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What Is Fragmentation?

Every time you use your computer, data is being written and rewritten to your PC’s hard drive. As time passes, this results in the data on your hard drive being fragmented or stored in un-optimized locations.

A simple way to visualize this process is to think of a jigsaw puzzle. You start with a puzzle that is completely assembled, but over time pieces of the puzzle are taken out so they can be examined and used. However, once they are examined, the pieces aren’t put back where they were taken from. Instead, they are tossed into a pile with other puzzle pieces. As the drive is used more and more, the pile grows and more of the puzzle is missing. This is a process called fragmentation.

When your drive becomes fragmented, it often drastically slows down the performance of your pc because each time it needs to access data it has to search across a wide area of the disk to find the pieces of data that goes together.

How to Fix Fragmentation

To fix fragmentation, a process called drive defragmentation should be performed periodically. Basically, the defragmentation process will take that pile of puzzle pieces and fit them back into the puzzle where they belong. Once the pieces are back where they belong, performance often drastically improves and your PC runs noticeably better.

On a Windows computer, the defragmentation process is completely automated. You run the defrag tool in Windows, and then the operating system does all of the work for you. However, during the process it is usually best if you do not use your PC for other tasks. The process works quicker if data is not being accessed during it. On a larger hard drive, the process can take a longer period of time. For very large drives, it can take hours to run, so it is often best to begin the defragmentation at night and leave it running without interference.

The Windows Defragmentation Tool

Starting with Windows Vista, newer versions of Windows automatically perform defragmentation tasks when they are needed. For people who use Vista or Windows 7, you will not need to run the defragmentation tool manually. The tool is still available within the operating system, but you do not need to manually perform this task on a regular basis.

For those using Windows XP or prior, the defragmentation tool is located within the computer properties under the tool tab. To access the tool, you would right click on “My Computer” and then click on properties. In the properties screen, you will then select the “Tools” tab. On the tools tab, there is a button labeled “Defragment Now.” Clicking this button will begin the defragmentation process.

How Often To Defragment Your Drive

There is no exact interval that this type of maintenance should be performed at. However, many people choose to defragment their drives every few months even if their performance has not slowed. By defragging the drive at a regular interval, you can avoid performance slowdowns, and it will make the defragmentation process quicker. If the drive is defragmented often, there is less work to be done during the process because there are less “puzzle pieces” in the pile to reassemble.

Regular Maintenance Results in A Healthier PC

Disk defragmentation is part of regular maintenance that results in a healthier computer. By regularly defragmenting your hard drive, you can prevent sluggish performance and ensure your computer operates at optimum efficiency. The process is fully automated and easy to begin, so you should not hesitate to perform this maintenance on your PC.

The Dangers of Spam

While spam often seems like a harmless annoyance at first, it is also a very dangerous threat to your computer. While some messages are harmless ploys to entice you to purchase odd items, spam is also one of most popular attack vectors for hackers. Hackers use spambots to send out massive amounts of emails that contain dangerous attachments, pictures and links.

These dangerous emails can infect your computer with viruses, malware and spyware. The hackers use these malicious programs to steal your financial and personal information, including credit card numbers, bank account information and user names and passwords. These dangers make spam a serious threat to the security of computer users.

How to Avoid Spam

Due to the way spambots work, it is virtually impossible to avoid all forms of spam. However, there are a few simple ways you can minimize your exposure to spam. First, never publish or post your email address in a publically accessible area on a website. Spambots crawl the Internet and collect publically posted email addresses to add to their mailing lists.

Another way to avoid spam is to avoid using your primary email address when signing up for newsletters and website memberships. Many websites sell this information to advertisers who then use the email addresses on their mass mailing lists, which are often sold to third parties. Instead of using your primary email address, create another email address that you use only for signing up for websites. This way, you can still access member information, and your primary email box remains clean.

