This is really a bit of a shorter part of this series, but is just as important as all the others. There are some serious issues with websites across the internet that do not function properly. Each change you make to a URL could affect something else on the website!
The important thing to remember is that you should regularly check your website works properly.
I am going to talk you through 3 tools in particular that will help you with maintaining a fully functioning and more importantly, clean website!
- XENU: This is one of my personal favourite tools for checking the status of URLS on any of my sites! Basically you download it onto your computer and enter your website domain name. This tool will then send several bots crawling though your site and determining any 301 errors, 404 errors and many more. For those of you that are not sure, a 301 is a redirect from one page to another. I have created another post on what the site errors mean, you can read it Here! With this information you can determine exactly where you site has issues, and on which page these need to be corrected. Any missing pages can be redirected and any unnecessary redirects on your site can be changed to their proper URLS. The report this program generates allows you to comb through your website and correct any issues.
- Sam Spade: Not quite as useful as XENU, but is very effective at telling you the exact path of a link. If you want to find out if it is redirected, and what kind of redirect is applied, Sam Spade will record all the relevant information for you. This is a way of testing any 301’s on your website and with this you can ascertain whether or not the redirect needs to be changed, and how many pages it travels through!
- Google Webmaster Tools: Google Webmaster tools offers any site owner the ability to track all kinds of information, from impressions to click through rates and the top keywords your site has! It is also a great source for crawling your site, similar to XENU and find any errors that have been reported. Any 404 errors can be identified and any issues that bots have crawling your site including the time it takes to load up pages on your site can be monitored!
- Link Patch: This is my favourite for reporting 404 errors. Once you have signed up for this service, you will receive an email whenever someone encounters a 404 page. So if someone locates a missing link, you receive an email with details on where the page was accessed from and which page was broken. This means immediately you can go and fix the problem, because you are updated straight away!
Keeping a clean website is important. This is another factor in Google’s algorithm, if your site has multiple errors and broken pages, you could find yourself receiving a Google Penalty!
This is a part of Beginner SEO Series – The Ultimate SEO Guide for Beginners. Read the other part of the Series here -
Part 1: Checking Your Competitor Backlinks
Part 2: Optimizing On Page SEO
Mark C works for a Web Design company heading up the SEO team for a Holidays tour operator!
aatif (8)
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good post mark! we are changing the theme so this will be really helpful.
PLZ VISIT
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:03 am
Oh great to know you are going to change the Theme Karthick so which theme are you planning to use?
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techsputter | karthick Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
we are planning for best life modified bro…
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techsputter | karthick Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
sorry for the error bro….its fresh life modified!
very good post i think seo today is more difficult than before thanks to Google dominance.
hisam´s last blog ..برنامج انتى فيروس افاست Avast 2011 للتحميل مجانا
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:03 am
Well Hisam,SEO is not at all that much difficult but yes it is quite time taking…only you need to know the tools and tricks of the trade
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Thanks Mark. I’ve never heard of XENU before so I will definitely go check it out.
Aaron´s last blog ..Free Blogs
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:04 am
Xenu Link Sleuth is the best tool around too check for broken links. You can check for the other tools too that Mark has mentioned.
Glad you liked the post Aaron
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Howdy Mark,
I do use some great tools I got installed on my blog to check these issues out every hr of the day. These item you discuss is a must if you want your blog to run smoothly without having any delays.
The seo from back in the day don’t apply to the now, why? Because there’s is so much competition online now that you must follow simple guidelines to be able to compete with the big boys.
So if your site is not functioning to %100..then you will get left behind and loss traffic.
TrafficColeman “Signing Off”
TrafficColeman´s last blog ..1-000-000 FRee Visitors In 30 Days
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:05 am
Yes TrafficColeman, SEO has changed a lot. There are some tips that one really needs to know and apply to compete with this millions of website that are online. Having a clean and fast loading website without any errors is very much essential for SEO
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jeza Reply:
July 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 am
Good point Shiva, Ive been having long load times with my header and i might remove it to gain a bit more speed. According to pingdom.com my header is loading very slooow
Jeza
jeza´s last blog ..Top wp plugins
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i think Google Website Optimizer can also help improving SEO
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:06 am
Yup Julian, you are right….I think Mark has included it along with Google WebMaster Tools
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I have read only two parts till now 3rd and 4th.Learn lot from that.Found some great tools.
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:07 am
You should read the other parts too and I am sure you will be enjoying the upcoming parts too. Mark is sharing some great SEO knowledge here
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XENU Link Sleuth is one my top fav. tools to test broken links on a page!
