Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays an important role in blogging and a blog without SEO cannot get to the top position in major search engines. Also, it gets organic traffic coming via search engines.
As search system followed by Google also keeps a check on every link that comes to your website, you may get outbound links mostly coming via comment form. All these facts raise questions like should you keep your blog comments as dofollow or no follow? Also, what are the ways to no follow the external links in blogger automatically?
Eliminate Nofollow from the word press comments
When you look at professional bloggers they used to carry out a search like- what is no follow used for? How to turn a link to no follow? What can be done so that I utilize – rel = “nofollow” especially for external links? How no index and no follow useful for blog comments and many more questions.
These type of comments are the crucial sections of your blog as every comment gives you an idea on how the readers/audience receive a specific post on which they will comment or ask for more information. Either they will have a question or whether they loved reading your content posted on blog post or they didn’t like it.
Every bloggers loves to receive comments for his/her published article. It is one of the perfect tips for the bloggers for on-page SEO to enhance the ranking of the page by utilizing SEO based comment structure.
What is Nofollow?
Nofollow is an asset that you can attach to the links to postpone – Comment Spam. Enabling the links follow can increase the count of comments but will also rotate the increased comment spam. As you know commenting comes with a lot of benefits because it offers a backlink via dofollow activated site.
On the other hand Nofollow offers a chance for all the web developers to let the search engines recognize it as “Don’t follow that link”. When major search engines such as Google finds the attribute – “rel = nofollow” attached with any of the hyperlinks you post, those links are not included during indexing web pages that is in SERP.
Mostly people insert the link right in comments which are not at all related to their article – spam. According to the search mechanism of Google such links can affect the SEO site ranking by bringing down the PR that is Google page rank. The latest Panda update is a new algorithm launched by Google search engine which is basically a strict rule that searches spam links and content.
It checks for spam especially in comment section. Not to consider comments as backlinks by the search engines.
Add the tag- Nofollow on links to help your comments stay as nofollow
As a blogger you can adopt an easy way out to set the tag for all external links. Almost all web developers make use of this tag to make their comments system SEO friendly. Here is how you can add the tag of Nofollow to every link in blogger/word press comment system.
Open – HTML so that you can edit
Look for the following code – expr: href = ‘data: the post.createLinkUrl’
Now add the code given below to the code mentioned above
rel = ‘nofollow external’
This now looks like
rel = ‘nofollow external’ expr: href = ‘data: the post.createLinkUrl’
Now you can save the template and it is done.
Reason why one should Nofollow the comment links
To prevent spammers who try to comment just to take away your PageRank.
To prevent the blog from new Panda algorithm effect which otherwise can slow down the traffic coming to your blog by nearly 50-70% as links in comments can be a threat to the content present in the blog as it completely diverts the attention of spiders from the main keywords you used. This can result in lower rank for your blog.
Google Panda algorithm is much talked about as it is a strict rule that the Google search mechanism follows for your posts. The new rule checks for links and content and stops the indexing process for a publisher completely. Have you thought about how the following attribute rel=”nofollow” can be attached to all links in the comments that the users post on the blog you create.
It is quite simple provided you know where to find it. Ensure that spammy links do get the chance to invade your comments especially when you get comments posted by unknown users. The tag – rel is a single tag located in anchor that search engine robots follow. The tag – rel ensures that the value of the spammy links while ranking in search engines becomes comparatively invalid.
A plenty of blog posts are duplicates or contain breach material. Thus Google punished a lot of such sites apart from a couple of genuine blogs too. So it becomes necessary to insert the tag – nofollow to the blog comments links to save the blog from Google Panda effect and spam.
So, make sure you use the rel tag to let your word press comments or blog comments sail through the Google Panda rules easily. When you are using SEO techniques for your blog to help it get it to the top ranking, many spammers can ruin your efforts by posting spammy links in comments sections to snatch your Pagerank which can be harmful for your blog. As Google Panda rule is quite strict, it is looking for genuine content and it works to avoid and punish spammers. In this process many authorized blogs are also penalized but it was done to maintain the quality.
It is important to promote your blog while taking care of the Google Panda rules. If you want organic traffic to your site, you need to follow the Panda rules to help your blog reach to the top rank in search engine results and avoid getting penalized. You need to work smart.
Image optimization plays an important role in SEO. Image optimization creates many advantages of image assets including faster load time, smooth user experience and additional ranking opportunities.
Although image search technology has made great strides, search engines are unable to identify the content of an image. They depend very much on text associated with the image. Here are some tips for image optimization.
Stock Images Won’t Help SEO
There are many sites which provide stock images. The problem with filling your site with stock images is that your site looks pretty much unoriginal. If you think about a corporate website, a consulting firm or customer support firm you will notice that most use the same image of a smiling man. While stock images may be optimized it won’t have the same effect as an original image.
Using Original High Quality Images
The more the original pictures you have on your website better is the user experience. Original images produced by your company mates or taken by in-house camera work better than any kind of stock photo. Another thing is to produce high quality images. Better quality images can attract more people to your website.
Images Can Act As A Catalyst
Images should be used to better explain the posts. A significant size of the population learns visually. Images can have an emotional impact than large blocks of text. Using screenshots is another way to make the post more meaningful. Screenshots are a wonderful way to get the point across.