Spam Clean-Up Basics

If you are already receiving large amounts of spam, don’t despair. There are still ways you can clean up your inbox and restore your email sanity. The first step is to unsubscribe from any legitimate mass mailing lists you have joined. If you are receiving spam from legitimate businesses, such as Best Buy or Wal-Mart, you can often respond to a message with the word “Unsubscribe” in the subject or body of the email to be removed from their list. Additionally, many emails will have a link at the bottom that you can click to unsubscribe as well. However, this typically only works for the legitimate companies who have you on their mailing lists.

Unscrupulous spammers usually don’t offer you a way to get out of their spam cross hairs. Unfortunately, these are also typically the spammers who are sending nefarious and dangerous messages as well. When dealing with these spammers, be very careful not to open the spam messages or click on anything within them. Even just opening a malicious spam message can infect your computer with malware or viruses. When you receive a spam from someone you don’t know, or that looks suspicious, select the message and use your email program’s “Junk” or “Spam” button to safely remove the suspicious message from your inbox.

While this will take manual intervention at first, eventually your email client will automatically filter more of the suspicious messages directly into your spam folder. Most email clients, including Windows Live, Yahoo! and Gmail, use complex spam detection algorithms that dynamically adapt to spam trends. When the filter notices certain senders or email subject lines being consistently marked as spam, they then learn to automatically flag similar messages as spam without your intervention. It takes a little while for the filters to catch on, but when you consistently flag these messages as junk or spam, the filter does begin to do a better job of keeping them out of your inbox.

While it might be impossible to completely eliminate spam, it is possible to get spam under control and avoid your computer becoming infected from spammed malware. As long as you never open suspicious messages and remain vigilant about reporting spam, you can minimize the amount of spam you come in contact with and keep your computer safe.

Typical malware infection behavior includes:
• Experiencing a large quantity of popup ads, even when not actively surfing websites
• Receiving a flood of spam emails
• Sudden poor computer performance
• The sudden appearance of new browser toolbars or applications
• Having credit card and other sensitive information stolen

What Are the Most Popular Types of Malware?

The most popular types of malware include viruses and worms, spyware and scareware. These forms of malware are quickly and easily spread over the Internet, and they pose the greatest risk to both home and business computer users.

Viruses and Worms

Viruses and worms are infectious malware programs that attempt to spread quickly from computer to computer, often without any user intervention. These types of infections are typically the most destructive. Viruses usually come in the form of an executable file that needs to be run on a system in order to do its damage. A worm normally does not need any user interaction to infect a machine and spread to other devices.

Viruses and worms are often used by malware authors to create backdoor access into a large amount of home or business computers. These computers are then remotely controlled by the attackers and used to populate botnets and send spam emails.

Spyware

There are two main types of spyware. The first type is typically benign and is generally referred to as “adware.” This type of spyware creates popup ads and is a general nuisance, but it does no actual harm to a computer. The second type of spyware is more nefarious. This type of spyware includes programs and codes that often act as key loggers, site redirectors and information gatherers.

The malicious form of spyware is commonly used to steal personal financial information. It records everything from keystrokes to mouse clicks and then relays this information back to hackers over the Internet. The hackers then use this information to access banking sites and charge fraudulent transactions to credit cards.

Scareware

Scareware is a popular and quickly growing subtype of traditional adware. While traditional adware is mainly nuisance software used to spread ads and increase website traffic, scareware takes this scenario one step further. With scareware, the malware authors attempt to fraudulently scare computer users into buying fake software.

One of the most popular scareware scams takes the form of fake antivirus software programs. A computer user will get a popup ad that states a virus has been found, and they need to pay a subscription fee to remove the virus. After the fee is paid, nothing happens. The computer user loses the fee they paid, and the scareware remains on their computer.

Avoiding Malware

Malware is widespread on the Internet, but it is not impossible to avoid. By using safe computing habits, you can avoid malware and keep your computer free from infections. The foundation of safe computing is comprised of using legitimate, and up-to-date, antivirus software and practicing secure computing habits.

