Come on? Sorry but getting listed on p1 is pretty impressive against the real AW.
I'm merely pointing out that this stuff works. Oh try searching for 'westchester senior portrait'
Other stuff is coming, more SEO improvements afoot. You'll want to subscribe to our Release Notes blog, so that you don't miss a single update from SmugMug http://blogs.smugmug.com/release-notes/ at the bottom, there's a link for Entries (RSS) - put that in your favorite feed reader.
Hey, my site is at the top of page 2 for a google search for "upshorts pics." But uhhh... I don't think I want those visitors. But at least that page's title is shown so most people looking for something a little different don't stop in.
Google's webmaster tool says that I have 1016 duplicate title tags and 1085 duplicate meta descriptions.
Most of the duplicates are appearing on pages that aren't 'mine'. they are part of Smugmug Communities. Apparently, you can get to any smugmug community through my url. For example myurl/community/Nikonusers. i am NOT a member of that group. From there, google seems to crawl members of that group and attribute their content to my site. Does this happen to others?
Can 'Disallow: /community/' be added to the robots.txt file? Even better, can non www.uwencounters.com, smugmug content be disconnected from my site.
So I could get rid of my page title, but that would only clean up a tiny fraction of the duplicates. In the same way that the page title gets duplicated, a link to a photo in a gallery duplicates the gallery description. So if I have 30 photos in a gallery, google seems to be seeing the description of that gallery at a meta description at least 30 times.
That is what I am seeing. is that consistent with the problems others have?
Create unique title tags for each page -
Each of your pages should ideally have a unique title tag, which helps Google know how the page is distinct from the others on your site.
Avoid:
• using a single title tag across all of your site's pages or a large group of pages.
In other words: Smugmug recommend the same page title on all pages. Google recommend a unique page title on each page.
Most – if not all (Except Smugmug) – SEO experts on the internet agree with Google.
In addition to page titles, Smugmug does not follow most of the recommendations in Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.
Like duplicate pages, duplicate meta descriptions, user friendly URLs, sitemaps etc. The list is long - very long.
Lots of Smugmug users (except Andy) in this thread and many other threads are frustrated of not being found on Google and other search engines.
Is this a coincidence? I think not.
Is it really so hard to acknowledge that:
Smugmug’s SEO implementation is very, very poor.
Smugmug’s SEO implementation could easily be improved by just following the Starter guide and the tips from a lot of users on this forum (like Canonical URLs posted by xxclixxx ).
The first step to solve a problem is to acknowledge the problem.
I have already voted for SEO changes in Smugmug’s feature request forum,
but I hope that Smugmug very soon will make a major change in its policy regarding SEO, and will stay on top of present and future SEO Guidelines (not just the basic ones mentioned in the Starter Guide, but also more advanced issues)
Stay tuned, and You'll want to subscribe to our Release Notes blog, so that you don't miss a single update from SmugMug http://blogs.smugmug.com/release-notes/ at the bottom, there's a link for Entries (RSS) - put that in your favorite feed reader.
/community
That's nice. I will subscribe to the enhancements blog. Will do something for me? how do i get google to not crawl /community/? Can you put that in my robots.txt file for me? Thanks
That's nice. I will subscribe to the enhancements blog. Will do something for me? how do i get google to not crawl /community/? Can you put that in my robots.txt file for me? Thanks
I'm sorry, I can't - we've no provision for being able to do that I wish I had a different, better answer for you on this one.
We have no control over when Google (and the other search engines) wander through the pages to pick up changes. It could take days (or longer).
I just did a view source on your page, and I'd recommend removing the "rest of slideshow code." comment in your bio. I believe that's within the lines that the search engines will pick up.
--- Denise
It's been awhile since I've checked my search engine results. They seem a little better on Google and Yahoo than before. However, what concerns me is that I still get most top level results showing links to specific galleries with stephenjfrancophotography/smugmug.com/...
At least one good thing happened. The links that use to pop up with smugmug.com/... where my images were listed as if my name wasn't part of the web address are now gone.
Nevertheless, any suggestions on how to make it so that my search engine results show my custom domain name of stephenjfrancophotography.com without the /smugmug.com/... ???? Also, I do have the re-direct on my other domains via GoDaddy to goto the www.StephenJFrancoPhotography.com . However, doing a search via Google or Yahoo and clicking on the links that show stephenjfrancophotography/smugmug.com/.... do not redirect to my custom domain (much less to my homepage).
