Hey there Federico,

Thanks for your help and reassurance.

I've run Google Page Speed 84/100 which sounds pretty good.

High priority items, seem a bit over zealous to me & I have no idea how to fix ??

• http://api.twitter.com/.../vintageheirloom.json?... (0.28 seconds)
• http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/.../371850_540740888_1013846933_q.jpg (0.20 seconds)
• http://www.facebook.com/.../likebox.php?... (0.16 seconds)
• http://www.vintageheirloom.com/ (1 seconds)
• http://www.vintageheirloom.com/.../common.js.php?... (0.10 seconds)
• http://www.vintageheirloom.com/.../screen.css.php?... (0.11 seconds)
• https://r.twimg.com/jot?... (0.27 seconds)

Thanks tho

Thanks for looking.

Site is: www.vintageheirloom.com

My homepage seems slower than the rest of my pages, & erratic load times, 2 -6 secs. It looks like it loads twice when run through Pingdom tools (http://tools.pingdom.com)?

On the results page I can see the html script object at the top http://www.vintageheirloom.com/ and then reappears at the bottom again. Load time 1st is approx 761 ms then 1.35 seconds.

I've looked for images that might be loading the site, I saw this as a reason, but I can't see this being the problem.

I've seen mention of looking in my .htaccess file if that is the cause. I've removed chunks of code to see any changes but couldn't spot any, still loads html script for www.vintageheirloom.com twice.

Thanks Kevin

.htaccess file details:

<code>RewriteOptions inherit
# 1.To use URL Alias you need to be running apache with mod_rewrite enabled. 

# 2\. In your opencart directory rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess.

# For any support issues please visit: http://www.opencart.com

Options +FollowSymlinks

# Prevent Directoy listing 
Options -Indexes

# Prevent Direct Access to files
 <filesmatch "\.(tpl|ini|log|ds_store)"="">Order deny,allow
 Deny from all</filesmatch> 

# Prevent Direct Access to files
 <filesmatch "fbcindex"="">Order deny,allow
 Deny from all</filesmatch> 

# Use PHP 5.3
AddType application/x-httpd-php53 .php

# SEO URL Settings
RewriteEngine On
# If your opencart installation does not run on the main web folder make sure you folder it does run in ie. / becomes /shop/ 

RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^sitemap.xml$ index.php?route=feed/google_sitemap [L]
RewriteRule ^googlebase.xml$ index.php?route=feed/google_base [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !.*\.(ico|gif|jpg|jpeg|png|js|css)
RewriteRule ^([^?]*) index.php?_route_=$1 [L,QSA]

### Additional Settings that may need to be enabled for some servers 
### Uncomment the commands by removing the # sign in front of it.
### If you get an "Internal Server Error 500" after enabling any of the following settings, restore the # as this means your host doesn't allow that.

# 1\. If your cart only allows you to add one item at a time, it is possible register_globals is on. This may work to disable it:
# php_flag register_globals off

# 2\. If your cart has magic quotes enabled, This may work to disable it:
# php_flag magic_quotes_gpc Off

# 3\. Set max upload file size. Most hosts will limit this and not allow it to be overridden but you can try
# php_value upload_max_filesize 999M

# 4\. set max post size. uncomment this line if you have a lot of product options or are getting errors where forms are not saving all fields
# php_value post_max_size 999M

# 5\. set max time script can take. uncomment this line if you have a lot of product options or are getting errors where forms are not saving all fields
# php_value max_execution_time 200

# 6\. set max time for input to be recieved. Uncomment this line if you have a lot of product options or are getting errors where forms are not saving all fields
# php_value max_input_time 200

## INCREASE PAGE SPEED HTACCESS MODIFICATION ##
 <ifmodule mod_headers.c="">Header set Connection keep-alive</ifmodule> 

AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/plain text/xml text/css text/javascript application/x-javascript
BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4 gzip-only-text/html
BrowserMatch ^Mozilla/4\.0[678] no-gzip
BrowserMatch \bMSIE !no-gzip !gzip-only-text/html

 <ifmodule mod_headers.c="">Header append Vary User-Agent</ifmodule> 
## END INCREASE PAGE SPEED HTACCESS MODIFICATION ##

