Things to Include in Website Audits - #seopodcasst 194

Hi, and welcome to the SEO Podcast, Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing. My name is Chris Burris, owner of eWebStyle. Hi, I'm Charles Lewis, your Internet Marketing Specialist. This is another fun-filled edition of our Internet Marketing Podcast. I already did the title. It's number 194. As always, there is a tip from our previous podcast, and that tip is, using AdWords properly can increase ROI and branding. Yeah, definitely. First off, AdWords is the quickest way to put your site and your ads in front of anybody searching. Google, right? And so if you want to improve on branding and ROI, then you can use AdWords to do that. For branding purposes, then you won't necessarily be looking for conversions. Instead, you'll be looking for banner ads and remarketing and ways to just really put your logo and your presence out there. For ROI, you can do campaigns specific to whatever your service is, whatever product you provide, and get clicks, and if your site is designed well, get conversions, which in turn generates return on your investment. So definitely take advantage of AdWords. And when it comes to branding, nothing beats remarketing. Exactly. Right. Absolutely nothing beats remarketing. So if you can, if you have the capability, and you have a device in your hand potentially, what you should do is you should tweet now. Grab your iPhone and tweet. What are they supposed to tweet? Hashtag SEO Podcast. This is number 194. Make sure you tag us in it at eWebStyle. Frankly, you can tag us at BestSEOPodcast and let us know you're watching, and we'll be sure to follow you back and link up and do all of our social networking stuff. We did start another Twitter feed called BestSEOPodcast, and actually I think I saw somebody reply. Well, they replied to BestSEOPodcast and said, if you're as good as eWebStyle, I'll definitely be listening. I was like, okay, you're going to figure that one out. You're going to figure this one out, hopefully right about now. Now, please remember, we are your friendly neighborhood Top

Position Snatchers, where our mantra is. Don't be a douche. And there are two things that you could do for us, two small favors. One of them starts with three tasks. Get onto iTunes, create an account, and write a review on iTunes. Yeah, not that hard. Pretty easy. If you write a review on iTunes, please go ahead and send us an email, podcast at e-webStyle.com. And let us know you wrote a review, and we'll give you a little bit of a punch in the face. A quick tip. Actually, we've got a couple punches coming here shortly. The other thing that you could do for us is you could go to our G Plus Local page and write a review there. So if you've got a Gmail account, you do have a G Plus account, whether you're using it or not. It should be, by the way. Right? Absolutely. If you have a Gmail account or if you are using Google Apps for your mail service, then you definitely have a G Plus account. So that would be a great thing to do. All you have to do is go to e-webStyle.com slash Google Plus or G Plus. Your choice. However you want to do it. Go there and hit us up. And we made that really easy because the actual name, the actual URL for our G Plus Local page is there. google.com asterisk ampersand supercalifragilisticex equals up you Google. In a good way. Oh, maybe that's possible. Would you take that gesture off? Remember, we do have a referral program. If you're a web designer, developer or doing SEO and no longer want to do that SEO for that particular client, send them our direction and you can still continue to make some money. We've got a little bit of news. Let me just breeze through this. Galaxy S4 has a mini version, which is kind of cool. So it's got all the features, good camera, whatever. It's just much smaller. Much smaller than mine. I think probably about the same size as yours. I'm