Basic secure computing habits include:
• Avoiding suspicious or shady websites
• Using popup blockers and content filters
• Never clicking on popup ads
• Never downloading unknown or unverified files from the Internet
• Never opening emails from unknown or unrecognized senders
• Using secure passwords that are periodically changed
• Never using the same password for social networking or email sites and financial sites

The Internet can be a dangerous place, and you must be vigilant to keep your computer and sensitive information safeguarded. By practicing these habits and using an updated and legitimate antivirus product, you will be able to successfully avoid the vast majority of malware infections.

What is Cloud Computing?

Simply put, cloud computing is the concept of hosting servers, applications and services offsite at a remote location. Most people are already “in the cloud,” even though they do not realize it. For example, if you have ever uploaded photos to Facebook or any other photo hosting site, you have successfully utilized cloud computing. When you upload the photos, they still reside in their original location, but they are also stored on the servers at Facebook, Flickr or the photo hosting site of your choice. Once your photo is uploaded, it is then accessible from any computer with an internet connection that can access that site. This is the most basic, and most popular, form of cloud computing.

Cloud Computing Security

While the technology involved is fairly straightforward, many individuals and industry experts have raised an eyebrow at the potential for security issues arising from the use of cloud computing. Fortunately, this is an unfounded worry, and the security offered by cloud computing often far surpasses the levels of security available to most individuals and businesses. Unlike a traditional, in-house solution, cloud computing offers many levels of advanced security controls that are typically too expensive or complex for individuals and small to medium-sized businesses to utilize.

Secured High-Tech Datacenters

The first level of security that cloud computing offers is the ability to make storing data in highly secured high-tech datacenters accessible to individuals and businesses of all sizes. With cloud computing, end users no longer have to shell out big bucks to create a secure environment to house their servers or applications. The hosting companies that run cloud-based services provide this level of security for their clients. The data centers used for cloud computing offer several key security benefits that are typically out of reach to the vast majority of end users, including:

• Secure locations that utilize stringent levels of physical security
• 24/7 professional staff that monitor and maintain the location
• Server room environments carefully monitored for heat and other environmental variables
• Buildings specifically designed to house high-tech networking equipment utilizing fire suppression units that do not spray water on equipment

The secured datacenters used by hosting companies are able to combine high-tech security with the latest and greatest in server room environment controls. This creates an environment that makes theft of equipment nearly impossible while providing the best protection against fire and heat available.

Professional Security Patching & Updates

Another key security advantage of cloud computing is the way security patching and updates are handled by the hosting companies. Each month, Microsoft and other vendors release numerous important patches and updates that need to be applied to servers. As a result, a business that hosts their own application or data servers onsite battles a seemingly endless barrage of security patches. Often, this activity alone will tie up IT resources and result in expensive server downtime. Due to the way patches affect operating systems and applications, many smaller businesses are forced to pay high-cost consultants to handle this activity, so they can remain secure.

Cloud computing can take this persistent headache out of the picture. With many cloud-based solutions, the hosting company will maintain responsibility of keeping the servers and applications they manage fully patched. The patching and updates are performed by skilled IT professionals at the hosting company. This results in applications and servers being more secure, and it takes this overwhelming responsibility out of the hands of individuals and businesses.

Cloud Computing: Not a Security Lightweight

These benefits alone offer greater levels of security than many businesses and individuals have access to on their own. This combination of highly secured locations and professionally maintained machines creates an environment that greatly lowers the amount of risk incurred while providing high levels of availability and accessibility to vital data, applications and servers. Cloud computing might be relatively new to the limelight, but it is no security lightweight.

Using the Right Parts

The main area prone to injury through mouse use is the wrist, which is why the wrist should be used as little as possible. Moving the mouse should be gentle, driven by the elbow and shoulders. Using a mouse isn’t making your wrist stronger; it’s creating a danger of strain through repetition of unnatural movement. When you use your elbow and should instead of the wrist, the chance for injury drops significantly.