I realize there are some other issues going on with search engine results mentioned in another thread. However, I more interested in just fixing this .../smugmug.com/... issue in my search engine results. I appreciate having SmugMug, but I really prefer that my stephenjfrancophotography.com custom domain shows up and the .../smugmug.com/... results don't.
I did the previous suggested fix that Denise mentioned and it did help (as discussed above). However, I'm just hoping that there is another bit of coding to help with this other issue. Thanks!
At least one good thing happened. The links that use to pop up with smugmug.com/... where my images were listed as if my name wasn't part of the web address are now gone.
Ooops - Spoke to soon. I found such a link on Yahoo today. First, it should not come up as ...smugmug.com/gallery/... When you click on the link via the Yahoo search it takes you to my "Clouds" gallery that is being displayed in a format that I don't want which dosen't have my customizations and preferences (for instance, I don't have the "share" button on my pages). If you go into my website via www.stephenjfrancophotography.com, then you can see the difference between my customizations versus this link via a Yahoo search http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/5522848_FVjhw#402572323_dKUzw How can SmugMug get this second link removed and make certain these www.smugmug.com/gallery/... links don't show up???
Ooops - Spoke to soon. I found such a link on Yahoo today. First, it should not come up as ...smugmug.com/gallery/... When you click on the link via the Yahoo search it takes you to my "Clouds" gallery that is being displayed in a format that I don't want which dosen't have my customizations and preferences (for instance, I don't have the "share" button on my pages). If you go into my website via www.stephenjfrancophotography.com, then you can see the difference between my customizations versus this link via a Yahoo search http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/5522848_FVjhw#402572323_dKUzw How can SmugMug get this second link removed and make certain these www.smugmug.com/gallery/... links don't show up???
Thanks for the help.
We don't know how or why they get the hide owner link, I'm sorry. I wish I knew.
We don't know how or why they get the hide owner link, I'm sorry. I wish I knew.
Regarding the http://smugmug.com/gallery/... issue, could someone in the IT Dept. at SmugMug investigate this issue? Maybe contact Yahoo directly??? Maybe they could help so that these instances are dropped from the search results.
Also, maybe Google and Yahoo could address the issues related .../smugmug.com/... versus custom domain name in the search engine results (i.e., stephenjfrancophotography/smugmug.com/... versus www.stephenjfrancophotography.com )??? Or at least have the smugmug.com results re-direct to the custom domain??? I think, at least all Pro account users, would really like the custom domain name to come up as the only addresses in any search engine results and drop the instances of the http://username/smugmug.com/... results.
This is vaguely related to SEO. I've just had an update email from Hubspot website grader telling me that my site has recently lost 205 indexed pages. Any idea how / why this would happen?
This is vaguely related to SEO. I've just had an update email from Hubspot website grader telling me that my site has recently lost 205 indexed pages. Any idea how / why this would happen?
Sorry, don't know Hubspot. Maybe you made galleries unlisted, or set SmugIslands to No for some stuff?
Stay tuned, and You'll want to subscribe to our Release Notes blog...
Hello Andy; i was glad to see you around [more often] lately. While i'm waiting very IMpatiently for the promised [overdue] SEO Enhancements, i have two immediate SEO concerns i request your help with.
Before i continue i want to add that reading your latest responses (regarding Title meta tag) tells me that, (a.) you probably didn't read my own 6-points SEO list and (b.) that SmugMug's attitude ('we are artists first, business is last' and 'we know better, and as Sorcerers, we retain our superiority by keeping others in the dark') hasn't change.
Here are my two concerns:
Since i learned not to rely on SmugMug, i take advantage of my two other websites to get links into my SmugMug's site. Almost a month ago i wrote you:
"If, however, SmugMug delivers soon on my #6 SEO item (naming galleries with human-readable names), i'll wait as not to copy/paste all those links again." --- You replied (on July 21): "Amos: I'd wait a week or two." --- Any updates?
