Google is king when it comes to Marketing. I could not run my Architectural business on the internet without it.
In order to work out how your site is performing with Google you need Google Analytics. The idea is that you add a bit (snippet) of code into your site which lets Google monitor how people find you and how they navigate through your site. The Google information and help files on how to do this are well put together, but a little confusing if you don't have much experience with code or haven't had much experience in building websites.
RVsitebuilder CMS and Google Analytics Tracking Code Insertion
Rvsitebuilder is a default program for building websites that comes with my provider (Ventraip). It really isn't that easy to use compared to modern website building programs but it does have a lot of flexibility. The problem is that it makes .Php files not .Html. If you look at the filenames shown on your browser the filetype is shown at the end of the URL. Most content manager driven website or blog programs such as wordpress, Drupal or rvsitebuilder use the php file system. This means that access to parts of the code that forms the website may be difficult, or in some cases (depending on what CMS software you are using) impossible. HTML code is easy to change as you just can paste bits of code in where you want. Php is trickier however as the code isn't directly accessed as changes are made through the Content management system (CMS) of the RVsitebuilder program. Analytics typically asks the snippet to be put at the end of the head tag just before the body. How to edit a header or body tag in a RVsitebuilder .php file isnt that obvious.
Which Google Tracking Code Snippet Type To Use On RVsitebuilder Generated Website?
The Google analytics help files give a lot of information for different website setups with several different snippets of code available and several methods of implementation depending on what kind of site you have. They aren't that good at explaining where you put your code in specific cases like RVsitebuilder generated websites. The Rvsitebuilder help files aren't that good either. I have built several websites for friends over the past decade and every time I do it seems that the Google analytics snippet changes, as does the process to insert it. This means that what should take 5 minutes usually takes me half a day.
Typical Google Analytics gtag.js Snippet
A typical analytics gtag javascript snippet looks like this (I have blanked out the actual UA code portion). This is the recommended basic snippet installation and it is to be put at the end of the head tag in your page. It will be generated for each individual user as part of the analytics registration process.
<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics --> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-xxxxxxxxx-x"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date());
gtag('config', 'UA-xxxxxxxxx-x'); </script>
How To Insert Your Analytics Snippet Into Your Rvsitebuilder Webpage
To insert the Analytics snippet into my Architectural business site using RVsitebuilder I needed to:
Navigate to step2 in RVsitebuilder
Go to "Site Properties". (This lets you edit your template). It is at the bottom of the left menu so you may need to scroll down to see it. Next Click on "Edit head tag" then click into the "other embedded" edit box. Paste the code in to this box. Press the "update" button then "save" then re-publish your site. It may take a few days for google to start entering data, so be patient.
My Cpanel informed me that my Inodes were in the Red zone. Whaat? I didnt even know I had any Inodes.... What where they and what were the sneaky little blighters doing multiplying away all by themselves. I hadn't done anything much on my website for years. It was all pretty well self maintaining wasn't it?
Simple Inode Reduction Methods
I googled it & found out it is just a fancy name for a file size limit. Each Inode is a single file... Ok this should be easy. Just reduce the amount of files. I cleaned out all the obvious things like EMAILS and files in my junk folder in my Cpanel File Manager. I also cleaned out thousands of un-moderated spam forum replies that had been languishing for years in my blog before I turned the respond feature off.
Inode level still in Red zone
I checked after the clean-out and I had reduced it by 5%. I needed about a 25% reduction to be down to the blue safety zone (there is a yellow caution zone in-between). I needed to do something else. What about temp folders and files that aren't actually needed by my website?
RVsitebuilder Issue with Temp File Creation
I checked and the culprit was Rvsitebuilder. I am not sure if it is due to a glitch or something malicious but there is a temp folder buried within the Rvsitebuilder/Websitepublish/(my sites code number) Var/tmp folder. This single folder contained a heap of Temporary files that I deleted. It carries about one year of temp files and on some days creates a dozen and on other days thousands. Unfortunately File Manager is really clunky and keeps freezing when you try to delete too many files at one time. Fire-fox then freezes and dies and requiring multiple log-ins and so many small deletions are required rather than one large Quick-fix. 2 hours later and I had managed to delete 52,000 files, getting my Inoded down from 161,000 to 109,000. I still have a bit of work to do, but at least I am down into the "Blue zone" again. All I now need to do is find out why RVsitebuilder created these files in the first place.