using the Nexus GS4. Nexus GS4. Nexus S4 is what it's called. Great phone. Love it. Been having it for about a year and a half, almost two years. No problems with it. Still operating fast, latest version of Android, all of that. But I think I want a bigger screen. Yeah. Right? You weren't convinced when you got that one. Yeah, it was great. It had the whole touch thing and sharing capability before they even started advertising. Right, right. It had a lot of different features. When I went to Chicago at the Mobile University, the Google reps there who were displaying Google Wallet was using it. Right. And that's when I saw it and I had the option to get it. I got it. But yeah, now I'm thinking about something GS4 size. So the Mini, so there are some people that it's too big. I said all that to say the Mini. That would be like up and back, right? So there are just some people who want a small one. I think the Galaxy S3, I've got the S3, it fits in my pocket, I think it's fine. At first I was like, man, I don't know if that's going to. In fact, I think even the Galaxy Note would fit in your pocket. You're just so used to start with the S3. I know a few people with that note, man, that note is big. Especially if they've got a case on it. Yeah, and then you're like, really? Like a small transformer. You're pulling out your phone and cash and keys are falling over. Everything. But I have my device and it can do anything. So the small one, I would almost like it if I'm out during the day, maybe have the S4 and then if I'm going to go into a club or something, throw in the mini version. So we need a transformer from the small. How do you make a small and a big screen at the same time? That's all we need. I just thought that was pretty

cool. There's no even guarantee that it's going to come to the U.S. Somebody said something about that there was an S3 mini and I had never even heard of that one too. Another thing in the news, Microsoft almost returns the start button and their version 8.1 or 8.2 of Windows. 8.1. 8.1 it has it. And they call it the start tip. And it still doesn't do, it's still not there. At the end of the day Microsoft or Windows, let's speak directly to Windows, come on dude, you're known for the start button. From 2000 to ME to Business Pro to XP to 7 to Vista, well then to 7, I mean we had a start button. now it's gone and we're sad. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be possible to make your desktop version operate like a mobile version. And I think that's the problem. Well, we've had discussions in the past where if it's a touch screen, a big part of this Windows 8 is that it's touch screen capable, but I'm not touching my screen on my desk. That means I got to hold my, you know, you got to hold your hand out. That's the underlying factor people haven't considered. When you're typing, like I was looking at the, I can't think of the name of the laptop, but the detachable keyboard. Yeah, the Surface. And so when you're typing on the keyboard, you're used to using a mouse. And so the problem I had, even when my tablet came with the keyboard, I was shh. It's odd, right? It's very odd, very weird, and yeah, I don't know. Now, odd alone doesn't mean that you can't get used to it. Yeah, it's just a change. The problem is I, you know, at one point in my computer career, I had to adjust how I used the mouse because I used to rest my arm on the edge of the desk and actually started getting numbness in my hand. So it's a new ergonomic challenge. Yeah, that's why. I didn't know

that. You just thought I was way up there because I want my elbow actually on the desk, not the edge of my arm. And so they're ergonomic. Thank you for clarifying that. So was I almost blank stare with that? I gave you a pass a long time ago, but he's just going to decide to reach right in front of the screen and do it. I'm actually ready to do the touch screen, right? Because my mouse is right there. But so, you know, holding your hands up is not an easy thing. Like, you played basketball, right? Some of your training is okay. All right, kids, stand against the wall and hold your hands up for the next 20 minutes. You're like, whoa. Medicine ball. So I think there's some ergonomic issues that they didn't really think through very well. Yeah. I thought this was really cool. There's a company that is making a shark skin pattern for like keyboards and the devices that you touch. It turns out that shark skin has a micro pattern that kills bacteria or prevents bacteria from growing on it. So they're just putting that same microscopic pattern on devices and it's bacteria free. It's the pattern. It's the actual physical pattern that either kills it or just prevents them from reproducing. Interesting. I'll take it. Yeah. I'm ready for my shark skin transplant. You don't really touch my arm. Bacteria free and no one wants to touch you. No one wants to touch you. at all. Gmail's about to unveil a couple new search features. They're going to break tabs down and have emails that come in. I think notifications from Facebook will be under one tab. That's pretty cool. I like the other change they made. Changing Gtalk to Hangouts. That was extremely necessary to increase the usership of Hangouts. We still haven't done it. We tried one the other day. It doesn't work in the same office. I mean it does. Obviously. It just why do it? Yeah. We're across the hall. Three more steps and we're actually

