SEO HTTP Response Codes List

First will know the abbreviation of HTTP, HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. These HTTP codes are in 3 digit numeric number. Generally, HTTP is a TCP/IP based communication protocol, it is used to deliver the HTML, Images and Query Result files etc. on the World Wide Web.

These HTTP Response Codes are communicate between you and servers on the internet, i.e browsers sends a request to a server for the information. These requests might be images, videos, files and etc, this is called HTTP request. When a server receives that request, it sends back an HTTP Response, with information for the You/Browsers.

Here are the common HTTP Response Codes are,

2xx: Success It means the action was successfully received, understood, and accepted.

3xx: Redirection It means further action must be taken in order to complete the request.

4xx: Client Error It means the request contains incorrect syntax or cannot be fulfilled.

5xx: Server Error It means the server failed to fulfill an apparently valid request.

HTTP Status Codes for SEO and Search Engines

200 OK

The request has succeeded. This is considered correct for most scenarios.

301 Moved Permanently

The requested resource has been assigned a new permanent URI and any future references to this resource should use one of the returned URIs. The 301 redirect, as it is commonly called by SEOs, should be utilized any time one URL needs to be redirected to another.

302 Found

A status code of 302 tells a client that the resource they asked for has temporarily moved to a new location. The response should also include this location. It tells the client that it should carry on using the same URL to access this resource.

403 - Forbidden

A 403 status code indicates that the client cannot access the requested resource. That might mean that the wrong username and password were sent in the request, or that the permissions on the server do not allow what was being asked.

404 File Not Found

The best known of them all, the 404 status code indicates that the requested resource was not found at the URL given, and the server has no idea how long for.

410 - Gone

A 410 status code is the 404's lesser known cousin. It indicates that a resource has permanently gone (a 404 status code gives no indication if a resource has gine permanently or temporarily), and no new address is known for it.

500 Server Error

Server Error: Valid request was made by the client, but the server failed to complete the request.

503 - Service Unavailable

A 503 status code is most often seen on extremely busy servers, and it indicates that the server was unable to complete the request due to a server overload.

External Sources:

https://moz.com/learn/seo/http-status-codes

https://www.addedbytes.com/articles/for-beginners/http-status-codes/

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/http/http_status_codes.htm

How to Block Visitor from Specific Countries

If you are a website owner you don’t want to access you are website all the visitors from certain countries due to different factors like, your website targeting audience are different from your actual visitors of your website, if your website targeting one specific language audience at time you no need to those those who doesn’t understand the language of the website and last one is to minimize the you are website bandwidth.

Here is the solution for blocking visitors from specific countries, IP2Location

Step 1: In the first step you have to select the IP versions like IPv4 or IPv6, you have to specify in the first step.

Step 2: In this step you have to specify the country you want to block  for unregistered user can generates table for 1 country at one time. Registered user can generates up to 30 countries at one time.

Step 3: Now choose the output format of the file, there are different types of formats like, .htaccess allow, .htaccess deny, CIDR, Linux iptables and etc… choose Apache .htaccess deny from the drop down menu.

Step 4: You will get to download a text file which is to be uploaded to your homepage’s directory as .htaccess.

How to Block Visitors and Hackers from Specific Countries in Wordpress

There are two reasons to block countries from visiting a website, first one most of the website are not getting audience from the targeted countries or regions and the second one is to protect website from the hackers. Here will see how to block visitors from different countries in wordpress website.

Step 1: You must need to install IQ Block Country wordpress plugin and activate the plugin. Once you activate it go to settings and click on IQ Block Country as below screenshot.

Step 2: Once you get it to the plugin on the top you can find Home, Frontend and Backend tabs, leave Home tab as it has default settings and now we are going to work on Frontend and Backend tabs only to block the countries.

Step 3: Now, click on Frontend tab first we need to understand what is frontend tab, in the frontend tab you can specify the list of countries that you want to block or don’t want to show website in the particular country visitors.

