Websites have become popular targets for hackers, who either try to add elements that automatically download “malware” (viruses, etc) or try to add hidden links (SEO hacking) to other websites. Quite often, these kinds of changes are not recognized by the webmaster or website owner. You could wait until a visitor complains to you or you receive a mail from Google for spreading malware (or having hidden links to “bad places”), but that is slow, unreliable and usually too late.

There are services available that can track changes on your web pages automatically, but sometimes it is good to have something like that within your own control (or perhaps as a backup to an online service). To keep a record of changes on web pages I have put together a small Windows batch-file that checks a list of pages and emails you with any changes found. Additionally, it will also email you when the server is not reachable. You could use the same tool to keep track of changes on third-party web pages.
Continue reading ‘Check your web pages for hacks and unauthorized changes’ »

This post has one main reason: popular sites don’t always get it right. You can also turn that around: you don’t have to get everything right in order to be popular. Never do something on your site just because a large site does it like that.

Combine web 2.0 with a search engines, what do you get? Lots of rel=nofollow links , heh. You’d assume that they could get a few things right with regards to search engine optimization though.

Think again.

I hope you’re listening, Twitter and all of you who aren’t.
Continue reading ‘Twitter indexing peculiarities’ »

Hello Sebastian! You’re one of the more elusive people in the Google Groups, helping webmasters regularly and often with run-of-the-day problems and providing insight into things that are not so common. Your “no-BS” policy sometimes seems a bit tough on new users – but by “telling it like it is” you can get straight to the point and help where it hurts. It’s good to have your help in the groups and I’m glad you take the time to help no matter what problems a webmaster is fighting with.

Nobody knows who you really are – Aaron Pratt goes so far as to say “Sebastian is either running from the law or a bookie, I never could get his name” . How would you introduce yourself to someone who doesn’t know you?

Howdy John, thanks for asking a dad working at home bookie running from the law for an interview. Actually, a few people do know who I am, for example my monsters, my dad, my laywer, my accountant and tax advisor, and last but not least all the nice folks at Google I had the pleasure to rescue my banned stuff chat with. *wink*
Continue reading ‘A bookie’s life – interview with Sebastian’ »

In response to the other statistics regarding the Google Webmaster Help groups, JLH asks:

I always wonder about a statistic, I call them Drive-by-posters. Those who come in and make a post, only to be never heard of again, even though their questions may be answered.

Let’s take a quick look at who posts in the groups (how long they’ve been active), who starts new threads and a short dissection of what first-time posters do on the group and how they evolve from there.
Continue reading ‘After the first post: should I stay or should I go now?’ »

Hi John, it’s great to have you here for a virtual interview! John is one of the strong posters who make up the backbone of the Google Webmaster Help forums. His blog at http://www.jlh-design.com/ is strong on all things SEO, is quite popular and dares to ask uncomfortable questions that need to be asked. His detailed knowledge of the Google Webmaster Guidelines and the penalties resulting from abuse of them has helped many webmasters to improve their sites and to get them back into the Google index.

John, why do you spend so much time helping people who’s sites deserve to be penalized?

Google does a great job finding spamming attempts and deindexing / penalizing offending sites, however the algorithm doesn’t take into account the human element. Sometimes well intentioned honest webmasters stray into trouble, perhaps the rules have changed and they were busy working on their sites to notice, or even they just took some wrong advice they saw on another forum or blog. I’m not interested in helping spammers succeed but those who may have done something and not known any better. Google’s penalty system seems to treat everyone as criminals with no recourse to the law except through this Webmaster Help Group. There are so many requests that one has to pick and choose which ones to spend any real time on. I generally first make sure they are giving us the right information such as including the URL, some past history, what they’ve done or haven’t done, etc. I always look for some contriteness in their questions and actions. I try to avoid helping anyone that is trying to push the line to the brink of banning just for ranking purposes.
Continue reading ‘Interview with John Honeck / JLH’ »