talking face to face. Which we had a long conversation about today. The inability to talk face to face versus to communicate. Like some people are more comfortable communicating to a million instead of one face to face. Especially if it's confrontational. And finally I thought this was cool. Apple Computer One, one of the first ones ever made, sold for $671,000. The first? Yeah, one of the first models. Sold for that win. Recently? Yeah, recently. Like it was just a new I got the first Apple. Yeah, right here. Yeah, in my iPhone, my old Motorola flip phone has more calculation capability. All right, we've got some reviews. Notice there are no tiers. This is awesome. The title of this review is Outstanding and Informative SEO Podcast. Five stars. Five stars. By Todd McD. Without question, I learn about SEO from every podcast. Their audio has been upgraded to the quality of sound. It's perfect. Perfect. Thank you. We're still working on it. Actually, I just ordered some cables today that should help also even get better. The content of their podcast focus on today's issues and solutions. Their humor complements each other and is entertaining throughout every podcast. I highly recommend anyone seeking to expand their knowledge of SEO to subscribe to this podcast and download all prior episodes best podcast on SEO. Man, who's that? This is Todd McD. Man, punch in the face of you, Todd. Boom. Appreciate it. Overhead. Handmaker. Uppercut. Combo right across all that. Appreciate that. And you know one thing he highlighted on that I'll say? It's been like that, Todd. Ever since I came to eWebStyle, going on four now, three, something like that, long time. Don't say it. But we've always had a great chemistry and we do it not only with the podcast but we're dealing with clients, we're dealing with different projects. It makes it fun and it helps us to produce great work. So, appreciate you noticing that. It's always a good time here at eWebStyle. The next one, a little bit longer. My favorite SEO

podcast, Sound is Not a Problem, Five Stars. I take it. This is by The Rookie. I've been listening to these guys for a long time and love their style. Just about every episode has SEO content. Wait a minute. Just about. Just about every episode has SEO content. Oh, that is applicable to websites. Wait a minute. Keep reading. That didn't change it. SEO or something to do with internet business. There you go. Wait a minute. So, how many episodes do we have that don't have SEO content that is applicable to websites, SEO, or something to do with internet business? Aren't they all have something? Anyway, let's not get critical. It's a five-star review. He's a rookie. He's a rookie. Just say it. I guess I got caught up with some of his endeavors and hadn't listened for a month or two. When he came back, he heard on the podcast all the horrible sound reviews. So, he kind of skipped some of the bad sounding podcasts and came back and we said them. He says, I have to say I've never had an issue. Maybe I guess I missed the episodes that had problems. I used Stitcher though and actually downloaded iTunes for two reasons. One was to see if the sound was different for some reason. It's not. Thank you for that information. Yeah, and two was to write this review. iTunes can thank eWebStyle for another customer because I now like iTunes at least on my laptop. That's cool. Send us our commission checks. How much does iTunes cost? Free mixtape or something. Free. iTunes is free. Yeah, the music's not. Yeah, every song that the rookie buys, we should get some commission. I did go back on iTunes and Stitcher and found a couple episodes that I had missed. I guess the sound actually was a little off, hissing, etc. It wasn't horrible but it seems fixed now. Anyways, keep up the awesome podcast. P.S. There's only a couple of other SEO podcasts worth listening to anyways so the sound wouldn't have lost