This one is much more serious; Google considers me as Cheating and creating Duplications, and it penalizes me by NOT SHOWING my Categories pages on search results!!! Here is the latest email i sent to a Support Hero in that regard (end of July),
"I believe i didn't explain myself correctly;
I chose not to show the Galleries' Descriptions on the Category page and indeed, they don't show. However, when a viewer moves the mouse over the gallery random photos, the whole [very very long] description pops up. In addition, the whole gallery Description is inserted into the 'alt' tag of each gallery random photo. The problem is not so much very very long (and slow loading) category page, but mainly a big *_problem_* with Search Engine Optimization!!!!!!!!!!
I don't ask you to know that or give me immediate answer, But i was promised that a lot of good SEO improvements are coming and i want to know if this is included.
The point is that SmugMug was able to hide all the above things when dealing with unpublished galleries, why not find a similar solution here?
Please forward this to Andy Williams and whomever else is in charge there; Search engines consider it *_cheating_* when they can see something which a viewer cannot; it's also a problem of 'Duplications'!!"
The following is part of the response i got:
" I've copied one of our sorcerers on your email. Perhaps your feedback will be helpful in that final decision. "
Thank you for your time reading the above; am waiting anxiously for your response.
[*]Since i learned not to rely on SmugMug, i take advantage of my two other websites to get links into my SmugMug's site. Almost a month ago i wrote you:
"If, however, SmugMug delivers soon on my #6 SEO item (naming galleries with human-readable names), i'll wait as not to copy/paste all those links again." --- You replied (on July 21): "Amos: I'd wait a week or two." --- Any updates?
It's coming. We've had some operational issues that have delayed things. Hang in there, soon it'll be live.
But I can't believe you'd not rely on SmugMug's already amazingly high google juice
Google for Andy Williams. I have a lot of competition with 'that other guy' and the tips I've given do work.
[*]This one is much more serious; Google considers me as Cheating and creating Duplications, and it penalizes me by NOT SHOWING my Categories pages on search results!!! Here is the latest email i sent to a Support Hero in that regard (end of July),
"I believe i didn't explain myself correctly;
I chose not to show the Galleries' Descriptions on the Category page and indeed, they don't show. However, when a viewer moves the mouse over the gallery random photos, the whole [very very long] description pops up. In addition, the whole gallery Description is inserted into the 'alt' tag of each gallery random photo. The problem is not so much very very long (and slow loading) category page, but mainly a big *_problem_* with Search Engine Optimization!!!!!!!!!!
It's coming. We've had some operational issues that have delayed things. Hang in there, soon it'll be live.
But I can't believe you'd not rely on SmugMug's already amazingly high google juice
Google for Andy Williams. I have a lot of competition with 'that other guy' and the tips I've given do work.
Thanks again Andy,
I appreciate your intentions. I, however, want Google to help me sell my products not myself. Yes, i'm much older than you and have had enough adventure, fame (articles in the NY Times and other papers) and ego. (I was a few-wars-experienced-combat-commando officer, trying to kill and training my soldiers to kill whom my stupid government defined as my enemy; I was a Sky-Marshal; I owned a successful cute business and i was even an airline captain).
I am trying to sell aerial photographs. I want that when someone searches for "aerial photos of Southampton NY 11968" he/she will be brought by the search engine to my gallery with the same name. Yes, more and more i'm able to attract search engines; but that is thanks to my galleries name (that partly appears as a unique Title meta tag), galleries Description (the first 150 characters of it appear on search results pages); my headings (H1, H2) and keywords also play a role.
I'm waiting for SmugMug to do its part by letting me to FULLY control my galleries' Title meta tags (as well as of my Home and Category pages). I'm also still waiting for search engines to be able to see my photos' and galleries' Keywords.
Instead of replying separately to your other response, i'll try to explain what i meant by "cheating Google" and getting penalized.
I have a few category pages; for example, Aerial Photos of New York, contains all my NY galleries (same with CT and New Jersey). I chose not to show galleries' descriptions on the category pages; yes, they are hidden from human eyes but NOT from search engines (check my Source View of those pages...). Not only that, when someone move a mouse over the random photo of a gallery there, the whole VERY LONG description pops up (and, by the way, it drives Google's Chrome crazy). Now, this is not only 'Duplication' (very similar galleries descriptions on same page) which the search engine don't like, it is also considered 'Black Hat SEO' when i hide something from humans but not from the search engines.
I know that i'm being penalized; i get hits to my galleries but not to my category pages. I see that when someone searches 'aerial photos of new york', for example, he reaches my other websites, but NEVER my New York category page on my site with SmugMug.
