Content Management Systems Eyeball SEOs

Content Management Systems and search engine optimization (SEO) used to be mutually exclusive terms. But the SEO community has been driving the developers of Content Management Systems to integrate more SEO-friendly methodology within their systems.

Content Management Systems (CMS) are a hot topic right now with many corporate websites are turning to these systems to handle thousands of pages of dynamic data that they need to update regularly. Content Management Systems allow information to be added, edited or deleted automatically over the entire website. This can save hundreds of hours in manual updates. Pages of content are generated on the fly using a template driven system.

When Content Management Systems were first developed, most had little regard for the requirements of search engine optimization. For some Content Management Systems this still holds true. Most CMS's, however, now have workarounds to accommodate those wanting to perform search engine optimization on their websites. The workarounds in the Content Management Systems involve two areas: writing search engine friendly URL's and creating individualized title and meta tags per page.

Writing Search Engine Friendly URL's

Some search engines (SE's) and directories like Google and Yahoo! can now read dynamic URL's but there are still a fair amount which can't or can only partially read them. The SE's like to see pages that have unique content per page and may limit the number of variable strings (i.e. ?, =. &) in a URL to assure unique content.

By using a web server module called Mod_Rewrite it is possible to remove the stop characters from the URL string, thus making it more SE-friendly. To do this you will need to add a rule to the .htaccess file. For more information, see the following article on the Apache website: http://httpd.apache.org/docs-2.0/mod/mo d_rewrite.html

Creating Individualized Title and Meta Tags

Some Content Management Systems such the latest release from Hot Banana Software boast full integration with SEO performance such as offering Conversion Tracking tool, Robots.txt and Meta Tag Management. Other CMS's such as PostNuke.com is struggling to catch up and offer workarounds to make their system more flexible and SE-friendly.

PostNuke.com says that their next version (.8 release at this writing) will be fully SEO compliant. Until then, they recommend the pnMeta module, which will give control over the title, keyword and description tags over an individual page. Dynamically generated meta tag information, however, is not recommended. For more information see: http://www.miragelab.com/News+article-sid- 19.phtml

What Does CMS Mean For SEO's?

Search engine optimization experts and others using SEO techniques will need to work closely with Webmasters and developers who use Content Management Systems on their web properties. This collaborative effort is necessary to insure that URL's are SE-friendly and that unique title and meta tags are severed up for each optimized page. A large website with tons of valuable content, should rank well in the search engines according to the SE's guidelines and the CMS technology would do well not to inhibit this, but rather would do well to promote good search engine rankings for large websites.

Copyright © 2004 SEO Resource Search Engine Marketing Specialists

Kevin Kantola is the CEO of SEO Resource, a California search engine optimization company, and has published many articles over the past 20 years.

---

Marketing to Search Engines AND Humans

When you were just a young and precocious student of... Read More

60 Day Sandbox for Google & AskJeeves; MSN Indexes Quickest, Yahoo Next

Search engine listing delays have come to be called the... Read More

All about SEO or SFO?

First let's start with definitions:SEO: Search Engine Optimization, SFO: Search... Read More

SEO Expert Explains on how to Restore a Website and Remove Sandbox Effect from Your Website

The sandbox effect or (site getting banned on google) has... Read More

Google Page Rank - Important Or Just Another Number?

In my last newsletter I wrote about how your websites... Read More

Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy: Make Love, Not War

When it comes to search engine optimization strategy, there are... Read More

Google Has No Content On Page

One of the post from My SEO world Meet Up... Read More

When SEO Takes the Value out of a Website

Every webmaster would like to see his/her website to be... Read More

Designing a Website So the Search Engines Will Like You

Before you go and spend big money on a professional... Read More

Why Search Engine Optimization is Not Enough

OK. So you've created a nice website with lots of... Read More

SEO For Ecommerce

Ranking well under the free listings in the major search... Read More

Google Patent Application - User Data As Part of Ranking Process

In this third article, we continue to dig into the... Read More

Breaking the Myth About Page Rank (PR)

The most difficult challenge most web designers face is getting... Read More

Straight Talk on Search Engine Optimization

To get your website listed well in the major search... Read More

Going To Market: Keywords and Backlinks, Part 1

As I waded into the 'Make Money Online' waters on... Read More

All About Links -- Interview With Link Building Expert , Bob Gladstein

Julia: Welcome Bob. Thank you for taking the time to... Read More

Website Copy-writing for Higher Sales and Higher Search Engine Ranking

Why, you ask? Mainly, because search engines want to provide... Read More

SEO #3: Getting Listed In Google in Under 24-Hours!

Yesterday you should have read the second course out of... Read More

Banned from Google and Wondering Why?

There are those that get on the computer one night... Read More

PPC Advertising ? The First Step In A SEO Marketing Campaign

Often, sites view seo and PPC marketing as exclusive marketing... Read More

Search Engine Optimization: Creative Ways To Acquire Natural Back Links

Search engines use algorithms calculate the order in which the... Read More

Paris Hiltons Reputation is SHOT! Hows Yours?

With apologies for the cheap trick of mentioning Paris Hilton... Read More

Top 5 Search Engine Optimization Mistakes

There are a lot of ways to promote your website... Read More

10 Easy Steps to Boost Your Search Engine Rankings!

In order that someone finds your website and buys your... Read More

3.5 Tips To Help You Avoid Becoming The Next Search Engine Outlaw

Want to avoid being blacklisted by the search engines and... Read More

Wordtracker Wisdom: Common Keyword Questions and Answers

One of my favorite subjects to teach on at our... Read More

Abandoned by Google! Googlebot, Wherefore Art Thou Googlebot?

As a search engine optimization specialist I often optimize existing... Read More

SEO Expert Guide - Conclusions (part 10/10)

As you have seen throughout the guide, search engine optimization... Read More

Whats with the Competition? Ever Heard of Cooperation?

I attended the SES Expo in San Jose, CA the... Read More

Offpage Optimization: Does Article Marketing Cut the Mustard?

For those who haven't heard: article marketing is the new... Read More

SEM - Research Measures Success

SEM - Research Measures SuccessSearch engine marketing success comes from... Read More

Googles Back Door... Get Your Website Indexed Quicker!

It's the buzz word's going across the internet marketing guru's... Read More

How and When Should I Submit My Website to Google?

As soon as you register your domain name, submit it... Read More