Domain

Domain, titles, and URL: If you plan on doing anything with your web page, a domain name is a must. When registering a domain name make sure the name is a short, simple, and easy to spell and remember. For example, computer hope is a much easier name to remember and type than computer hopes free technical help. Many of the common domain names have already been taken, so try to think of as many names as possible. Doing a whois lookup is an easy way to determine what domains are available, the GoDaddy whois is an example of such a lookup.

Page title

Most search engines use the title of your web page when displaying your site in their search results. Therefore, it is always a smart idea to put keywords into the title of each of your pages. However, keep the title short (at most 5 or 6 words), use words that a potential visitor may be searching for, and make the title understandable. For example, this pages title is “Secrets and tips of promoting your web page and blog”, this title is not only descriptive but also uses keywords: secrets, web page and promoting.

Notice: The maximum size of a title before it gets cut off is 68 characters.
Tip: Try pacing your most important keywords at the beginning of the title.

URL Keywords

Add keywords into your URL by adding sub directories that are your keywords. For example, the Computer Hope CD-ROM help section is: http://www.computerhope.com/help/cdrom.htm. As you can see, this URL has three keywords: computer, help and cdrom. Use this to your advantage, search engines today convert your URL to text and use it as a method of indexing your web page.

Notice: Do not get carried away with using keywords in your URL. Having a short URL is also a good method of making sure your link is shared. Nothing worse than trying to send someone a link to a web page in an e-mail or chat only to find the link is four-lines long.
Tip: When linking to your webpage or folder on your web page make sure to end the URL with a slash. For example, http://www.computerhope.com and http://www.computerhope.com/ both point to the same address. However, the link without the slash causes the server to redirect the request, which will slightly decrease the load time and may decrease your page rank. Keep in mind this is only done for directories and not for files, in the above example that pointed to the cdrom.htm file, it should not end with a slash. Finally, keep it consistent, don’t have both versions of the same link on the same web page.

Domain 301 redirects

After you’ve registered your domain make sure your domain is properly forwarding to the address you want. For example, Computer Hope wants to be http://www.computerhope.com and not http://computerhope.com. Both of these addresses are valid, however, when entering http://computerhope.com it is forwarded to http://www.computerhope.com. If we did not forward the URL it could mean that Google and other search engines will treat both domains as different domains and could mean a lower page rank.

If your page is not forwarding you or your web host will need to create a 301 redirect for your site.

Domain, titles, and URL