SEO is like a complex machine. When all the gears are greased and everything is in place, all is well with the world (and your search engine rankings). But sometimes all it takes is one little snafu to bring your entire SEO campaign crashing down around you. There is nothing worse than waking up in the morning to find that Google has forgotten who you are and kicked you to the curb like a drunken date the morning after.

Since 13 is your lucky number, I’ve compiled a list of 13 ways that (yes!) even you can screw up your SEO campaign! I think the correct term for this is: FUBAR!

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There’s loads of developer resources out there chasing the lucrative mobile space, particularly with the heated battle for dominance of the smartphone location services market. The following are 7 mobile developer resources to consider…

1. The official HTC developer program. HTC is one of the fastest growing device manufacturers on the planet and with every new device come new opportunities for development
2. MS App Hub – The official developer portal from Microsoft. A must visit / must join resource for Microsoft developers. Look for EDU resources, docs, tools, community forums and more
3. Bing Maps Account Center - The Bing Maps Account Center allows you to create keys to use the Bing Maps AJAX Control, Bing Maps Silverlight Control, Bing Maps SOAP Services, Bing Maps REST Services and Bing Spatial Data Services.
4. Windows Phone Dev Hub – For developers interested in creating app for Win Mobile devices see the App Hub the latest Win Mo developer news, tips, docs, edu resources, Q&A and resources for submitting your app.
5. Foursquare Dev Home – The foursquare developer site is your starting point for all things related to working with foursquare programmatically.
6. Acetate dev Tools from GeoIQ – Acetate is a new way of thinking about basemap tiles. Made in conjunction with Stamen Design, it allows you to layer pieces of the basemap throughout your visualization.
7. Nokia Developer – Formerly Forum.Nokia, this is THE resource for those interested in developing for Symbian S60, S40, Meego, Qt, WinPhone and other Nokia supported environments. A great place to start!

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In parts 1 & 2 I have already discussed much of the onsite SEO factors, as well as some off site stuff such as inbound links and algorithmic updates. Here are some factors that are only slightly contributing today, but show a very strong probability of being major aspects tomorrow. If Google rankings are important to you, these are a few items you will want to consider seriously.
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There are plenty of caveats with mobile CSS styling and as many methods to deal with them. There are also plenty of tips, such as the 5-Minute CSS Mobile Makeover, but few deal with how to go about making the stylesheets. This may appear obvious at first glance, but having a sound method of making mobile stylesheets can prevent wasted time and energy. And here’s the mobile styling tip: design for desktop, then mobile, then repeat.

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I learned a new word recently. Not a new word, really, but a new phrase combined from two of those really big words that normal people rarely ever use. That phrase is “Concatenation Schema”.

WTH???

Yeah, that’s what I thought. But, suffice it to say, it was a very simplified way of saying something that took me three paragraphs to explain. It’s nice to be able to add a new phrase into your vernacular (another really big word for me) that nicely sums up something that is difficult to explain.

In the plainest, simplest terms I could come up with, Concatenation Schema is just another way of saying “default content that changes dynamically based on category, sub-category, and product related information.”

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For many of us cost is everything and a template design is undoubtedly cheaper. But is it always the best choice?

Yes you can download them and stick in your content and a few images and, hey presto, you’ve got yourself a web presence without forking out fees for a web designer (or copywriter). But web designers exist for some very good reasons:

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One of the common questions I see asked on SEO forums is whether domain age plays an important role in Google’s ranking algorithm.

Generally, SEO professionals agree that domain age does play some part in rankings, but opinions vary on the extent of its impact. Some SEO experts refuse to work on a newly registered domain, while others don’t give it much weight at all.

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Today, we’re going to jump into WordPress a little bit. For those of you who use WordPress, it’s either one of two things – a fantastic platform that makes building websites and blogs easy OR a real pain in the ass!

People who know coding and web design usually love WordPress’ open-source community for its flexibility, customization ability, and easy blog integration. Those who don’t know code or web design so well often have trouble making updates to their site’s design and structure outside of the main stuff in the WordPress CMS.

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The goal of every site owner is to get his website exposed and ranking high up on search engine results pages. However, there are those who fall into the common pitfall of practicing illegal techniques in search engine optimization, which damages their PageRank.

A link analysis algorithm used by Google, the PageRank determines the position of a webpage on the search engines result pages.

Here are just some of the usual mistakes people make in SEO:

•    Poor choice of keywords. It is important to do research for potential keywords prior to working on the content of a site. Pick keywords that are searched most often. However, take care not to use ones that make you site go against heavy competition. Choosing which ones require you to walk a fine line between competition and user search demands. Selecting key phrases can make or break your search engine optimization campaign, so be careful.

•    Inappropriate usage of keywords. Keywords should be placed in the first few lines of your article. Failing to do this will make search engines overlook your article. They will also consider it as unimportant, giving it a lower PageRank.

•    Overuse of keywords. Filling your entire article with too many keywords will degrade its readability, confusing readers with the deluge. Use just enough keywords for your articles and you are sure to get a high PageRank. A technique for making your keywords noticeable is to highlight them.

•    Little focus on your URL and title. Having the right title and URL is important since it is a way of attracting visitors; having keywords in your URL and title is even more beneficial. It is possible to rank high even without keywords in the title and only in the URL, but having them in both is, of course, way better.

•    Not focusing on meta tags. Meta tags are source codes that should contain details and keywords about your page. Use different descriptions—with related keywords—about the pages in your site. However, don’t focus too much on your meta tags, as there are other factors that you need to focus on if you are to get a higher PageRank.

•    Less site content. Sites with too few content generally do not fare well in the rankings, while those with rich content and whose owners practice good search engine optimization strategies garner better PageRanks.

•    Using unrelated and broken links. Placing links on your website without checking their reliability can cause low rankings. It is best to check the sites out for credibility and broken links before putting them up on your site, and make sure that they are relevant to your content.

As a site owner, you need to familiarize yourself with these mistakes and avoid them as much as possible. If you are having trouble with maintaining your site, you can hire reliable SEO experts to do the job for you (choose wisely though). In no time, your articles and your website will start to go up in the rankings.

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