Search Engine Optimization on KickApps-powered websites

From KickApps Documentation

Contents 1 Getting started with SEO 2 How KickApps helps with SEO 2.1 Page URLs 2.2 <title> tags 2.3 Semantic markup 2.4 Homepage meta tags 2.5 Robot commands 2.6 Permanent redirects 2.7 Widgets 2.8 Future updates 3 Best practices for SEO on KickApps-powered websites 3.1 Produce high-quality, timely content 3.2 Build quality backlinks 3.3 Monitor your results 4 SEO and API-driven sites 5 Conclusion

Getting started with SEO

Search Engine Optimization (frequently referred to as SEO) is the practice of managing your website's content so that it appears in the results when people search for words and phrases in search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. When done correctly, it's a powerful practice for bringing new people to your KickApps-powered website and increasing the size of your online audience.

If you're looking for a baseline understanding of SEO best practices (a wise choice if you're serious about your website) then we recommend checking the following resources:

• SEOMoz
• The SEO book Community
• The Sitepoint SEO forum
• The Webmaster world forums (check the General Search Engine Promotion and Marketing Issues forum and The Search Engine World section)

How KickApps helps with SEO

Page URLs

KickApps optimizes URLs for our most popular pages in two main ways: first, they are static. Second, we put the title of the media file as close to the domain as possible. (eg., http://community.u2.com/Amsterdam-13-july-2005-part-3/photo/2245943/74615.html) Including the title in a URL is a great way to tell a search engine exactly what's going on.

So far we've optimized media play page and group page URLs, with more on the way and a special "custom short link manager" being alpha tested. This feature only really works if you actively moderate your content though - media titles aren't required when members upload media, and if the field is left blank on the upload form then the KickApps platform uses the filename (usually a random string of letters and numbers) as the media title. Encourage your members to give their content descriptive names and encourage your moderators to actively update content titles if members don't provide one.

<title> tags

The <title> tag in the HTML head contains descriptive, keyword-rich meta data which is unique to each KickApps-powered page. The title tag content is some of the most important page content for SEO. On the KickApps platform, this content is pulled from media titles and descriptions and members' usernames and "About me" statements.

Semantic markup

KickApps uses h1, h2, h3 tags in hierarchical fashion on pages to specify the most important information in a manner that search engines prefer.

All page content is balanced between HTML (compiled on the server), which can be easily interpreted by search engines, and dynamically-generated JavaScript content, which speeds page loads. The important content (headings, descriptions, etc.) is baked-in. The unimportant and often-irrelevant content (comments, related media, etc.) is often loaded via JavaScript.

Homepage meta tags

If you use the pre-built community homepage, you can control the Meta Keywords and Meta Descriptions tag content in the Affiliate Center. For all other KickApps-hosted pages, Meta Keywords and Meta Description are dynamically generated based on the content of the page.

Robot commands

KickApps includes <meta name="robots" content="index,follow" /> on all pages that don't require login on all websites that aren't still in the free trial. Free websites aren't subject to SEO assistance from the KickApps platform (this is done to dissuade spammers from creating KickApps-powered sites).

Permanent redirects

All platform redirects are permanent 301 redirects. We do this in some places where we have old URL structures, to make sure search engines can always easily find the best new content.

Widgets

Widgets are designed for improved SEO. (Read our Widget SEO article for more information.)

Future updates

KickApps usually includes 1 or 2 page and/or URL updates in every release to address SEO. You should subscribe to our RSS feed of platform updates for the latest news on new releases.

Best practices for SEO on KickApps-powered websites

Search engines are rarely explicit about how they rank search results (to prevent people from cheating the system), but the following points have been borne out by trial and error over many years and many more page views.

Produce high-quality, timely content

SEO is a constant evolution, but the unchanging core is good content.

Search engines are just trying to find good content, and change their algorithms regularly to do so. Your best long term investment is producing content that people will be glad they've found.

Skip over any "quick tricks" for fooling search engines. Today's best practices won't necessarily work tomorrow. Using SEO shortcuts is the same as building your business or organization's success on sand: search engines figure out tricks over time, compensate for them, and sometimes even punish the tricksters by removing them from search results altogether!

From a tactical perspective, it's important to:

1. Actively moderate your content. Look for empty titles and descriptions and populate them with keyword-rich content.
2. Encourage members to write descriptive titles and descriptions.

Build quality backlinks

Backlinking is a technical term for a simple idea: when someone links from their websites to yours, we call that a backlink. Backlinks are the #2 priority for SEO; having 100 sites linking to your website is far better for your SEO than any code tweak.

As with the quality content, you skip over any salespeople promising 100 backlinks for a low fee. Instead, create content that people want to link to, encourage your community members to link to your site from their own websites and social profiles, and get the word out. Join other online communities similar to yours, read and comment on blogs in your space, and get active beyond your website's borders.

Reciprocating back links is sometimes derided on the assumption that it devalues a site in the eyes of a search engine, but it's an essential part of being a good web neighbor. Remember, you're not trying to trick the search engines, your trying to build a great website. If your website isn't well-known, you might have to kick this process off by proactively linking to other sites first.

From a tactical perspective, it's important to:

1. Use tags and categories - they're good way to cross-linking your content with keyword-based links.
2. Include keywords in your community name and tagline, if possible. These 2 phrases are used throughout the KickApps-powered pages, and you want people to use them when they link to you.

Monitor your results

Use an analytics package such as the free web-hosted Google Analytics software to keep an eye on the volume of traffic coming into your website from search engines. By monitoring how users find your website you'll start to understand where your SEO efforts are most effective.

Specifically, you should look for:

1. Which search keywords bring the most traffic to your website.
2. Which of your pages bring in the most traffic via search engines.
3. What search terms are most popular within your website.

SEO and API-driven sites

All of the tips above focus on SEO for KickApps-hosted pages. If you're using APIs to provision your web pages, then you'll be responsible for your own SEO best practices (since you're building the HTML of your own pages). You should still review the suggestions, to find any pointers for your own work.

Conclusion

That's it. Good content and lots of backlinks are, at a high level, the best investment of your time and energy if you want your site appear in the top 3 search results for a specific term.