not fit or able to keep track of customers money, or their own for that matter.
It's not the fact that the charge is there that worries me, it's the 6 months it took them to find that I should have been charged.
Time to look for a new bank I think.
Other blogs that link to this item
I have a business bank account with a bank here in the UK. It seems that their systems had a problem in January and thay they have just realised that customers may have gone overdrawn in December and not been charged. It certainly came as a suprise to me to see a note on my statement issued for the month from 7th May to 6th June that the bank were going to charge me £32 for a transaction on the 6th December.
Banks wonder why they have such a bad reputation, well - having a system that doesn't recognise that you should have charged a customer and finding out 6 months later does tend to suggest that they are not fit or able to keep track of customers money, or their own for that matter.
It's not the fact that the charge is there that worries me, it's the 6 months it took them to find that I should have been charged.
Time to look for a new bank I think.
Labels: Abbey, bank charges, business banking
Monday, March 16, 2009
Another new site, this time for a firm of brickworkers and scaffolders based in Rushden.
Of particular interest to me (I watch a lot of C4 Timeteam on the TV) was the fact that as well as providing scaffolding in the East Midlands, and brickwork they have worked on refurbishing 17th and 18th century brickwork at Merton Hall, St Johns College in Cambridge. Old building facsinate me and I would love to be talented enough to be able to basically rebuild a 17th / 18th century building - mind you I was reading in my local paper the other day about a stone mason that has worked on Peterborough Cathedral for about 30 years ! Now to be able to work on something like that and know that you great grandchildren will be able to look at the work and know that you did it, that must realy be something special.
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Of particular interest to me (I watch a lot of C4 Timeteam on the TV) was the fact that as well as providing scaffolding in the East Midlands, and brickwork they have worked on refurbishing 17th and 18th century brickwork at Merton Hall, St Johns College in Cambridge. Old building facsinate me and I would love to be talented enough to be able to basically rebuild a 17th / 18th century building - mind you I was reading in my local paper the other day about a stone mason that has worked on Peterborough Cathedral for about 30 years ! Now to be able to work on something like that and know that you great grandchildren will be able to look at the work and know that you did it, that must realy be something special.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I have just been reading Matt Cutts (the head of Google's Webspam team) blog on sponsored conversations which I found interesting.
It seems that Google are looking for blogs where people are paid to make posts to their blogs as they feel that this people are posting to influence the results on the Google search engines. Google seem to be saying that it is ok to be paid to post on blogs if you use a nofollow attribute on the link but I wonder how many people know that this is *required* by Google or that their blogs may be marked so that they "are not trusted in Google’s algorithms"
This led to to thinking - perhaps it is better that I have never been asked to post an entry on this blog that I am paid for, in fact I have never been asked to post an entry for free either. That may be part of the reason why the postings are few and far between, but I believe that if I am spending time talking about something then it's got to be worth saying and most of what I come across on the net nowadays is not really worth talking about.
If you run your own blog have a look at Matts post and see what you think.
Other blogs that link to this item
It seems that Google are looking for blogs where people are paid to make posts to their blogs as they feel that this people are posting to influence the results on the Google search engines. Google seem to be saying that it is ok to be paid to post on blogs if you use a nofollow attribute on the link but I wonder how many people know that this is *required* by Google or that their blogs may be marked so that they "are not trusted in Google’s algorithms"
This led to to thinking - perhaps it is better that I have never been asked to post an entry on this blog that I am paid for, in fact I have never been asked to post an entry for free either. That may be part of the reason why the postings are few and far between, but I believe that if I am spending time talking about something then it's got to be worth saying and most of what I come across on the net nowadays is not really worth talking about.
If you run your own blog have a look at Matts post and see what you think.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
A change of job
Just over a week ago I changed my job from being a technical manager at a SEO company to being an SEO manager at a specialist website design company.
While I enjoyed the work at my old company I felt that it was time for a new challange and spotted an advert just before Christmas for the SEO managers position.
A couple of emails and meetings later I was offered the position and took the plunge by accepting it.
My last company managed search engine optimisation and pay-per-click campaigns for a wide range of industry sectors where as the new company specialises in two professional sectors. This is going to be a challange though as they have clients looking to feature for a phrase where the phrase is nowhere on the site.
Still, with over 30 years IT experience and having been involved in websites since 1997 I hope I have the knowledge and experience to be able to improve the rankings for all their clients.
It just remains for me to single out a couple of people at my old firm for a special mention - Paul Hunt, my general manager was a great source of business and support while Nicki Edwards showed that the training that I gave her was worth while and that she was more than capable of the job she has landed. Thanks for your support "guys", I appreciated it.
Other blogs that link to this item
Just over a week ago I changed my job from being a technical manager at a SEO company to being an SEO manager at a specialist website design company.
While I enjoyed the work at my old company I felt that it was time for a new challange and spotted an advert just before Christmas for the SEO managers position.
A couple of emails and meetings later I was offered the position and took the plunge by accepting it.
My last company managed search engine optimisation and pay-per-click campaigns for a wide range of industry sectors where as the new company specialises in two professional sectors. This is going to be a challange though as they have clients looking to feature for a phrase where the phrase is nowhere on the site.
Still, with over 30 years IT experience and having been involved in websites since 1997 I hope I have the knowledge and experience to be able to improve the rankings for all their clients.
It just remains for me to single out a couple of people at my old firm for a special mention - Paul Hunt, my general manager was a great source of business and support while Nicki Edwards showed that the training that I gave her was worth while and that she was more than capable of the job she has landed. Thanks for your support "guys", I appreciated it.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Another "new" site is launched. This time it is a reworking of a site built by someone else a few years ago.
The work on the Rainford Models website really consisted of adding text, making the navigation easier for the search engines to use, removing extra html tags, adding new pages and generally improving the site so that it might be found by search engines easier.
Rainford Models are based in the Peak District and make some interesting models for designers, advertisers, architects and product development teams but what interested me most were the interactive models that they have made for places like Sellafield Visitors Centre and Underwater Street in Liverpool.
Other blogs that link to this item
The work on the Rainford Models website really consisted of adding text, making the navigation easier for the search engines to use, removing extra html tags, adding new pages and generally improving the site so that it might be found by search engines easier.
Rainford Models are based in the Peak District and make some interesting models for designers, advertisers, architects and product development teams but what interested me most were the interactive models that they have made for places like Sellafield Visitors Centre and Underwater Street in Liverpool.
Labels: interactive models, website updates
Monday, November 24, 2008
Yet another new site.
A client asked for an overhaul of their website (an old frames based type of site with Java navigation) and to bring it into an in-house feel.
A little bit of work means that the site at www.lansonfinancial.com is now much easier for people to navigate and also for the search engines to find their way round. Now all I have to do is try and get the site ranking better for tax efficient offshore investments, and as the site only had one page in Google before I figure that there is a good chance that improvements can be made.
Other blogs that link to this item
A client asked for an overhaul of their website (an old frames based type of site with Java navigation) and to bring it into an in-house feel.
A little bit of work means that the site at www.lansonfinancial.com is now much easier for people to navigate and also for the search engines to find their way round. Now all I have to do is try and get the site ranking better for tax efficient offshore investments, and as the site only had one page in Google before I figure that there is a good chance that improvements can be made.
Labels: finance, redesign, search engines, websites