I suggested to check (and learn from) SmugMug's way of hiding unpublished galleries on my home page. (Unpublished galleries are not on the Source view either).
I know it might not be as simple, but hey, you are sorcerers.
Lastly, every single SEO issue in my (and others) posts here, had been implemented long time ago and very successfully by your competition PhotoShelter.com. They even published a very nice Free SEO Toolkit for Photographers (i suggest reading it).
I appreciate your intentions. I, however, want Google to help me sell my products not myself. Yes, i'm much older than you and have had enough adventure, fame (articles in the NY Times and other papers) and ego. (I was a few-wars-experienced-combat-commando officer, trying to kill and training my soldiers to kill whom my stupid government defined as my enemy; I was a Sky-Marshal; I owned a successful cute business and i was even an airline captain).
My point wasn't an exercise in googling for ego. It was to show that with nothing more than the tips I've given, I've been able to get my photography site (I'm a professional, too) to show up in the face of a lot of adversity.
My point wasn't an exercise in googling for ego. It was to show that with nothing more than the tips I've given, I've been able to get my photography site (I'm a professional, too) to show up in the face of a lot of adversity.
Andy, can you give us all some examples of search phrases that you feel you rank well for? Also, are you doing a natural search (without quotes) or an exact search (phrase with quotes surrounding)?
My point wasn't an exercise in googling for ego. It was to show that with nothing more than the tips I've given, I've been able to get my photography site (I'm a professional, too) to show up in the face of a lot of adversity.
Andy, i'm sorry for my ego thing. Also, all the tips you gave are very valuable.
However, what i meant was that i (and Google) are interested in promoting individual pages/products, not a website or a name. That is why Google itself stresses again and again the importance of SEO individual pages (with unique Title meta tag and page specific keywords).
In my other website i was selling Aerial Photography service and had only a few pages; even then i SEO/promoted equally the home page and other pages (in fact i get more hits to my 'Prices' page than to my home page).
Here in SmugMug i sell Aerial Photos and people reach me by location (town names and zip codes) that is why i don't worry about SEO/promoting my home page.
Anything about my Duplication/"cheating" issue? ...And, are fully controlled and unique Title meta tags arriving soon?
Thanks again for your time, concern and understanding.
Andy, can you give us all some examples of search phrases that you feel you rank well for? Also, are you doing a natural search (without quotes) or an exact search (phrase with quotes surrounding)?
Thanks!
westchester senior portrait
and I compete against 1000s of photographers in the metro ny area
I'm waiting for SmugMug to do its part by letting me to FULLY control my galleries' Title meta tags (as well as of my Home and Category pages). I'm also still waiting for search engines to be able to see my photos' and galleries' Keywords.
Google sees the photo keywords. It sees mine at least.
when someone move a mouse over the random photo of a gallery there, the whole VERY LONG description pops up (and, by the way, it drives Google's Chrome crazy). Now, this is not only 'Duplication' (very similar galleries descriptions on same page) which the search engine don't like, it is also considered 'Black Hat SEO' when i hide something from humans but not from the search engines.
Mouse-over text isn't black-hat SEO. It's visible to viewers via... mouse-over!
Having such a long description isn't very good though. Google sees a "stuffed" description instead of content.
I think the main reason your category pages don't show up is because the title is about Smugmug. That is a major problem at Smug.
Andy, i trust you and am sure you and SM are working on all those anticipated changes.
But please tell about my latest issue: When i ask (in my category pages) that galleries descriptions will be hidden i mean hidden! Human don't see it (unless they move their mouse over) but search engines see it three times: 1. in the source view. 2. in the 'alt' tag of each gallery's random photo. 3. in the Mouse Hover.
Even if that is not the reason i'm penalized (as another member suggested), search engines don't like duplications (200 similar gallery description on one page) and they hate when something is visible to them and not to a human viewer.
I know it's not as big deal as the Titles (which i believe you to be coming soon) but please, please relate to my concern.
(Smug was able to completely hide unpublished gallery on my Home page, can you find a similar solution here?)
Andy/SmugMug,
I like and even LOVE Erick's answer, but what it has to do with giving a proper/appropriate/respectful response to your paying customer?.
I used to own a business and learned a bit how to retain my customers... Flashy website, good marketing and smart website customization options may bring a lot of new customers; having frustrated customers (including obnoxious ones like me) is the best way to lose them.
