File Names are Important
Aside from the actual domain name itself, the first item search engines see, when crawling the pages of your website, are your file names. Whether HTML, PHP, ASP etc. keep search engines in mind when naming these pages. It will play a key role in having your page found as a relevant page in a search. Your page name should be directly related and relevant to the content displayed on the page as well. If you have created a page that contains your portfolio, naming the page “page1.html” does not tell ANYONE what the page is about at first glance, especially a search engine. A more relevant name would be, simply, “portfolio.html”
You will see that using this practice will also help keep your files more organized both locally and on your server. Now when you are looking to edit your portfolio page, there are no guesses as to which file you need to open, because it is named with 100% relevance. This tip also serves as an important one when we speak of images, PDF files, downloads etc. If a user is looking for “Used Apple computers” using Google.com or any other search engine, a page named “used-apple-computers.html” or an image named “used-computer.jpg” has a greater chance of being found. Although this one practice does not guarantee a higher ranking for your website in search engine directories, it certainly makes it easier for users and search engines alike to crawl your site for relevant information.
Google Analytics is a free service offered by Google. It is used to track activity on your website such as #of visits vs unique visits, page views, time spent on your website, keywords and referring sites etc. It really is a wonderful service, and given that it’s offered by the leading search engine in the world, it must be pretty doggone accurate.
