Comments on: Making Apple’s iWeb More “Search Engine Friendly”

By: Vincent Roman

Vincent Roman — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:00:09 +0000

For starters you are likely trying to compete in a highly competitive space, so it will be hard to come top. Only 1 website can come in #1 position and no doubt the current holders have been at it a long time. Just by doing a little SEO doesn’t guarantee a top spot. Also how long ago did you update the site, and have you done all the other things required? It’s not enough to just plonk the site online. Given the returns from your work, it’s probably worth spending serious money and employing an SEO professional. Best, Vincent =

By: Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:09:26 +0000

I have implemented changes to my iweb site by using iweb seo tool, but with no luck with google. If I type in “personal injury lawyer” or anything specific “Houston Car Accident Lawyer” my website is nowhere to be found. Even if I type “Texas Injury Lawyer” I can’t be found, unless you type in “My Texas Injury Lawyer.”

I’m starting to think the way iWeb creates its code somehow inhibits the search engines readability for that website.

Any suggestions will be appreciated!

By: Vincent Roman

Vincent Roman — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:17:01 +0000

Brad – Thanks for the hoodwink =) … Personally i have been pushing clients from iWeb to WordPress. Not exactly like for like, and a costly initial hit to get up and running in time, but after that they can do as they wish, and Google LOVES wordpress =)

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:12:50 +0000

Thanks for your information. I haven’t found anything newer on the subject that gives any better info than you do. I kinda hoped that with I-Life 11 they might have added some ability to do the basic SEO stuff, but they didn’t. Modifying i-Web pages manually or with add-on tools limits your ability to later make changes using just i-Web. That defeats the purpose of using it in the first place. (i.e. my clients want to be able to make minor content changes themselves). I’ve been told at least a dozen times by Apple Support when I want to do some ordinary task, “oh, you need to install this other program/add-on/3rd party tool …” The only thing that sucks worse than Apple software is PC software! (sigh)

Thanks for your great info.

By: Vincent Roman

Vincent Roman — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:13:24 +0000

Filipe – I can’t go in detail here, but in essence, if the default page in yoru iWeb export is index.html and the home page happens to be Home.html, then you should open Home.html and copy the contents into index.html. From a technical perspective, and way beyond a basic users ability. I would setup a 301 redirect to ensure that Google etc sees the Home.html and the index.html page as the same content, rather than duplicate. Hope this helps.

By: Filipe

Filipe — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:22:29 +0000

Vincent- thank you so much for all the information, insight and interaction with your readers. This is really very helpful and priceless information.

I would love it if you and perhaps Bruce could go a little more into how to manually remove the redirect from an iweb site. I am currently working on building a wedding photography website and seeing as I will need the search engine ranking- it seems that removing this redirect is a critical step.

Bruce mentioned DUPLICATING or copying the page, and then opening the page in a webpage editor and saving it as an index file.

It all reads out simple- but I guess i would just love a step by step and i’m sure some other readers would really benefit from this as well.

Thanks again!!

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:10:54 +0000

Hi, As a newbie, I’m afraid I’ve done a combination of wrong things and don’t know how to go about making it right. I built the site using iWeb, hosted by MobileMe with a godaddy domain that masked the “web.me” to a chosen domain name. Then added GA tracking code and title tags through Rage iWeb SEO tool on the iWeb html pages thinking/hoping they would be forwarded to the godaddy domain. Not so. Now the “web.me” site is high in Google searches and godaddy domain remains buried unless resurrected with the exact url. I’m new to Macs, first web site, would appreciate help. The Rage folks say join their web hosting and all will be well. But the price is kinda steep and they don’t promise to hold your hand (lots of videos but which one to watch!), so …. I just want to “fix” it meaning web site is in a good place and optimizable. I’m a writer and can do the words – just what and where? Thanks.

By: Gaia

Gaia — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:15:30 +0000

Thanks a lot Vincent! cheers Gaia

By: Vincent Roman

Vincent Roman — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:01:18 +0000

Gaia = Thanks for the comment, and beautiful artwork. It really just comes down to what you wish to achieve. I would suggest using things like Google Places etc to garner new business leads would be as useful and as easy for you as trying to get a site up and running and optimise it for search engines. Best, Vincent -

By: Gaia

Gaia — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 06:30:31 +0000

Hi,
I have just published “one page” of my “new” web site for my “new business”…
Now I thought to be able to “do it myself” but I’m afraid it’s tooooo much to learn/know about it. So to cut it short I will need it to have it made up but it seems costing “a lot of money”.Do you have any suggestion on where to ask/what’s best to ask for/tips and so on?
Thank you so much
Gaia

By: wildgal

wildgal — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 03:03:51 +0000

Ok, so like, i am making a website on iweb, and ya know those button thingies on the top of the website that say “welcome” or “blog” or “photos” and stuff like that, right? Well, one question, how do ya get rid of them or cover them with buttons or something so they don’t show!! Thanks, and P.S. Sorry bout writing like a teenage girl, lol ;D

By: Jacquie

Jacquie — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 23:26:46 +0000

This domain has been around for a few years and after being beaten about by other developers, finally managed to do one myself on my mac.
Hosted on Justhost and diverted to Mobile Me with the domain wantadog.co.uk
I haven’t done anything on SEO and don’t understand how to check how bad my site is with it, or if I even have any metatags in there.
A little lost with what to do and would appreciate any easy steps forward to improve it.
thanks

By: keef

keef — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:34:20 +0000

OK, thanks to all on this site and RAGE, I am now the world’s expert on website SEO…(oh yeah get real!) Loving it and learning it. Who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? ‘Keywords’ …carefully researched, is there a limit to the number that is permitted as metadata? I am on a roll at the moment and as with most new toys one can find it difficult to leave it alone.

By: keef

keef — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 09:54:14 +0000

Vincent, Ta, nearly ready to go, setting up Stat counter and Analytics first. I figure that way at least I should be able to check that any alterations to metadata etc is happening and does have some effect. Keef

By: Vincent Roman

Vincent Roman — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:55:19 +0000

Keef ... Seems liek I am in good company. My first mac was a IICX :) There is always an undo, SEO and Google et al just makes it a slow motion affair :) You can find more articles I have written about the topic on my SEO related Blog. Good luck!

By: Keef

Keef — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:31:42 +0000

After reading these posts …Today is the day I get my head around SEO. Although not a newbie to Mac (my first a IIfx back in 1990) I am certainly a newbie to html etc etc. So here goes, armed with the tips and ideas from your post lets see what I can break. As Ruskin said, “The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get from it, but what they become by it” huh but what did he know about SEO? I do hope there is an ‘undo’ button.

By: Vincent Roman

Vincent Roman — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:06:50 +0000

Google will take time to update. It’s looking much better now!

By: Louis

Louis — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:36:25 +0000

Thanks for the tips Vincent, I’ve changed all my text so its as text. Also i used rage seo to change my meta tag names and keywords, but i seem to have a lot of wiget markups??/ Do i keyword them….I also used site:www.thegolfgiant.co.uk and after changing all the meta tags the titles are still all the samE????? HELP PLEASE

By: Vincent Roman

Vincent Roman — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:03:44 +0000

Because of text on pages being on backgrounds and in unusual font styles potentially, iWeb creates images including the text, which are then placed in page and are not readable. If you try to select text with your pointer/mouse you will see that you cannot copy and paste it.

By: Louis

Louis — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:33:47 +0000

So glad i found this link. Thank you for your fast response. really useful info here. How do you mean alot of my text is in images…? (as in objects) i set the text to bring to front. thanks louis