Do not use copyright images
You need to make sure that there is no copyright conflict. If you do not have a license to use then it’s better not to use it. For example, do not use Shutterstock images without license. Under DMCA ( Digital Millennium Copyright Act) you could be issued a DMCA takedown notice. There are plenty of ways to find copyright free images.
Best Practices for JPEG, PNG, GIF Images
JPEG image provides the best option for maintaining a quality image when it is resized or compressed. Therefore, even though there is compression JPEG will form a high quality image.
If you are designing a logo use a PNG Image and try to avoid GIF images for images and photographs.
Use Compressed Images Without Losing Quality
The file sized used in an image should be optimal. A larger file size will significantly increase loading time. The image can be compressed in photoshop or you can use bulk compression through an WordPress plugin.
Naming Image Files For SEO
For great SEO descriptive keywords rich file names are crucial. Image file name alert the crawlers as to the subject matter of the image. For example, if you take an image using your camera the name looks like IMG_776536 or something like this, change it to an appropriate name so that search engine understand your image . The SEO value of the image is increased.
Write SEO Friendly Alt Text
Alt Text are text alternative to images when browser cannot render them properly. It has been found that Alt-Text is beneficial for the overall SEO strategy. This is because Alt Text provides Google with useful information.
Add Descriptive Captions For Image
Another image optimization best practice is to add descriptive captions. Captions are helpful because not all image can be understood right way. Further it provides additional context to the image which is considered beneficial for SEO.
Creating An Image SiteMap
Creating a sitemap allows Google and other search engines to discover the images in your site easily. For WordPress sites sitemaps can be created by using the Google XML Sitemap for Images Plugin
Image optimizations can be time consuming but it greatly enhances your SEO.
Are you a singer or a song producer? Then you must be looking forward to sell your music and earn a profit out of it. Due to the advancements of internet and technology, it has become an easy task for you to sell your music online and earn a decent amount of money. However, it is important for you to have a clear understanding about the steps that are associated with selling your music online. Then you will be provided with the opportunity to stay away from the hassle throughout the selling process as well.
Where should you sell your music?
When you are about to sell your music, the first thing that will come to your mind is finding the right marketplace to do it. People in today’s world are provided with a large number of online marketplaces in order to go ahead and sell music online. However, all these online marketplaces are not in a position to deliver effective results. Therefore, you need to identify what the best marketplaces are.
SoundCloud can be considered as a great place available for you to get started with. If you take a look at SoundCloud, you will be able to figure out that some of the well-known artists have started their journeys on SoundCloud. You will be able to create your own account in SoundCloud and start uploading the songs and instrumentals. However, you need to keep in mind that SoundCloud is not a platform that you can use in order to sell your music. You will only be able to build up your audience with the help of this platform.
When you establish yourself as an artist by publishing few songs on SoundCloud, you can take a look at ReverbNation. It is an excellent place available for you to sell your music and start earning money. The ReverbNation platform is pretty much similar to SoundCloud. Therefore, you will not have to go through any difficulties when you are getting used to it.
You will also be able to take a look at BandCamp, while looking for the best place to sell your music online. You will be able to upload your music to BandCamp and define a price for it. The best thing about BandCamp is that the fans will be able to go ahead and pay a higher price to show their devotion and purchase your track. Hence, you will be able to increase your chances of making more money on the platform.
Selling music on Google Play Music, Spotify and iTunes
During the recent past, we were able to see an increase in the usage of online music streaming services. Google Play Music, Spotify and iTunes are perfect examples for such service providers. In fact, the popularity of these services was boosted in the recent past. Most of the people who are looking forward to get their hands on high quality music in a legit manner prefer to go ahead with these options. Hence, you can also think about getting your music uploaded to these platforms.
It is important to keep in mind that you cannot just go ahead and upload your music to these platforms. Before you do it, you will need to be equipped with a proper record label and music management. However, there are some alternatives available for you to consider about as well. You can go ahead following those alternatives and there is a high possibility for you to end up with better results.
You can seek the assistance of third party service providers such as TuneCore when trying to get your music published on iTunes. These services are working as a proxy for the record label. Hence, you will be able to stay away from a great deal of frustration when trying to get your music published. They will help you with not just getting your music uploaded to iTunes, but also for the other major music stores found online. With that, you will be able to make your music tracks available for the people in every corner of the world to listen.
DistroKid can also be considered as a perfect example for such a third party service provider, who can help you with getting your music uploaded and published to Google Play Music, Spotify and iTunes. However, they are offering their services for an annual fee. This is a reasonable amount and you will not have to go through any hassle while getting their services. Apart from the annual fee, you will not have to pay anything else. In other words, DistroKid doesn’t take a commission from the songs that you upload. Due to this reason, you will be able to go ahead and upload music tracks as much as you want as well.
When you are planning to get your music uploaded to Google Play Music, Spotify and iTunes, you should also keep in mind that several days are taken in order to propagate music. However, this is a simple and a slick process. Hence, you will be able to get your job done without any hassle. You will not be asked too many questions or you will not be asked to wait for weeks. Therefore, you can try that out without keeping any doubts in mind.
None of these services are in a position to help you make profits, unless your offered service is not good. Due to this reason, you will need to pay a lot of attention towards getting high quality music created. Then you will be able to have your music in demand at all times. With that, you will be able to get more people to purchase your music via the online platforms. As a result, you will be able to end up with amazing returns in the long run.