Step 4: Once you get into the frontend tab, make sure you must click on the “ Block Visitors from visiting the frontend of your website ” check box and in the below you can find the option “ Select the countries that should be blocked from visiting your frontend  ” in this box you have to mention the countries you want to block.

Step 5: Now you have to click on Backend tab, here backend means it’s starts off with all the countries list, click on the “ Block visitors from visiting the backend (administrator) of your website: ” check box as like below screenshot. Next, in the “ Select the countries that should be blocked from visiting your backend: ” box mention those countries you want to block make sure one thing Remove Your Targeting Countries then click on save changes.

How to Add Multiple Store Location Listing on Google

If you Store providing products and services in multiple, you want show multiple location under one Business Account at that point you have an option Add Multiple Locations on Google. First why you we need to add Multiple Store Location information  instead of single store location,

The answer is a combination between local incentives and keyword cannibalization.

Local Incentives,  If your business has six locations in the area, but your site doesn’t point towards any one of them, it’s not going to show up very highly in search.  Meanwhile a competitor with a focused page comes up saying “hey look we’re just two miles away at the corner of Main and South streets!”  That sounds good.

Keyword cannibalization is a phenomenon that occurs when two pages are attempting to target the same keyword.  If you and a competitor are both targeting “Pizza in New York,” you’re fighting for the same space.  If you have two pages both targeting Pizza in New York, your potential value is split.  The competitor, limiting themselves to one page, focuses their power and outranks you.

For businesses with more than one location, they can all be managed from one singular Google account.  If your business has dozens or hundreds of national locations, like many major chains, those locations can be managed through Google’s bulk location manager.

Step 1: Get into Google Pages with your Gmail Email Id and password, you can see two tabs on the top Business Page and Location.

Step 2: Click on Location Tab, on the right side you can see Menu click on the menu, you can see an option called Import Locations   

Step 3: Download the Template and fill the details of your different stores, address, phone no and office timings etc… If you want to see the sample template click on View A Sample, you will get Sample Locations with details Here is the URL

Step 4: Once you fill the required details in the excel sheet now click on Select File to Import.

Step 5: Now you can see your all the store locations under the Location Tab

How to Verify Google Local Business Listing

First of all, why do we need to verify or required Google Local Business Listing ? because, your business location will appear on Google Maps for related search queries, your business customers easily identify your business easily and they can write a reviews/give a rating about products and services. It’s an extraordinary tool for local business owners.

Here is the snapshot of Google Local Business Listing for a Search query of “ Best Dentist in Hyderabad ”

Before we are going to start you must have Google Business Page otherwise your role must be manager.

Step 1: Here is the URL of click on it and get start http://www.google.com/business, now you can see the screen Get Start click on it and login with your Google Email ID and Password, search your business name and address in the maps search box if you don’t find your business location click on the “ This Doesn't Match Add Your Business ” as like below screen shot,

Step 2:

Now, in this second step you have enter each and every field with correct information like, Business Name, Country/Region, Street Address, City, Pincode, State, Business Phone Number and Category and click on Continue. Note: if couldn’t identify your business location ? you have to add your business location through Google Map Maker ( https://www.google.co.in/mapmaker )

Step 3:  Fill the details as below screen shot shown, City or Zip Code, Distance of you Business Address from which you have mention City or Zip Code and click on check box and continue.

Step 4: Now, your Business Location details will appear like below screen and click on the check box and continue.

Step 5: In this step you can see the dialog box of Mail me my Code and Continue and Verify Later, Now you have to click on Mail Me My Code. You will receive a postcard with in 1 to 2 weeks.

Step 6: In this step you have give Optional Contact Name and  click on Send Postcard. In the postcard you will have 5 Digit Number you have enter to Verify your Business Local Listing.