TechChunks´s last blog ..The Evolution of Steve Jobs Pics
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:07 am
Yup bro, Xenu is the best for Broken Link Checking
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Hey Shiva, really great post yaar, the very basic info that am searching for a long
Go4webapps´s last blog ..PaperFreeBilling – An Online Invoicing System
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:08 am
Bro, this post is by Mark not me
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Google Webmaster Tools is one my top fav. I alway use it .
Hieu Martin´s last blog ..5 Tips Link Building for begginers
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:08 am
Yup Hieu, Google Webmaster tools is everybody’s favorite…It has some great tools included with it
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Currently i am using Google’s webmaster tools”to track my productivity,thanks for a great share….
vijay´s last blog ..Bay of Blog-Thanks to Readers and Fellow Bloggers
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:14 am
Well Vijay, Google WebMaster is a great tool.Everybody uses it.It is one of the most essential tool for any webmaster
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Wow, Really great post!
Thanks so much for the resources.
-Onibalusi
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:14 am
Glad you liked it Onibalusi. Mark has listed some great resources in the post
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Thanks for sharing. Xenu is really new to me I will try checking it out. Thanks!
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:15 am
Hey there Jeff,
Xenu is one of the most essential tool for optimizing your site.It checks all your broken links and provides you the report
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this is the second time i hear of “Xenu” im gonna have to look into this, Good post,
Jeza
Jezabel´s last blog ..Top wp plugins
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:16 am
Hey there Jeza,
Xenu is an important tool and you should have it in your toolbox. Very important for every website owner
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The post is nice for beginners but the topic seems to be different from the content
What do you say?
Shekhar Sahu´s last blog ..Transform HTC HD2 into Metal Detector- Download Free App Now
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:17 am
It is surely not different bro…..You did not seem to understand it…By a clean website means…having an error free website (Error free means website which does not have any 404, 500 errors, broken links and 301 errors). I hope you get it now
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gr8 post…..
i use google n bing webmaster tools as they are sufficient for me…
google webmaster tools gives 85+ different reports…
isnt it sufficient
shashank´s last blog ..How Google works -
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Shiva Chettri Reply:
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:20 am
Well bro, Google webmaster does provide you with error report of Broken links but it is very basic and does not provide deep checking like Xenu and Sam Spade
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is SEO is not at all that much difficult?
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Google Webmaster tools is favourite to me too.
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You must as well read the other parts too and I am sure you will be enjoying the upcoming parts too.
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I have only used Google Webmaster tools. I am hearing the other 3 for the first time, going to check out Xenu. Thanks for this information about these great tools.
Sourav´s last blog ..6 Do’s For Blog Marketing With Twitter Fail
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I never used Xenu, will check it out. Thnx a lot for sharing it Shiva
Great article
sidduz´s last blog ..Nissan Micra – The first Launch of Nissan in India
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Great Tips, Im planning to change my theme. Thnx for sharing bookmarked it
sidduz´s last blog ..Nissan Micra – The first Launch of Nissan in India
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well,, Google webmasters tool is my all time favorite.
Vector Graphics´s last blog ..Making Ideas Happen – Giveaway
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SEO is a more difficult concept these days as their are millions of sites writing on same topic. But if you write some unique content i am sure you will do much better than others
Road2Tech´s last blog ..How to secure Wireless LAN
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Downloaded and installed Xenu….WOW….Now the choices are either leave the site like it is or actually read the doucmentation and decide what I really need to correct on the site. Xenu provides an abudent amount of information for someone starting out.
Dan´s last blog ..Mid-Iowa Computers- Inc
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The tools seem to be very useful for start ups as well as for those who need specific features for migrating links and checking dead links.
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clean website always have an advantage but for the clean website, it looks like it has been made before some weeks or months…..
Digital Imagination´s last blog ..Linux lovers to loathe the iPad
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LinkPatch is simply divine. I got wind of it’s existence through Digital Inspiration and I’ve been using it ever since to fix my broken links as soon as they happen
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LinkPatch is really amazing. You can trace your site if ever that there is a 404 error. I am planning to use it as well as changing my theme to a more interesting one.
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superb and awesome…
But i need more of these tips…..i am waiting for it…..
Digital Imagination´s last blog ..How to stop virus entering into pendrive
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Never heard of XENU, nice tool I must say
Den @ Dreamhost Coupon´s last blog ..How to Use Dreamhost Coupon Promo Codes
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Great list of tools. One tool that I have found to be particularly helpful is the SEOmoz toolbar. Helps light up nofollow links as well as giving a page by page analysis.
Charleston Marketing´s last blog ..Nofollow No Problem! Social Networking Rises Above Search Engines
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