WebMindz24|Web Design & SEO Blog

Many people while working on website design/development or even on SEO don’t consider images so important. The only way of promoting your website on Google is not limited to having good positions in Google organics. Google Image Search is the tool which has been used by millions of people daily to meet their requirements. So its not good for any webmaster to forget Image Optimization.

Computers are not so great to identify the images (like this is an image of a Tree), all that it can read is a code which looks like (<img src=”tree.jpg” />).

So there are some important points to take care of to get an good position in Google Image Search which includes:

Image Tag
Proper Names (SRC attribute) : Always use proper/meaningful names for your images. Butter (Image Name) for an Image of Tree doesn’t make any sense and definitely will not work for you.

Alt (Alternative Text) Attribute : Always use Alt attribute to describe what image is all about. Make good description with all good keywords included and try to make it short.

Use Google Webmaster Tools
Google is also ready to help you optimize your Images. Just enable “Enhanced Image Search” in “Google Webmasters Tools”

1. Login to Google Webmasters Tools http://www.google.com/webmasters
2. Click Tools on the Left Handed Menu
3. Click Enhanced Image Search
4. Select the check box and hit OK.

So next time don’t ignore images in your website. Help Google to understand what your image is all about.

Matt Cutts Discusses the Importance of alt Tags

As we have already discussed All about response code 404 at Google Webmaster Central, its important to take care of 404 pages at our websites.

There are many options webmasters choose to handle 404 response code like 301 permanent redirect, custom 404 page, etc. Google recommended solution for a well known response code 404 (Page Not Found) is creating a custom 404 page to provide more useful information about websites. (Guidelines to create custom 404 page).

In addition, Google provided you to add the 404 widget to your custom 404 page. This Google 404 widget designed to provide users all the helpful suggestions instead of an error message. You can easily find the Google 404 widget at Google Webmaster Tools > Tools > Enhance 404 Pages.

The 404 widget will add a Google search box on error page with appropriate search suggestions and will try to provide alternatives for an incorrect URL. As the widget is still in an experimental stage, will not be able to provide closest matches, alternative URLs and sitemap suggestions for all sites but will definitely add an search box.

In order to add widget to your custom 404 page you just need to copy and paste the simple code, available at Google Webmaster Tools > Tools > Enhance 404 Pages, into your 404 page.

All web masters or people in the world of web design / development must be having an idea abut the Response Code 404. The common definition that exist for 404 response code of any web page is 404 - the requested page doesn’t exist. But is this all you know about 404?

Maile Ohye at Google Webmaster Central Blog has put up some blog posts that specifically explain about the response code 404. Now it’s the chance to learn all about 404 – what is 404 page all about? How to deal with 404 page, how can 404 page can harm your websites? Is 404 page can lead your site to Google Penalty? or any other question you have about 404 in your mind. Just visit Google Webmaster Central Blog and learn from the ‘404 Week’.

In the first post It’s 404 week at Webmaster Central, Maile Ohye explains basics of response code 404.

According to Maile, “Response codes are a numeric status (like 200 for “OK”, 301 for “Moved Permanently”) that a webserver returns in response to a request for a URL. The 404 response code should be returned for a file ‘Not Found’.”

Maile explained the requested URL by the users of your website start search on webserver that is hosting your website for the requested file for the URL. If found it responds with a 200 response code, along with the requested message but if the requested file not found or there is some sort of spelling mistake (typing error) in the requested URL it returns with a 404 response code, meaning “Not Found”.

The example explained through images by Maile:

In the second post Farewell to soft 404s Maile explained about the type of response code 404 which are “hard 404s” and “soft 404s.”

According to Maile, soft 404 is - websites that serve “soft 404s” return a 200 response code. The content of the 200 response is often the homepage of the site, or an error page. It can be confusing experience for users and search engines.
hard 404 is – returning with a response code 404 showing Not found page.

Explained through Images:

In third post More on 404 Maile comes with answers to some 404 response code questions like How do you treat the response code 410 “Gone”? Do you index content or follow links from a page with a 404 response code? What about 404s with a 10-second meta refresh? Should I 301-redirect misspelled 404s to the correct URL?

May be there are number of web masters knowing all these stuffs before but I think these are some helpful article for Web Masters from Google Webmaster Central.

One of the best way to increase business is start spreading locally, its easy to have your target audience through you own locality or city, as you are more trustful to them. As Internet specially Google became the first choice of everyone to find anything they need there also exist option to search Local Businesses through Google which is Google Maps/Locals.

Millions of people search Google Maps every day to find business in their own locality and a free listing on Google Maps can make it easy for them to find you. With search in Google Locals/Maps there are chances you can get a top ranking at Organic Google Search (which shows Google Locals) e.g. Web Design Company Chicago.

So if you still not added you local address to Google Maps/Locals don’t wait and do it today only and wait for the best from it.

Use the Google Local Business Center to create your free listing and your address will be visible to Google Maps (can be in organic search at top) with your address, hours of operation, etc. and the best thing, its free and you even don’t need a website of your own.

Points to be taken care of for Google Local Listing
1. Use your complete address and be sure it appears correctly on the Map (preview shown while adding)
2. Upload Photos, always add correct phone numbers and website (if any).
3. Categories – Always try to choose the most appropriate category as it plays an important role in your success also try to update them if required.
4. Fill out Hours & Payment option correctly for the convenience of your client.
5. Add seasonal rates or coupon code.

So don’t wait for the time when Google convert it into a paid listing, add today and Increase your online visibility out of this best free feature provided by Google.

On a recent short interview Matt Cutts had with German Webmaster Blog, shares about how to rank well in Google, resources for webmasters and Matt’s first encounter with spam.

So here’s the video where Matt Cutts, head of the webspam team at Google, speaks about Webmaster Central, his first encounter with spam, and for future challenges in Search Engine.