## DIVERT NON WWW TO WWW http://www.seomoz.org/q/is-there-an-easier-way-from-the-server-to-prevent-duplicate-page-content ##
 <ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\. [NC]
RewriteRule ^ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]</ifmodule> 
## END DIVERT NON WWW TO WWW http://www.seomoz.org/q/is-there-an-easier-way-from-the-server-to-prevent-duplicate-page-content ##

# BEGIN WordPress
 <ifmodule mod_rewrite.c="">RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]</ifmodule> 

# END WordPress

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^.*$
RewriteRule ^authentic\-preowned\-designer\-handbags$ "http\:\/\/www\.vintageheirloom\.com\/authentic\-second\-hand\-designer\-bags" [R=301,L]</code>

Thanks Bryan,

I like your idea of multiple pages, although a bit of workload.

Do you have any ideas how you go about doing this with Wordpress. I understand duplicate pages are a no no for SEO, canonicalization is the answer but how to implement with Wordpress. Also how to stop the duplicate post appearing in my Wordpress???

Kevin

Hi Everett,

Wow, thanks for the comprehensive reply, it's really helped especially how honing in on the purpose dictates strategy, easy to overlook.

As you say I have an eCommerce site so getting people to buy is really my purpose, hopefully with added interesting articles along the way.

I like your idea of adding Free Shipping, which we do but don't advertise in SERPs, very helpful.

It's slowly dawning on me that I can with a bit of thought incorporate popular keywords into titles. Maybe the keywords aren't always the 1st 3 words in the the title, but hey you can't have everything.

You really given me some food for thought, thank you!

Kevin

Hi everyone,

I'm still new to SEO so bear with me.

I'm fairly ok with what determines good 'On page optimization' grading. Have a few good results but mostly for my ecommerce website. Now I'm building up blog content I'm often puzzled how SEO experts balance good editorial web page titles with how people actually search. An example:

Buy Biggie Smalls Versace Sunglasses

I have created the page title 'Buy Biggie Smalls Versace Sunglasses - Company'

Created a

and

tag with the same keywords... drop the term a few times on the page, add to a few alt tags, add the term to the url.... but this looks contrived & isn't exactly an exciting web page title which would entice people to click through. Or is it?

A more interesting web page title might be something like 'Versace & Biggie Smalls - his influence on a new generation of Hip Hop culture'. Ok this is a completely different long-tail keyword phrase. But do I need to do both?

How would a seasoned SEO expert blend the dull search term into some interesting page title and hence all other on page optimization aspects.

Hope you get what I'm trying to explain.

Thanks for looking...

Kevin

Thanks everyone,

Appreciate the helpful comments and suggestions.

Matt, thanks for the reminder about comparison tools.

I'm new to Wordpress & after a some consideration opted for a Theme called 'AVADA' on Themeforest (http://themeforest.net/item/avada-responsive-multipurpose-theme/2833226). I think it looks great but I wasn't aware of the frameworks e.g. Genesis which Yoast mentions on his blog.

I've added Yoast SEO but the traffic lights don't all seem to work, e.g. content doesn't contain keywords, when the content clearly does. I thought this could be due to a conflict with AVADA not being on the Genesis et al frameworks, but I'm guessing here. There seems to be a general problem with Yoast not accurately displaying the results - anyone else find this and is there any suggestions?

I'm easing over to the Genesis framework to avoid issues. Bede you mention you don't get compatibility problems, ever used Themeforest or Themes outside of these frameworks?

Thanks again...

Hi there, I'm trying to decide which theme to use. My main concern is if the theme has been built using a stable framework to ensure plugin compatibility for SEO. Also a general question, does the homepage need to have a certain amount of text content for SEO, or can other pages be SEO optimised with text / keyword? Some of the nicer themes seem to have a sparce text to image ratio on the homepage. I quite like this as an initial 'welcome' but worry this isn't great for SEO. Any suggested themes / advice will be welcome. Thanks

Hi SEOmoz

I received an email today that another scan has been performed but when I log into my account all the tracking details have disappeared? States Pages crawled N/A.

Can someone please help? Temporary problem?

Website www.vintageheirloom.com

Thanks

Dana

I like it, I like it a lot!

This makes a lot of sense, hadn't thought of that.