I trust you guys to be good and very professional people; SmugMug is relatively young, i hate to see you, however, learning the hard way...
(i have no choice, i'm stuck with you but i also trust you; i wonder about the others...)
Andy/SmugMug,
I like and even LOVE Erick's answer, but what it has to do with giving a proper/appropriate/respectful response to your paying customer?.
Hi, I'm sorry I hope I wasn't being disrepectful! Dgrin is a community forum and help comes from us and our customers. I'm so sorry if I upset you. I really don't have a better answer right now, to your question. I'm sorry.
Comments
Hey, my site is at the top of page 2 for a google search for "upshorts pics." But uhhh... I don't think I want those visitors. But at least that page's title is shown so most people looking for something a little different don't stop in.
http://www.google.com/#q=upshorts+pics&hl=en&safe=off&start=10&sa=N&fp=gxFYct4ZzkE
Dave
Search box is your friend:)
Most of the duplicates are appearing on pages that aren't 'mine'. they are part of Smugmug Communities. Apparently, you can get to any smugmug community through my url. For example myurl/community/Nikonusers. i am NOT a member of that group. From there, google seems to crawl members of that group and attribute their content to my site. Does this happen to others?
Can 'Disallow: /community/' be added to the robots.txt file? Even better, can non www.uwencounters.com, smugmug content be disconnected from my site.
So I could get rid of my page title, but that would only clean up a tiny fraction of the duplicates. In the same way that the page title gets duplicated, a link to a photo in a gallery duplicates the gallery description. So if I have 30 photos in a gallery, google seems to be seeing the description of that gallery at a meta description at least 30 times.
That is what I am seeing. is that consistent with the problems others have?
My Blog
Camera: Nikon d300 with Sea&Sea Housing
Strobes: 2xIkelite 160
Lenses: Nikon 105, Tokina 10-17, Sigma 17-70
I can quote from Google's Search Engine Optimization
Starter Guide found on the official Google's SEO Starter Guide page:
and
In other words:
Smugmug recommend the same page title on all pages.
Google recommend a unique page title on each page.
Most – if not all (Except Smugmug) – SEO experts on the internet agree with Google.
In addition to page titles, Smugmug does not follow most of the recommendations in Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.
Like duplicate pages, duplicate meta descriptions, user friendly URLs, sitemaps etc. The list is long - very long.
This adds up to:
- Smugmug does NOT follow about 70-80% of the official SEO Starter guidelines from Google.
- Lots of Smugmug users (except Andy) in this thread and many other threads are frustrated of not being found on Google and other search engines.
Is this a coincidence? I think not.Is it really so hard to acknowledge that:
- Smugmug’s SEO implementation is very, very poor.
- Smugmug’s SEO implementation could easily be improved by just following the Starter guide and the tips from a lot of users on this forum (like Canonical URLs posted by xxclixxx ).
The first step to solve a problem is to acknowledge the problem.I have already voted for SEO changes in Smugmug’s feature request forum,
but I hope that Smugmug very soon will make a major change in its policy regarding SEO, and will stay on top of present and future SEO Guidelines (not just the basic ones mentioned in the Starter Guide, but also more advanced issues)
Panoramio: Spectacular photos on Google Earth
Google: Allan Hansen - fotograf og IT-nørd
Blogs: Photo and SEO news by LichtenHansen, Allan Hansen foto nyheder, Antarctica Travel
Homepage: Fotograf Allan Hansen, Unusual wildlife photos
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That's nice. I will subscribe to the enhancements blog. Will do something for me? how do i get google to not crawl /community/? Can you put that in my robots.txt file for me? Thanks
My Blog
Camera: Nikon d300 with Sea&Sea Housing
Strobes: 2xIkelite 160
Lenses: Nikon 105, Tokina 10-17, Sigma 17-70
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It's been awhile since I've checked my search engine results. They seem a little better on Google and Yahoo than before. However, what concerns me is that I still get most top level results showing links to specific galleries with stephenjfrancophotography/smugmug.com/...
At least one good thing happened. The links that use to pop up with smugmug.com/... where my images were listed as if my name wasn't part of the web address are now gone.