Proper Hand Placement

Unfortunately, of the most problematic mouse placement setups is also the most common. You want to avoid pressure on the wrist, so when using a mouse, your wrist should not be flat on a desk surface.

You may have seen wrist rests. These only offer a softer, squishier surface, but still keep pressure where it shouldn’t be.

The base of the palm has the greatest ability to withstand the pressure of the hand’s weight. Make sure your hand rests on this base instead of the wrist.

Proper Hand + Mouse Placement

While it’s very common to have a mouse next to a keyboard, the farther it is to the side, the greater the risk of injury, as the hand is turned and you’re more likely to involve the wrist instead of the elbow. There are mouse platforms available that go above the num pad. With a properly oriented chair, these platforms are ideal, must as they are uncommon.

Choosing a Mouse

See if the mouse feels comfortable in a relaxed hand. If you have to contort your wrist to use it, it’s not a good option. Symmetrical mice work fine, and larger ones will strain the wrist less than smaller ones.

Hackers and other miscreants are constantly churning out new viruses and malware that is designed to steal financial information, website passwords and other sensitive information from innocent victims. Millions of new viruses pop up each year and new threats are discovered every day. In this constantly changing environment, it is impossible to completely avoid the threat of viruses, but using trustworthy antivirus software can minimize your risk for infection and the damage done.

What Is Antivirus Software?

Antivirus software is a program that is designed to find and neutralize malware and viruses. These programs are able to scan your computer’s hard drive and identify files that are malicious or suspicious. The antivirus software can attempt to delete, quarantine, or trigger an alert when it detects files that are harmful. Additionally, many antivirus software suites also have settings that can prevent your computer from downloading or executing harmful files in the first place.

Use Caution When Choosing Antivirus Software

Unfortunately, in the world of antivirus software, not all products provide equal protection. As awareness of antivirus software has spread, even antivirus programs have become the target of unscrupulous hackers and attackers. As a result, there are many programs on the internet that appear to be legitimate antivirus suites, yet they are really malicious programs designed to steal information and infect machines. This all-too-common scenario makes it even more important to choose a trustworthy antivirus software solution.

Thankfully, there are many trustworthy companies that produce antivirus software. These products have a wide range of features and a wide range of costs, but the available options provide a large scope of legitimate software suites to choose from.

Choosing the Best Antivirus Solution

The first aspect to consider when choosing antivirus software is typically cost. Full featured suites can cost a pretty penny, but there are also free options that provide adequate coverage for home computer users. The most popular free option is Microsoft Security Essentials.

Microsoft entered the antivirus arena in 2009, with its Microsoft Security Essentials product. Offered for free, this product provides a good level of support and protection for users of Microsoft Windows products. MSE has received rave reviews since its release, and it is currently the most popular antivirus software used in North America and the second most popular antivirus software used worldwide.

The product is easy to download and install, and is an excellent choice for those who are not computer savvy. Due to these factors, MSE is a full-featured suite that can be safely recommended for the vast majority of computer users. It can be downloaded here.

However, MSE can only be used on legally licensed Windows computers. For those who wish to seek other options here is a short list of the top software providers for both free and premium antivirus suites. While this list may not include all trustworthy antivirus vendors, it includes a good variety of different programs that should meet the needs of most computer users.

Free Antivirus Software Products
AVG Antivirus: http://free.avg.com
Avast!: http://www.avast.com

Premium Antivirus Software Products
McAfee VirusScan: http://www.mcafee.com
Symantic: http://www.symantic.com
Trend Micro: http://www.trendmicro.com
Kaspersky: http://www.kaspersky.com

Keeping Your Computer Safe

It is important to remember that even though antivirus software provides protection from malicious files, it is not foolproof. While the products available do an excellent job of detecting known viruses, there is always the potential of becoming infected with a piece of malware that is not yet detectable. The best way to avoid this scenario is to practice overall safe computing habits combined with your antivirus software.