him. I appreciate that. Punch in the face to you, rookie. What's that? Web of income. I love that. Web of income. Dot com. Web of income. Dot com. Go check that out. Patiff to you, the rookie. We'll take it easy since you're a rookie. We've got some other news that's kind of, I think, newsworthy, trying to stay applicable to the time before we get into this meat. Just think about SEO Moss. Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, change their name to just Moss. And so I was trying to figure out why would they do that? And the obvious answer was because SEO Moss is kind of limiting. Or SEO is limiting. Yeah, to just SEO when in fact they do more than that. And so what they're transitioning to though is it's more of an analytic property. Right. And so that's going to track everything which I'm assuming the same way Google Analytics are tracking but it's probably going to display it differently, have some additional information because it has some other, you know, criteria and things like that. So kind of looking forward to it. We'll see how that works for you guys and, you know, congrats on the transition. Other one, Google Maps Engineer. Leaving Google to go to Microsoft and work for Bing Maps. Yeah. Hopefully this will work out for iPhone users in the long run. Or for both. Whatever, everyone, yeah. So, yeah. Well, so iPhone now has the Google Maps app on it. It doesn't have turn-by-turn directions. Yeah, it does have nav. And the iPhone map app is just by somebody else. It's not Bing, right? It's not Bing, it's by Apple. No, they got somebody else. Somebody else. Yeah. Yeah. And things were in the wrong place on the map. I think it was the MapQuest. They bought somebody. Remember, somebody just bought Woz. Yeah. Which is, I think that was Facebook just bought Woz. They tried to. It did not go through. Oh, really? Read that this morning. Oh, okay. Uh-huh. You learn something new every second.

All right, so. That is the potatoes of our podcast. Now we're definitely exceeded Gino. I feel like we missed it. You know what? Let's at least cover this. In order to haunt us or stalk us or harass us, all you have to do is go to Facebook.com slash eWebStyle or Twitter.com slash eWebStyle or you can see our videos YouTube.com slash eWebStyle or you can send us an email podcast at e-WebStyle.com Take it away, Chuck. All right, we're going to go to the meet. So we'll probably split this into two different podcasts just for the conservation of time. But I found this article. This was on SitePro News by Kalina Jordan. What to include in a website audit. And I thought this is actually some pretty good information about a website audit. She's got plenty of different checklists and things you can go for on here. But I highlighted a few, mainly the SEO metrics and the site metrics. And so we'll go over the SEO metrics today. We'll do the site metrics next week. So pretty cool though. First thing on SEO metrics is external backlinks. You want to, when performing an audit, you want to check those. And external backlinks are basically sites that aren't on your domain that are linking back to you. Right? An external backlink. The reason you want to monitor those is to make sure that the ones that you have coming to you are pretty good and the ones that shouldn't be linking to you, let's say from some other site that you don't want linking to you. At least you can identify those and then disavow those. Some of the other ones you have on here is CMS compatibility. I think it's key. You're probably using WordPress, 20% of our websites are, but whatever content management system you're using, make sure that it's compatible, that it's user friendly, that it doesn't generate any wrong code and it renders things correctly because that can affect your SEO. Just make sure it's WordPress. Yeah. No, there are other ones that

are good. We tend to favor WordPress. Yeah, it works well. Let me drop this side note and say, with a very secure login information. But yeah, use WordPress with secure login information. And I just, you know, on our Facebook page, I just, it's a cartoon, it's a very effective cartoon talking about how to, how to make a good solid password and some of the stuff you used to know, it points out some of the stuff that you, all right, we got to segue because this is very, passwords are incredibly important. One of the biggest problems with passwords is people tend to use a high, one solid, quote unquote solid password. They'll use it on their Facebook, they'll use it on their bank account, and then they'll use it on their, whatever, a little blog site. So, Facebook, bank account, you probably don't have to worry about that getting hacked too much and if it is, the passwords are probably encrypted so you don't have to worry too much. but the little tiny blog site doesn't have that kind of security. If somebody hacks that blog site, it has a couple hundred thousand users, guess what? Most of the emails and passwords are the same for Facebook and bank accounts. So, first off, use different ones and at a minimum use different ones for the very key accounts that you use. My bank has like three, I've got to put in like three bank passwords. The other thing that I pointed out is this kind of replace with characters, you know, like you'll do Google and instead of O's you'll use zeros and instead of the L you use a one. Those kind of obvious replacements, those can be brute forced quickly. It would be better to take three random words with a space between them. And if you do that, then you're actually, they said it would take five years to hack it if they were doing a hundred passwords per second. So, go onto our Facebook page and check out that little cartoon. I