Nevertheless, any suggestions on how to make it so that my search engine results show my custom domain name of stephenjfrancophotography.com without the /smugmug.com/... ???? Also, I do have the re-direct on my other domains via GoDaddy to goto the www.StephenJFrancoPhotography.com . However, doing a search via Google or Yahoo and clicking on the links that show stephenjfrancophotography/smugmug.com/.... do not redirect to my custom domain (much less to my homepage).
I realize there are some other issues going on with search engine results mentioned in another thread. However, I more interested in just fixing this .../smugmug.com/... issue in my search engine results. I appreciate having SmugMug, but I really prefer that my stephenjfrancophotography.com custom domain shows up and the .../smugmug.com/... results don't.
I did the previous suggested fix that Denise mentioned and it did help (as discussed above). However, I'm just hoping that there is another bit of coding to help with this other issue. Thanks!
Ooops - Spoke to soon. I found such a link on Yahoo today. First, it should not come up as ...smugmug.com/gallery/... When you click on the link via the Yahoo search it takes you to my "Clouds" gallery that is being displayed in a format that I don't want which dosen't have my customizations and preferences (for instance, I don't have the "share" button on my pages). If you go into my website via www.stephenjfrancophotography.com, then you can see the difference between my customizations versus this link via a Yahoo search http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/5522848_FVjhw#402572323_dKUzw How can SmugMug get this second link removed and make certain these www.smugmug.com/gallery/... links don't show up???
Thanks for the help.
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Regarding the http://smugmug.com/gallery/... issue, could someone in the IT Dept. at SmugMug investigate this issue? Maybe contact Yahoo directly??? Maybe they could help so that these instances are dropped from the search results.
Also, maybe Google and Yahoo could address the issues related .../smugmug.com/... versus custom domain name in the search engine results (i.e., stephenjfrancophotography/smugmug.com/... versus www.stephenjfrancophotography.com )??? Or at least have the smugmug.com results re-direct to the custom domain??? I think, at least all Pro account users, would really like the custom domain name to come up as the only addresses in any search engine results and drop the instances of the http://username/smugmug.com/... results.
Become a fan of Chris Humphreys Photography
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No, nothing like that. I just wondered if it had anything to do with the 'behind the scenes' stuff you guys a working on.??!!
Become a fan of Chris Humphreys Photography
http://www.eMixPix.com - Stock Aerial Photos of NYC Metro area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut)
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-York - NY Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-Jersey - NJ Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/Connecticut - CT Aerial Photos
http://www.BestAerialPhotos.com - Aerial Photography service in the NYC Metro area
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But I can't believe you'd not rely on SmugMug's already amazingly high google juice
Google for Andy Williams. I have a lot of competition with 'that other guy' and the tips I've given do work.
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I really do not understand this, I'm very sorry
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I appreciate your intentions. I, however, want Google to help me sell my products not myself. Yes, i'm much older than you and have had enough adventure, fame (articles in the NY Times and other papers) and ego. (I was a few-wars-experienced-combat-commando officer, trying to kill and training my soldiers to kill whom my stupid government defined as my enemy; I was a Sky-Marshal; I owned a successful cute business and i was even an airline captain).
I am trying to sell aerial photographs. I want that when someone searches for "aerial photos of Southampton NY 11968" he/she will be brought by the search engine to my gallery with the same name. Yes, more and more i'm able to attract search engines; but that is thanks to my galleries name (that partly appears as a unique Title meta tag), galleries Description (the first 150 characters of it appear on search results pages); my headings (H1, H2) and keywords also play a role.
I'm waiting for SmugMug to do its part by letting me to FULLY control my galleries' Title meta tags (as well as of my Home and Category pages). I'm also still waiting for search engines to be able to see my photos' and galleries' Keywords.
Instead of replying separately to your other response, i'll try to explain what i meant by "cheating Google" and getting penalized.
I have a few category pages; for example, Aerial Photos of New York, contains all my NY galleries (same with CT and New Jersey). I chose not to show galleries' descriptions on the category pages; yes, they are hidden from human eyes but NOT from search engines (check my Source View of those pages...). Not only that, when someone move a mouse over the random photo of a gallery there, the whole VERY LONG description pops up (and, by the way, it drives Google's Chrome crazy). Now, this is not only 'Duplication' (very similar galleries descriptions on same page) which the search engine don't like, it is also considered 'Black Hat SEO' when i hide something from humans but not from the search engines.
