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YF and Search Engines...

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by YachtForums, Feb 11, 2011.

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  1. YachtForums, Feb 11, 2011
    #1
    YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

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  2. ScotL, Feb 11, 2011
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    ScotL

    ScotL Senior Member

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    Just trying to help, Carl.

    Feel free to remove links. Traffic is not always a good thing. Especially if it will lead to problems. I probably should have pm'ed the links, but I thought they may help others. I will make sure to just give store names next time.
  3. YachtForums, Feb 11, 2011
    #3
    YachtForums

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    No worries Scott! This wasn't directed at you. It was an eye-opener for me. I was really surprised Google picked up our avatars because they are completely unrelated to the subject or keywords.

    And you're right on about inbound low quality links that can lead to problems. An example of this is a thread that was posted back in 2004 that contained the sentence 'girls on boats', which resulted in a lot of traffic unrelated to yachts. Good for our stats, but a PITA when voyeur seeking kids with computers see a bunch of boats they may never afford and decide to be disruptive. I learned a valuable lesson on the importance of quality traffic. Which brings me to another subject...

    I spent 9 months developing YF's underlying SEO code, which has put us on top of thousands of keyword searches. Unlike other websites that want to generate the most traffic possible to sell advertising based on big numbers, YF is indexed specifically to attract topic-minded, seriously interested people. The result is a high quality readership. You might ask, how do we do that...?

    It's not so easy, but I shy away from getting YF indexed with generic words such as "yacht" or "yachts" in major search engines. I did this in the early years and it attracted mostly curiosity seekers and more than a few troublemakers. Then, I geared YF's SEO technology toward brand-specific keyword searches, such as "Burger Yachts" or "Lazzara Yachts" or any number of 150 different yacht builders where YF tops a Google search. Study's have shown people looking to buy, or have an interest in a certain product, go looking based on the brand's name and application. And from what we've seen, this is true. When you're looking for a new car, do you type "car" into a Google search?

    Anyhow, the results have been no less than amazing. We found all of you guys! :)
  4. NYCAP123, Feb 11, 2011
    #4
    NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    Last night I watched a PBS program on "Watson", IBM's new supercomputer. They explained that computers key in on words, objects, etc., and some do it very well. But Watson has been taught to reason. If computers like this become more common you'll have your hands full. On this coming Monday & Tuesday Watson will be playing Jeopardy against Ken Jenning (the all time high winner). Should be interesting to see if man can still beat the machine... and scary. At least they didn't name it 'HAL 9000'.:eek:
  5. YachtForums, Feb 11, 2011
    #5
    YachtForums

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    I expect one day - if 'digital reasoning' prevails - that websites will be ranked based on "real" relative value, NOT a mathematical system of algorithmic weights and balances.
  6. Kevin, Feb 11, 2011
    #6
    Kevin

    Kevin YF Moderator

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    I'll be far more worried when they name the next OS "Skynet"...:eek:
  7. mmss1, Feb 12, 2011
    #7
    mmss1

    mmss1 New Member

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    I was about to suggest using rel="nofollow" in the avatar links but then I saw you're already using that! I though that would prevent Google from indexing it...

    Code:
    <a rel="nofollow" class="bigusername" href="http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/members/yachtforums.html">
    According to http://www.robotstxt.org/faq/relnofollow.html it is not part of the standard so some search engines may ignore it.

    I have a website that ranks high in Google without any special search engine optimization more than simple layout and relevant content and page titles. YachtForums has definitively relevant content and page titles for the subjects discussed so that should be enough to rank high. I've heard rumours that removing all unnecessary code, i.e. increase the content/code ratio may have a positive effect on search engine ranking but I don't really know if it is true. If so you could perhaps test by moving CSS and JavaScript into separate files. I have done that on my site and it wasn't too much work. Another benefit is that pages load faster since the CSS and JavaScript files can be cached on the users computers. Google claim they use load times as one parameter in ranking. Note: I'm no expert in this field, I'm just sharing some ideas!

    Best regards!
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2011
  8. mmss1, Feb 12, 2011
    #8
    mmss1

    mmss1 New Member

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    Just another loosely connected idea:

    I think the internal search function on YachtForums could be improved.

    Compare these two searches I just did:

    "Search Forums" function:

    "air con" - no matches
    "air condition" - 13 threads
    "aircon" - 19 threads

    Then I have to click the thread, do "Search This Thread" on each.

    Using Google:

    http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=air+con+site:yachtforums.com

    275 results and automatically searching inside the posts. The preview in Google also helps me to quickly find what I'm looking for.

    Perhaps it is possible to use Google Custom Search (http://www.google.com/cse/) to improve internal searches.

    Best regards!