Step 7: Now you can directly landed on your Business Location Page, your Google Business Location Listing will looks like below screenshot and you have to fulfill the profile 100 %

Step 8: In this last step below of your Google Business Local Listing Page you can find Verifynow option of beside insights or Reviews, once you got postcard click on Verify then you will go the screen as below now you have to enter your 5 Digit Number to verify the Business Local Listing.

How to Index Website and Web Pages in Search Engines

First you need to understand search engines like ( Google, Yahoo and Bing ) can’t index your website quickly, we should intimate search engines that here is my new website.  Here will see some of the best practices to get your website in search engines, follow these methods to get your new website in search engines.

1. Create Sitemap.XML first and foremost thing, with the help of  sitemap xml file search engines can read the URLs in the website. There are Image Sitemap, Video Sitemap, Mobile Sitemap and Google News Sitemap different sitemap.xml formats for different types of content. There are free Sitemap.xml file generate tools in the market for free, but it’s allows maximum 5K URLs only. Size of the sitemap maximum 10MB and should contains 50,000 URLs in a single sitemap, if you have more than that create another sitemap. If you want to large website you need to develop a sitemap.xml files. here is the formats of different sitemap.xml file,

Sitemap Formats:

<url>  <loc>http://www.xyz.com</loc>

   <lastmod>2015-11-22T15:43:00+00:00</lastmod>

   <changefreq>always</changefreq>

   <priority>0.6</priority>

   <image:image>

     <image:loc>http://www.xyz.com/media/k2/items/src/chiru-tri-150.jpg</image:loc>

     <image:title>Trivikram srinivas in race for chiru s 150th movie</image:title>

   </image:image>       

 </url>

Video Sitemap Syntax:

<url>

<loc>http://www.xyz.com</loc>

<lastmod>2015-11-21T04:48:00+00:00</lastmod>

<changefreq>always</changefreq>

<priority>0.6</priority>

<video:video>

<video:player_loc allow_embed="yes" autoplay="autoplay=1">http://www.youtube.com/v/J64FtkJ6_28</video:player_loc>

<video:title>Size Zero Movie Making Video</video:title>

<video:description>Size Zero Movie Making Video</video:description>

<video:duration>0</video:duration>

<video:thumbnail_loc>http://www.xyz.com/hwdvideos/thumbs/tp-6914.jpg</video:thumbnail_loc>

<video:publication_date>2015-11-21T04:48:00+00:00</video:publication_date>

</video:video>

</url>

Image Sitemap:

<url>

<loc>http://www.xyz.com</loc>

              <image:image>          <image:loc>http://www.xyz.com/images/phocagallery/Actress/Telugu/MadhuShaliniPhotoshoot/Madhu-Shalini-Photoshoot-01.jpg</image:loc>

                        <image:title>Madhu Shalini Latest Photos | Madhu Shalini </image:title>

              </image:image>

      <lastmod>2015-11-21T12:30:00+00:00</lastmod>

      <changefreq>always</changefreq>

      <priority>0.6</priority>

 </url>

News Keywords:

<url>

   <loc>http://www.xyz.com/</loc>

   <news:news>

     <news:keywords>trivikram srinivas, megastar Chiranjeevi, 150th movie, trivikram srinivas, chiranjeevi, kaththi, nithiin, puri jagannadh, Bruce Lee Role, Ram charan, Surekha, Pawan Kalyan</news:keywords>

     <news:publication_date>2015-11-22T15:43:00+00:00</news:publication_date>

     <news:publication>

       <news:name>తెలుగు విశేష్</news:name>

       <news:language>te</news:language>

     </news:publication>

     <news:title>చిరు సినిమాను డైరెక్ట్ చేయనున్న మాటల మాంత్రికుడు</news:title>

   </news:news>

 </url>

2. Submit Sitemap to Google Webmastertools: Once you have generate sitemap for your website content through different tools, next you have to submit your sitemap.xml URL to Google Webmastertools. Here is the path, https://www.google.com/webmasterstools ---> Click on website property ---> Crawl ---> Sitemap ---> Top Right Side you can see Add New Sitemap, now you can add your website sitemap.xml URL then click on submit sitemap.