I know that i'm being penalized; i get hits to my galleries but not to my category pages. I see that when someone searches 'aerial photos of new york', for example, he reaches my other websites, but NEVER my New York category page on my site with SmugMug.
I suggested to check (and learn from) SmugMug's way of hiding unpublished galleries on my home page. (Unpublished galleries are not on the Source view either).
I know it might not be as simple, but hey, you are sorcerers.
Lastly, every single SEO issue in my (and others) posts here, had been implemented long time ago and very successfully by your competition PhotoShelter.com. They even published a very nice Free SEO Toolkit for Photographers (i suggest reading it).
Thank you for your time;
http://www.eMixPix.com - Stock Aerial Photos of NYC Metro area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut)
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-York - NY Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-Jersey - NJ Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/Connecticut - CT Aerial Photos
http://www.BestAerialPhotos.com - Aerial Photography service in the NYC Metro area
My point wasn't an exercise in googling for ego. It was to show that with nothing more than the tips I've given, I've been able to get my photography site (I'm a professional, too) to show up in the face of a lot of adversity.
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I've already read it, thanks.
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Andy, can you give us all some examples of search phrases that you feel you rank well for? Also, are you doing a natural search (without quotes) or an exact search (phrase with quotes surrounding)?
Thanks!
However, what i meant was that i (and Google) are interested in promoting individual pages/products, not a website or a name. That is why Google itself stresses again and again the importance of SEO individual pages (with unique Title meta tag and page specific keywords).
In my other website i was selling Aerial Photography service and had only a few pages; even then i SEO/promoted equally the home page and other pages (in fact i get more hits to my 'Prices' page than to my home page).
Here in SmugMug i sell Aerial Photos and people reach me by location (town names and zip codes) that is why i don't worry about SEO/promoting my home page.
Anything about my Duplication/"cheating" issue? ...And, are fully controlled and unique Title meta tags arriving soon?
Thanks again for your time, concern and understanding.
http://www.eMixPix.com - Stock Aerial Photos of NYC Metro area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut)
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-York - NY Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-Jersey - NJ Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/Connecticut - CT Aerial Photos
http://www.BestAerialPhotos.com - Aerial Photography service in the NYC Metro area
and I compete against 1000s of photographers in the metro ny area
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Google sees the photo keywords. It sees mine at least.
Mouse-over text isn't black-hat SEO. It's visible to viewers via... mouse-over!
Having such a long description isn't very good though. Google sees a "stuffed" description instead of content.
I think the main reason your category pages don't show up is because the title is about Smugmug. That is a major problem at Smug.
borealphoto.smugmug.com
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But please tell about my latest issue: When i ask (in my category pages) that galleries descriptions will be hidden i mean hidden! Human don't see it (unless they move their mouse over) but search engines see it three times: 1. in the source view. 2. in the 'alt' tag of each gallery's random photo. 3. in the Mouse Hover.
Even if that is not the reason i'm penalized (as another member suggested), search engines don't like duplications (200 similar gallery description on one page) and they hate when something is visible to them and not to a human viewer.
I know it's not as big deal as the Titles (which i believe you to be coming soon) but please, please relate to my concern.
(Smug was able to completely hide unpublished gallery on my Home page, can you find a similar solution here?)
http://www.eMixPix.com - Stock Aerial Photos of NYC Metro area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut)
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-York - NY Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-Jersey - NJ Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/Connecticut - CT Aerial Photos
http://www.BestAerialPhotos.com - Aerial Photography service in the NYC Metro area
I liked Erick's answer.
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Andy/SmugMug,
I like and even LOVE Erick's answer, but what it has to do with giving a proper/appropriate/respectful response to your paying customer?.
I used to own a business and learned a bit how to retain my customers... Flashy website, good marketing and smart website customization options may bring a lot of new customers; having frustrated customers (including obnoxious ones like me) is the best way to lose them.
I trust you guys to be good and very professional people; SmugMug is relatively young, i hate to see you, however, learning the hard way...
(i have no choice, i'm stuck with you but i also trust you; i wonder about the others...)
http://www.eMixPix.com - Stock Aerial Photos of NYC Metro area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut)
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-York - NY Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/New-Jersey - NJ Aerial Photos
--- http://www.emixpix.com/Connecticut - CT Aerial Photos
http://www.BestAerialPhotos.com - Aerial Photography service in the NYC Metro area
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