Everyone wants to maximise their search engine positioning in the SERPS, but, where do you start on SEO? There is an endless amount of information on SEO so let us help you.

Based on the enquiries we regularly receive from our customers, we have compiled 10 SEO beginner videos to get you started.

Whether you are an absolute beginner or more advanced looking to revise the basics, the following 10 videos will definitely assist your SEO efforts:

1. What is SEO?
2. How Search Engines Work
3. SEO myths
4. 5 Steps to Improve Your SEO
5. How to Get Listed in a Few Days
6. Free Web Submissions
7. Boosts Your SERPS
8. What is Google Pagerank?
9. Importance of Keywords
10. 5 Free ways to SEO Traffic

We hope you enjoy these videos and if our objectives are correct, your appetite will be whetted (is that a word?) to move on to more advanced levels in time. World domination is within your grasp!

Bookmark It

At last! We have added the 301 Redirect as a forwarding type for parked domain names!

The much requested (and needed) feature is now live for all parked domain names. The 301 redirect is the SEO friendly redirect which is recommended by all major search engines as well as openly by Google.

So, you ask, why is the 301 redirect different from the 302 redirect? A valid question indeed!

The 302 redirect is what you would use when redirecting a domain name to a another location temporarily, it means that any ‘link juice’ value contained in a domain name (or page) is reserved and it is NOT passed on to the target location. So when the temporary period is over your domain is back to where it started with it’s original link value restored.

The 301 redirect is the “permanently” moved redirect, this tells the search engines that this is a permanent change and any link value associated with the domain name should be passed on to the target location.

In short, if you have a domain name which stores your primary web site, you should ensure that any secondary domain names that you have registered use a 301 redirect to the primary site. This ensures that all visitors to your secondary domains are forwarded to your primary site as well as any link value for each domain is also added to your primary domain thus adding to you SEO rank position.

We offer three different styles of web forwarding and redirection with every domain name:

• 301 Redirect (Permanent) Web Forwarding
• 302 Redirect (Temporary) Web Forwarding
• Masked / Cloaked Web Forwarding

Bookmark It

As you know, we like to offer the latest and greatest features to our services as standard.

All web hosting accounts based on the Plesk control panel are now PCI compliant as standard. So, what does this mean to you?

Well, it means that you can rest assured that the stringent Payment Card Industry (PCI)  security and encryption guidelines advised for online merchants are adhered to with your web hosting account at no additional cost.

For more information see: PCI Compliant Web Hosting at UK Cheapest

You can also visit the PCI site directly: PCI (Payment Card Industry)

Bookmark It

It is quite amazing how often this question comes up.. So, to address a very very common question here is the simple answer…

Get some backlinks! Even one link is enough for Google to find your site and begin indexing, don’t hold your breath though, Google will take weeks to index and list your site.

You can get some very easy backlinks for free by doing some Directory Submissions, allow 5 minutes of your time for each submission. Remember, you only need to do this once so grab a coffee and get started.

Here’s a handy tip, want to give Google a nudge?

Submit your site directly to Google here:

For Google UK: http://www.google.co.uk/addurl

For Google.com: http://www.google.com/addurl

Check to see if your site is indexed by Google by doing a search as such:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site:mydomain.co.uk

Obviously replace “mydomain.co.uk” with your domain name! If the result says “Your search did not match any documents” then your site is not yet indexed. When your site is indexed, you will see which pages – and how they look in Google search results.

Bookmark It

In order to gain traffic and ranking, you need as many links to your website as possible. The best types of links are One Way Links…

One way links do not require a reciprocal link – or link exchange. They simply point to your site. So, how do you get one way links?

First, a warning… Type “one way links” into Google and you will find many services offering such links HOWEVER be warned, buying links is against Google Webmaster Guidelines (see article ‘Information about buying and selling links‘) and so you risk having your site banned from Google. You have been warned

Here are our favourite methods for gaining many one way links:

1) Submitting Articles to Article Directories

Simply write a unique article about your website, product or service and submit the article to many of the hundreds of free article directories. Once approved, these articles will contain a permanent link back to your site from good authorative article directories.

2) Take an active role in Blogs and Forums

If you are a blog or forum reader then taking an active part, ie. leaving comments, will increase your one way links. How? Most site owners allow you to leave a link back to your site in your comments, if your comment is approved by the site owner then the comment (together with your link) will remain on the blog permanently. This is an effective method for gaining quality one way links.

3) Getting links from Squidoo and Hubpages

Squidoo and Hubpages are sites that allow you to create web pages about pretty much anything. You can then place links back to your website from any pages you have created. These websites have a high pagerank and links from them are highly regarded by the search engines. Ensure that the pages you create contain good descriptive and relevant content to your website for maximum effect.

These are just three Google friendly ways of creating one way links. Be imaginative and take your time. There is no hurry. Building backlinks is a long term and ongoing process, if you think you have found a shortcut then you can bet it is a method best advised to avoid!

Bookmark It

Once you have spent many hours writing your article, where is the best place to submit it?

As you will have noticed, there are THOUSANDS of article directories out there. So, to save you time, we have compiled a list of the 10 most popular directories – and listed them in order of popularity

1. ezinearticles.com
2. articlesbase.com
3. buzzle.com
4. goarticles.com
5. helium.com
6. articlesnatch.com
7. articlealley.com
8. articledashboard.com
9. ideamarketers.com
10. amazines.com

Remember to write unique quality articles, do not be tempted to copy text from other websites as this is easily spotted by the search engines.

Bookmark It

Ok, so  your on-page optimisation is complete, you’ve done your best. But, you are not on page #1 of Google. Why? Backlinks, that’s why. Are you ready to begin your off-page optimisation campaign?

The prime component of off-page optimisation is backlinks, these are links to your site from another website. Almost all of your efforts will be spent on building and managing your backlink catalogue. Why are backlinks important? Well, try reviewing the quantity of backlinks associated with the top ranking sites – you will find they are numerous. But, that’s not all…

Backlinks have different values, which equates to – some backlinks being better than others. And now to the point of this article, which backlinks should you be concentrating on – and which to avoid.

Link types to seek

1. One way links – no link swapping!
2. Links with relevant “Keywords” in the Anchor Text
3. Links from industry-relevant pages
4. Links from industry specific article pages
5. Link to your site should not be through a “redirect” script

Link types to avoid

1. JavaScript links
2. Links from “framed” pages
3. “flash” embedded links
4. Paid or time-bound links
5. Email spam used to solicit links.
6. Links from Link Farms
7. Links from FFA (Free-For-All) link networks
8. Links from sites containing offensive content
9. “no follow” links
10. Links from pages with more than 80 outgoing links

To summarise…

The preceding link types to include – and avoid – will ensure your backlink campaign will be effective to the maximum, and wasteful to the minimum.

Future articles will concentrate on each link type, why you should include (or exclude) this in your link strategy and how to effectively campaign for the right types of links to maximise you site ranking.

Bookmark It

As a (very cheap and excellent value) Domain Name, Web Hosting and Web Design service provider, we do not always get the opportunity to communicate the goings on within the UKC back office team.

The team no doubt consists of all sorts of interesting characters and skills.. Not limited to but including the likes of.. Programmers, Marketers, Technical Support, Managers, Tea Makers… etc.

We feel the chatter taking place in the back office may be of interest to someone, whether it be about technicalities of our services,  how to get to #1 in Google or the latest pirate attack in the English Channel.

So here it is, for you to see what is going on inside the minds of the UKC back office team, their families, friends, pets. Oh, and there friends pets also. Watch this space. Honestly, you’ll be glad.

Bookmark It