Top Free Blogging Platforms

July 6, 2011 by Garen · Comments Off
Filed under: Wordpress and Blogging

( The Best Web Hosting Service )- There are lots and lots of free blogging platforms. However, how do you know which ones are good and which ones suck? This is an ever growing list of the best blogging platforms that are free. However, note you can usually pay for more features, but just to get your foot in the door you can play with these .

Blogger is probably one of the most widely used blogging platforms and is very easy to use. Does have a number of widgets and plugins that you can easily install. It’s actually owned by Google and I have personally found that it ranks pretty easy in Google. Very good for the novice bloggers.

Wordpress.com not WordPress.org! WordPress.com is a self hosted blogging platform. The .org is where you can download it onto a site you own the domain to. There are a lot of limitations for what you can do with WordPress.com such as putting affiliate links on them. They will shut down your account for this as it goes against their TOS. Very good blogging platform though.

Livejournal.com is another free blogging platform which you can also upgrade to paid if you are so inclined to do so. One of the top choices between free bloggers. I highly recommend this one!

Weebly.com is personally one of my favorite ones to use. Like most you can upgrade to paid if you want to. It is very user friendly and has lots and lots of customization that you can use for your blog. Highly, recommended and the ease of use is top notch.

Blog.com which has been existence for 6 years now. Very user friendly and one might thing you are using WordPress. It is both paid and free. I like the SEO features that are integrated into it.

Tags: blogging, free blogging platforms

Server Geographical Location: Does It Affect Google Rankings?

July 5, 2011 by Garen · Comments Off
Filed under: SEO

Geographical Seach Engine Rankings ( The Best Web Hosting Service )- As mentioned in many web hosting articles and discussions, there are many aspects to consider when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Among the questions frequently asked is about the importance of server location and how it impacts on your website rankings. Does it really matter where your web hosting servers are to be found? If so, in what way does it affect Google Rankings?

What Difference Does It Make?

The value of server geographic location vis-à-vis Google ranking is largely underrated and a lot of website owners simply don’t have any idea or often not even interested to know where the server is physically situated. In fact, it’s very common for a large number of hosting companies to purchase the cheapest servers, if possible; not really caring where in the globe it is located, so long as they make huge profits. Server location may not be a top priority aspect of SEO and search engine results but it does have a significant bearing.

Google is concerned about showing the most relevant results for searchers; hence search results are mostly tailored to the needs of the users to make their search experience as proficient, efficacious and convenient as possible. Google places a lot of weight on local search to carry out this objective. It is not surprising, therefore, that some search engine results are filtered by the geographic location of the host servers. What has that got to do with your website’s page ranking?

Remember that one of the primary aspects to factor in, when thinking about developing a business website, is the location of your target market. Are you going to market your products/services to other countries; or are you specifically aiming to attract customers on the country where your business is located?

For businesses that only target a specific location, local search is critically significant and the actual physical/geographical location of your web hosting company’s servers can influence whether or not your site will become visible within Google’s local search results. In short, your business website should be hosted on servers that are geographically relevant to your target area, if you want to make it to “front page”.

There’s such a thing as GeoTargeting…
Search engines use GeoTargeting to list sites according to the visitor’s IP/country – what’s relevant and of interest to the searcher. Below is a list of the top elements according to the order of importance, which can make significant impact in identifying your site’s location to index it for the most appropriate audience.

Domain Name and use of country-specific Top Level Domain. In Canada, for example, a site with a .ca TLD will rank higher than a .com TLD.
The geographical location/IP address of the site’s web server. Since search engines usually rank local sites based on servers within that geographical area, having a local web server is especially crucial for a website to get higher ranking. This is particularly true if the website doesn’t have a country specific Top Level Domain.
The language used in the domain name and text in website pages and defined in related META tags. Search engines utilize language to detect and rate the website’s locality. This key element is a prime consideration in gauging the site’s relevance and a significant factor to boost ranking.
The location of and language used by third party links to the website. The same measure is implemented on the strength and relevance of third-party links to local markets, which can be very influential in enhancing the site’s authority and presence.

As you can very well see, your website server’s location is indeed one of the most crucial factors in ranking. Put simply, if you want to target the UK market, for example; having a server geographically situated in UK will be of utmost importance and primary value to Google.

Give Your Website the Search Advantage

Let’s face it; Google is by far, the largest search engine; and when it comes to SEO it all boils down to making Google happy for your site to rank high and send an abundance of organic search engine traffic to your business. Here are some important tips to remember while you aim for higher ranking…

Believe it: Google does use server location when ranking and providing local search results; which is not only country-specific but can also be area-specific. Keep this in mind when looking for a web hosting provider and make the right choice, if you want to appear in search results.
Google assumes that websites hosted with servers in the same geographical location are likely to provide the most relevant content for that specific area.
Servers in the same locality are preferred for location-based queries and searches; thus, can influence how a website positions itself in the local search ranking.
Google now claims that one out of five searches is location-based search query.
Google is likely to detect the location of your website through its IP address/web server location, rather than just refer to the Top Level Domain (TLD). Here’s the thing, though…If you use a generic Top Level Domain (.com, .net, .org, etc.) the server location will identify your geo-location. However, if you use a country-code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), the server location may not matter at all, as major search engines will base your geo-location on your website’s country-specific domain name.

Conclusion

Identifying your target market is a foremost requirement if you want to optimize and boost your search engine ranking, so “localize” your content to get a better aim at your visitors. Come up with a domain name that has a suitable Top Level Domain. More importantly, make sure your host web server is in the same geographical location as your site or is geographically located in your target market area. Google is sure to look at your site with favor and count you in when indexing relevant pages.

Tags: google rankings, search ranking, server

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