Google claims to have fixed the outage problem on the 16th Feb. The chart below shows the problem is resolved. Due to the standard 2 day time lag between Data collection and it showing up... I assume that tomorrow I should see some queries and impressions numbers in my website. Good news is that my average position for "Architect Adelaide" kicked up another point overnight to 4.9.......maybe I don't want this problem fixed???
Google Webmaster Tools Problem With Daily Data Updates
Google Webmaster tools stopped showing entries on my Architecture website on the 8th Feb. It has now been a full week & some research yesterday showed me that others have experienced the same problem starting on the same date.... well actually the day before me, but since Australia is the first Continent to cross the timezone, the 7th elsewhere was the eighth here. It seems that this is not just a small glitch with my Webmaster tools but something more.
The error with Webmaster Tools
I first noticed the problem in the data collection that webmaster tools passes on to Analytics. Some of the Google Analytics functions had updated such as "Real time" and "Acquisition Overview". Search engine Optimization "Queries" (which are passed through from webmaster tools) however had stopped collecting data, with zero count since Monday the 9th of Feb.
Some data is still being processed by Webmaster tools
I noticed today that some data is still updating in Webmaster tools. My search queries, although not showing any daily input are changing in position. One entry in particular which I have been keeping track of because it is one of my top search queries, "Architect Adelaide", had dropped a couple of points from a 5.2 to a 5.0 overnight. It also moved up a position in ranking on my site to finally become my number one search term. So it seems that webmaster tools isn't actually broken, it is just that we aren't seeing the daily data.
Webmaster Tools Problem Brings an Unexpected Bonus
It seems that, for me, this has had good outcomes. It may be as simple as the fact that since data hasn't been showing that others have been less able to manipulate & use this SEO data to their favor. I will keep a close watch on what is happening here.... Perhaps I don't want Webmaster tools to fix this problem???
Google Search Query Ranking And Alexa Rank Improvement
I have just had a large positive shift in both my Alexa ranking over the past 2 weeks. Simultaneously my Google Webmaster tools has shown the biggest ranking gain I have ever shown in my targeted search queries..... What have I done differently to deserve this?
Search Traffic from China, Ukraine, France and America
I been getting a huge volume of page hits from China, Ukraine, France and America over the past couple of months and I used the Christmas Break downtime to try and sort out which IP addresses these were coming from. I had thought this comment spam wasn't too big a priority and hadn't done anything about it immediately. I had initially thought that as I have to approve all comments before they are published this wouldn't hurt my rankings..... WRONG Assumption.... My Alexa rank went down for 2 consecutive months as page hits from Ukraine and China went way up.
Deny Blacklisted IP Addresses From Your Website
Cutting to
the chase... all I have done is use IP Deny Manager (free on my C panel)
to try and stop unwanted Bog spam sites from hitting from my site. The more I denied blacklisted sites the better my rankings have improved. The biggest single change I noticed was when I went from 400 impressions to 6000 impressions in Google Webmaster tools in one day. I dropped back again to around 500 the next day and have stayed there, but the Google Algorithm obviously was very interested in what I had been doing and has been rewarding me with daily improved search term rank.
Adelaide Architect
Improved rank for the search term "Adelaide Architect" has been the best change for me. In 2 weeks Google has pushed me from second page to halfway down the first. This term is one that SEO firms market for and so has a lot of competition. I have studied the code from other sites that rank well for it and most of the ones above me are obviously manipulated by SEO firms. I manage my site myself and have always been a bit upset by the fact that obviously SEO manipulated sites were ranking above mine. I have struggled for years to get "above the fold" on First page of Google for "Adelaide Architect" by supplying informative pages about what I do (which is Architecture in Adelaide). Every single ranking place improvement has been hard won.
Google Rewards Good Information
General consensus is that Google rewards good information. The problem is that it also creates penalties. Having lots of traffic from sites that are blacklisted is not a good thing. Unfortunately blog comment spam and scraper sites also like to hit sites with lots of good information. My thoughts are that it appears that penalties and rewards were balancing each other until now and my recent action of denying access from these unwanted and blacklisted sites has tipped the scales and I'm now reaping gains I should have been seeing before, but until now had been masked. It is "early days" yet & I am hopeful that the new Status-Quo will continue to create gains for me. Google is unpredictable however and one shouldn't make too many assumptions too soon..... I will post an update on this in a few weeks.... until then it is nice to imagine a world where hard work really does pay off and the good guys can actually win.