3. Submit Website URL to Search Engines: Here is another way to tell to search engines about your new website by submitting to different search engines. Here is the Google Add URL ( http://www.google.com/addurl ) and Bing Add URL ( http://www.bing.com/toolbox/submit-site-url )

4.Google Fetch as Google: Fetch as Google is one of the best tool to index your web page very quickly. If you wrote an articles and you want to index in Google with in couple of minutes at that moment this tool will help you out. Here is the path http://www.google.com/webmastertools ---> Click on website property ---> Crawl ---> Fetch as Google ---> on the Top you can see the box insert the URL which you want to index quickly and click on Fetch ---> Click on Submit to Index ---> Now you can see choose the method dialog box click on Crawl only this URL ---> Now you can see the status completed and URL submit to Index. Now just wait for couple of minutes then check. 

Difference Between Crawling, Indexing and Caching

Crawling: Crawling is the process of Googlebot ( Software )  finding/Scan new updated content/images/videos etc..on websites and information sends back to Google.

Indexing: Indexing is the processing of the information gathered by the Googlebot from its crawling activities. Once documents are processed, they are added to Google’s searchable index if they are determined to be quality content. During indexing, the Googlebot processes the words on a page and where those words are located. Information such as title tags and ALT attributes are also analyzed during indexing.

Caching: Googlebot took a snapshot of web pages are updated in the last visit or crawl, whenever website goes down/not yet indexed latest changes made in the website at the time it will shows the last version which was saved. 

How to block Website in Different Search Engines

In order to block your website or particular Directory/Folder in different search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, ASK and many more. There are different methods to block website in different search engines. Here are the couple of reasons to block website in different search engines, Protection of your content from the direct search traffic and Duplicate Content Issue.

Methods of Blocking Websites:

Method 1: Blocking a Single Page, if you want to Block a Single Page on Search Engines, add below HTML tag to the particular page which you want to block.

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

If you want to block from Google at that time you can add below HTML Tag,

<meta name="googlebot" content="noindex, nofollow">

Method 2: If you want to block entire website in search engines, through your website Robots.txt file you can restrict search engine bots.

User-agent: *

Disallow: /

If you want to disallow particular search engine from crawling,

User-agent: Baiduspider

Disallow: /

Disallow all search engines from particular folders,

User-agent: *

Disallow: /cgi-bin/

Disallow: /private/

Disallow: /tmp/

Disallow all search engines from particular files,

User-agent: *

Disallow: /contactus.htm

Disallow: /index.htm

Disallow: /store.htm

Disallow all search engines but one,

User-agent: *

Disallow: /private/

User-agent: Googlebot

Disallow:

Method 3: Blocking a Single Outgoing Link, To hide a single link on a page, simply use the "rel" tag as shown:

<a href="http://www.abc.com" rel="nofollow">ABC</a>

What is Canonical Tag and How it's works ?

Nowadays most of the content management and Ecommerce websites has the problem with different URL’s with same content, to overcome this kind of issues on different search engines we need to implement Canonical Tag on the header part the pages. Here is the example of Duplicate Content Pages URL’s

http://www.example.com/page1 ( Origional One )

http://www.example.com/page1?source=organic ( Duplicate )

http://www.example.com/page1?campaignid=3532 ( Duplicate )

If you are not implemented this tag on your pages, search engines will consider both pages are same content so, it will treat as Duplicate Pages and the Title, Description and Keywords will be consider as Duplicate. To solve this types issues  need to add Canonical HTML Tag on web pages. Here is the Tag,

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/page1" />

By insert this Tag on second and third pages, we are telling that these page are original content of “ http://www.example.com/page1 ”

This is one of the method to solve Duplicate Page Content Issue. Here all the pages will index in search engines but it will consider only one URL as Original.