Let’s look at the official data released by these Internet giants in China:
We can never make sure the accuracy of the data above, as they were all released by the companies themselves.
But what we can know for sure is that these companies have large numbers of users in common. Continue reading
Discuz is a popular Chinese open source CMS for forums and communities, which I wrote a little about in my last post. After that, I was quite amazed some English readers emailed us to ask about SEO issues for these Chinese CMS, especially for Discuz, so Ryan and I decided to wrote an article on SEO for Discuz. We brainstormed, talked to other Chinese SEO experts and listed all the details we think necessary for Discuz SEO:
1. Choose the right version:
There are always two versions of Discuz for you to choose from: UTF-8 and GBK. And I recommend you choosing GBK, an extension of the GB2312 character set for simplified Chinese characters. Although search engines always do full-text search, and in the end they may always know what language your site is in, but why not sort things out for them, so they know it is a Chinese site in the first place?
2. Gzip it to make it faster:
We all know speed is an important factor for SEO that affects spider’s crawling but also if search engines regards your site as a quality one. By default, Gzip is disabled for Discuz. You have to enable it by editing /config/config_global.php, making
$_config[‘output’][‘gzip’] = ‘0’;
Into
$_config[‘output’][‘gzip’] = ‘1’;
3. Edit the information:
One of the things people hate about CMS is that their default settings usually make the section messy.
A good news for you is that Discuz makes it messier,
Let’s take care of it:
Open “\template\default\common\header_common.htm”
Remove “Powered by Discuz” within the ;
Remove “” (optional, if you still believe it benefits your site’s rankings);
4. Let crawlers index your image files:
If you think acquiring visitors via image search is good for your site, you need to let crawlers access your image files. By default, Discuz forbids unregistered visitors from viewing images.
Okay, this post is intended for those who is new to SEO for their online stores. It is not complicated or “advanced” as some articles in this blog that is focused on search engines. But after seeing so many online store owners are struggling to achieve good rankings for some super hot keywords, I think it is still necessary to write something about one of the most basic SEO topics – keyword research.
Although I said it is not complicated or advanced, but please do not reduce the importance you attach to keyword research – usually, keyword research is what determines whether you win or lose. Continue reading
If you are going to learn some quick facts about Chinese SEO, first I have good news for you that the basics are not very different for Baidu and Google. Link building helps you achieve better rankings and a good internal structure improves link juice flow within the site. But, there are still some things that make Chinese SEO different from English SEO. Continue reading
Miscellaneous tasks associated with an online marketing plan: As part of the online marketing plan, it is imperative that small businesses use all the available tried and tested methods to pitch their businesses to the online audience. Some of the efforts include but are not limited to submitting articles to well-known online directories manually and without using a bot. Online directories have a repertoire of good, popular and well-known sites that will help your website become popular through its association with other popular sites. There are two main types of online web directories. These are general and niche directories. As the terms suggest, the former lists sites in broad categories while the latter has subcategories, sets and subsets these topics
Backlinking: If you use a good resource to add the essential and effective element of backlinking to your online marketing website and affiliate sites and advertising campaigns, they can work wonders for your business. By incorporating high-quality and relevant Incoming links from external websites that have a good PageRank and therefore a good rank on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) into your website, you can increase the popularity and ranking of your website too. While most web developers offer reciprocal backlinking services, you can give ‘web rings’ a shot. This is a backlinking that involves two or more websites.
Ad scheduler: Some advertising campaigns like the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaigns offer extremely useful features that help small business increase their visibility. For example, the ‘ad scheduler’ option in Google AdWords enables advertisers to choose suitable timeframes that they would like their aids to show up in. There is a primetime for ads to just like with radio and television. Using the ‘ad scheduler’ option, ads can be schedule for the weekends or during good time slots on the weekdays. A good idea would be to create multiple ad campaigns that have a different time setup to test which campaign is doing really well.
Ad text and content: Compelling, engaging, persuasive ad content is a necessity based on the type of online advertising campaign you wish to run. Irrespective of the nature of the campaign, the ad text and ad content have one element that is common to both of them. This element is relevance. A good ad copy for any online business or any online marketing venture should always be professional. Irrelevant words that are used to draw user attention will not work for long. The content of the ad and the title must not only tie in well with each other but also suit the overall theme of the associated website.
Management: Good campaign management helps you drive your online advertising campaigns to succeed. The very nature of the online market place makes sound campaign management as prerequisite of the process of setting up campaigns and creating a market plan. For example, advertisers need to keep themselves updated about the various advertising products and web applications that are an integral part of the process of online advertising. The CPC (cost-per-click) of keywords keep varying from time to time and campaign managers need to closely monitor their campaigns to make the necessary changes in time. Test campaigns must be set up as a part of the process.
Website Navigation: Though many business owners tend to overlook this crucial factor, well-defined tabs and user-friendly website navigation is extremely important. Some of the essential elements of website navigation and search functionality designs include site maps, mouse-over functionality, radio buttons and menu drop down options. The ease of primary, secondary and subsidiary navigation must be taken into account. The user must be able to find their way around the site easily and get the information they are looking for in the shortest possible span of time.
Web development and database development: Excellent websites can be created using an inventory of different kinds of software and applications. These are also an integral part of SEO that help a website drive and boost its conversion figures. The website must not only have a professional look and feel but must be professional enough for users to feel comfortable enough to make a financial transaction through the website. For example, all the payment gateway pages must be https pages.
Affiliates and referrals: While renowned and big brands become popular with time and adequate marketing, small businesses need to put in a lot more effort in ‘spreading the word.’ A good way of doing this would be to either create or use a good and well-connected network of referrals and affiliates. Affiliate marketing works through partners and referrals and are highly specific for online marketing programs.
Geo mapping: Local internet marketing for small business will be effective by using the process of geo tagging. The process of geo tagging involves linking your website to search features like ‘Google Maps.’ There are many other services that can assist you in the process of defining your either your company’s or store’s location with the latitude and longitude option or by using just the physical address. Allow people to find you when they type in search queries related to your business. The aim of any small business is to go ‘Glocal’ (Global and Local) using available technology.