A lot of webmasters are under the impression that you pick a set of keywords you want to optimize for, optimize the page for them, and your done. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Real SEO is a ever changing process that needs constant updates and revisions.

An example of this is Long Tail Keywords. This is a relatively simple idea that a lot of webmasters either don’t get, or just don’t do. The way most search engines are setup now almost requires implementing this, so pay attention.

301 Redirects using .htaccess plays an important role both in keeping your site clean and organized as well as a solid SEO practice.

301 redirects are not as complicated as they may seem. First lets go over why you might want to use one.

1. Sites should redirect all URLs associated with their domain which do not start with “www” (example: “http://cheese.com”) to the same pages on your their domain that start with “www” (example: “http://www.cheese.com”). This is referred to as a canonical redirect. The reason this is so important is because search engines can’t tell if the non-www version of your domain is really a different site, or not, than the www version of your domain. And, if other webmasters link to your site, you can’t can’t control whether or not they link to your site with the www or not.

Is the length of a URL a ranking factor when it comes to good SEO?

Short answer, NO

Yet, be careful, because in my opinion URL structure does matter. Proper structure reduces the total number of characters so they are by default, shorter. URL length defiantly affects usability, that’s for sure and usability is something search engines just love.

If you are making long URL’s for the reason of keyword stuffing, you are not helping yourself either. In the world of SEO you can go overboard, and a lot of webmasters do.