should put a link to the, no, that cartoon explains it all. It's actually pretty cool. So, the next one, image file names, and I'll do two of them, image file names and alt attributes. Make sure that these are optimized, right? So, your image file names, when possible, which is all the time, right? Your file name should include your keyphrase, whatever that keyphrase is, you know, with hyphens dot jpeg. So, do that. And the same thing with your alt tag attributes. Make sure that those tags also, you know, have that same keyphrase in them. Page URL. It's another way. Make sure you're using friendly URLs and things like that, and not your kind of default WordPress, you know, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, question mark, article ID, one. Exactly. Go ahead and turn on your permanent and get you a great URL. Titles and meta information, it goes without saying. You know you need to have that. Make sure those titles are keyword rich, relevant to the page. Make sure meta information is the same. Keywords, content, your keyword density. These are things that you need to review consistently. I think it's worth reviewing this at least every quarter. Right? Go through your site, reread your content, update it when necessary, make some changes. If you notice the change in regards to the type of traffic you're getting based on the keywords you have in your content, consider tweaking that if it's not converting right. Make sure you have your Webmaster Tools set up in Google and Bing. And then I like this one here. Check, view as Google Bot. That's a good thing to do when you're in Webmaster Tools. Go ahead and view as Google Bot to see how your page is being indexed and what they're seeing. And that way you can make sure that all of the content is being presented in the right way, that they're indexing what you would have them indexed first. So that was it for the SEO metrics. And like I said, we'll keep site metrics until the

next time. It kind of talks about page load versus page speed and things like that. Pretty good information. Cool. That's it? That's it. All right. That was a short but sweet and awesome podcast. Because I said so. We got any blank stare? We got a little bit of blank stare. All right. Yeah. I almost feel like I need to change it from blank stare to like inquisitive stare or like what? Thoughtful stare. Because in my head it's the raised eyebrow like really? It's not blank. It's just like yeah. I don't know. We may have to adjust that segment. Yeah. So I got a couple of them. First one goes to Facebook. Right. So Facebook is now doing the verified pages. Right. What took so long. You know what I'm saying? Like Twitter's been doing verified pages. They started off doing verified pages. What do you mean when you say verified pages? Pages that in Twitter's case they verify that this is the actual user and it's usually in cases where they have more than a certain number of followers. In Facebook's case it's probably more than a certain number of likes or friends. Usually for celebrities or big name people. Let's verify that this is the real page and it's not spam or some fake page or something like that. Right. Okay. So which has been a problem on Facebook. You know you see all kinds of pages so kudos to figuring it out but blank stare for just not waiting until 2013 to do it. So and the other blank stare goes to the Papa John's employee who ordered a pizza, delivered the pizza, called the people who he was delivering it to. They confirmed, got there, delivered it, got his five buck tip and when he left pocket called the people back and then made a separate phone call to one of his friends and began just singing all kind of racial slurs about them who just gave him a tip. And needless to say they happened to post a video of that

voicemail, Papa John's CEO heard it, fired them and everything else. So delivering pizza, we'll do a kind of a MasterCard visa, delivering pizza, okay, getting a tip you object to, okay, pocket dialing, okay, being a racist piece of shit, not okay. Actually, if he had just ranted with nothing racial about it, all right, you know, you're entitled to your opinion about it, you still would have got fired. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But yeah, the fact that you took it there, man, so. You got what you deserve. All right, is that it? We got it? All right, so this has been podcast number 194. You've been listening to the SEO podcast, Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing. We are the number one internet marketing podcast on iTunes. That is because of all y'all. Thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you guys for writing reviews. Let's shift over to the G plus reviews. We'd like a couple more over there. It's been a while. And thank you guys for tuning in. Until the next podcast, my name is Chris Burris. Bye-bye for now. Slightly raised up eyebrow, highbrow, headed my way, cool as mountain. I think she's gonna set me free. Bye-bye.