My ecommerce site allows me to keep the product 'Active' but I just remove the Links to category so it doesn't appear by default and voila, problem solved.

For example this product: http://www.vintageheirloom.com/vintage-designers/bottega-veneta/silk-rafia-style-bag-1347390241

Isn't visible in this category anymore: http://www.vintageheirloom.com/vintage-designers/bottega-veneta

Perfect solution

HI Dana

I'm hoping there is an alternative to 301 redirects, not that this is a big problem for me, we aren't a large sales website.

Our shopping cart comes with a friendly looking 404 page site structure menu bars, footer etc all intact, but thanks your right I should add more user friendly text.

Let's both keep our fingers crossed, sounds like it is an issue for your site too.

Hi there,

I'm down to just 6 duplicate page warnings but I'm not sure how to deal with this one:

Information Page Not Found!

http://www.vintageheirloom.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=6

My Ecommerce shopping site products are unique, 1 of a kind. So once one product has sold and been delivered we take the product off our website, hence the Information Page Not Found!

As I understand when search engines re-index these warnings will drop off but new sold products would replace them. So redirecting seems like hard work and never ending.

Is it ok to ignore these warnings?

Thanks Mozzers..

Sorry Mat, you're not going mad... I'm being slack...

links should be:

"www.vintageheirloom.com/vintage-celine/celine-bags"

would this be better for SEO if it was:

"www.vintageheirloom.com/vintage-celine/bags"

Hopefully the URLs above don't get truncated as before...

Second link is the same but the instead of ending with ...celine-bags it just ends with ...bags

Would repeating Celine twice count as keyword stuffing or would the robots let that pass?

Thanks...

Hi Mozzers,

I'm wondering if I need to tweak my SEO friendly URL structure slightly.

Example:

http://www.vintageheirloom.com/vintage-celine/celine-bags

would this be better for SEO if it was:

http://www.vintageheirloom.com/vintage-celine/bags

Perhaps the repetition of 'celine' is unnecesary, but OpenCart ecommerce CMS requires a plugin / modification to enable multiple use of a single term like e.g. 'bags'.

Any benefit for $30?

Thanks!

Hi Donford

Many thanks for taking the time for your comprehensive suggestions.

Your spot on with adding 'Why buy from us' on each product page. Sometimes you need another perspective, seems blindingly obvious now...

I'm using OpenCart CMS so adding similar products is a whizz - thanks...

And again great suggestion re dynamically adding 'Vintage...' to just products, I'll need to throw that over to the community but nice suggestion.

Cheers...

Thanks Donford

Although I've got a Grade C page optimisation score, I've just checked and in the UK our site appears on page 1 rank 1 for Vintage Chanel bags (Google) which did surprise me somewhat.

Our products are transient, staying around for 2-6 weeks on average. Each item is unique, so no real time to build links to products / page authority etc. So I think your right to mention concentrating on the category SEO rather than the products (especially for us).

But... if I search for a more long tail term 'vintage chanel pink shoulder bag' we also appear page 1, rank 1, so I feel a bit like 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

The link to previous discussions isn't specifically about Ecommerce sites. I've checked a few competitors and they use 'Vintage' too, not that this means it is correct.

However I'm always open to change, my gut (not factual) feeling is that dropping Vintage from products would affect adversely the longer tailed search mentioned 'vintage chanel pink shoulder bag'.

Hi Donald

Thanks for speedy response.

Yes you're right, I can see the repetition of phrase 'Vintage Chanel', report is a little misleading. These mostly come from the product names all prefixed with 'Vintage Chanel...'

Feel a bit stuck with the idea of removing 'Vintage Chanel...' from the titles of products though, seems a legitimate phrase and valid if I want to SEO for this phrase. But I'm happy if I'm wrong...

Thanks...

Hi SEOmoz!

I'm a newbie, first post, here goes...

Working my way through On-Page Report Cards.

Noticed this page http://www.vintageheirloom.com/vintage-chanel/vintage-chanel-bags flagged with 'Avoid Keyword Stuffing in Document'.

Keyword is 'Vintage Chanel bags' and there is just one instance of it on this particular category page??

Any ideas?

Any general pointers for me on www.vintageheirloom.com would also be much appreciated.

Thanks SEOmozzers...