1. Change default passwords. The first thing you should do when setting up a new site is to change all default passwords. Be vigilant and make sure no default passwords go unchanged. An amazing percentage of attacks are successful due to site administrators simply forgetting or failing to change default passwords. Often, if default passwords do not grant immediate access, attackers will simply move on to an easier target that does use default passwords.

2. Use passwords that are unique and complex and change them regularly. Not only should you use complex passwords, but you should also use unique passwords for all aspects of your site and change them on a regular basis. For example, you should never use the same password for both FTP access and administrative control panel access. If you use the same password for both methods of access, an attacker that knows the single password has the keys to the kingdom. Instead, use complex and different passwords for all access accounts. Create passwords that are not easy to guess and that use upper and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters. Do not use regular dictionary words in your passwords because those are easy to crack or guess.

3. Delete the built-in admin account. One of the simplest security steps to take is to delete default and built-in administrator accounts and create more obscure ones. You should create at least one administrator account that does not have a name that flags it obviously as an admin account. By making your admin powers harder to find, you make it more difficult for attackers to destroy or deface your site.

4. Keep software and all plug-ins updated. Unfortunately, there are many plug-ins and other web software out there that seem legit but actually contain malicious code or back doors. Carefully screen all plug-ins and software before you use them. Additionally, keep a close eye on your trusted software and plug-ins as well. If official updates are released, be vigilant about installing them. Updates are often released to patch holes and bugs that can allow attackers access to your site. By patching quickly, you can reduce your exposure to these risks.

5. Restrict access to your home folder from other IP addresses. Many hosting companies allow you to restrict administrative access to specific IP addresses. If you have this capability, you can prevent outsiders from doing damage to your site. Set access to only allow the IP addresses that you perform administrative duties from.

6. Audit permissions regularly. If an account does not administrate permissions, remove them. Check the permissions on your web folders and set folders that hold static content to read only. Assign only the minimum amount of permissions necessary to accounts and folders. By carefully monitoring access levels and permissions, you can prevent or limit the amount of damage that can be done when an attacker strikes.

7. Keep your PC clean and protected. While many focus on securing their website, often securing the PCs that are used to maintain the websites gets overlooked. The best passwords in the world cannot protect your site if your PC is automatically sending your secure passwords to an attacker. Malware installed on a computer can record keystrokes and send other sensitive data to attackers over the internet. As a result, it is vital to ensure that the PC you use for administrating your site is secure and clean. Use a trusted brand of antivirus software and always practice safe computing habits.

The best way to avoid having your website hacked is by being vigilant in your security practices and following these guidelines closely. However, with the speed that new exploits spread at, even the most vigilant administrators may discover that attackers have found a security loophole to crawl through. In this unfortunate, yet realistic, scenario these security guidelines can also help you minimize the damage that an attacker can do if they gain access to your site.

A layered method is the best way to approach network security and make your network a hard target to tackle. By adapting these five layers, you can effectively increase the level of network security your business has and thwart many would-be attackers.

Layer one: Secure your wireless connections

Wireless access points provide convenient network access for employees and contractors, but unfortunately they also provide convenient access to hackers and attackers as well. All wireless access devices should either be secured or disabled if they are not in active use. Active devices should use WPA2 security at a minimum and utilize strong passwords that are not easy to guess. Additionally, an easy way to gain an extra layer of security is to set your wireless device to not broadcast its network name, or SSID.

Simple wireless security practices include:

• Using WPA2 security
• Enabling MAC address filtering
• Setting strong passwords that are periodically changed
• Limiting the broadcast range of your access point
• Disabling SSID broadcasting

Layer two: Avoid suspicious emails

Innocent looking emails are the number one way attackers gain entry to networks. Often, innocent emails will carry dangerous payloads that can install viruses and other malware on PCs, even those that use updated antivirus software. The best way to avoid these threats is to immediately delete suspicious emails without opening them. If you do not recognize the sender, or the message seems at all suspicious, the best course of action is to simply delete the email.

Layer three: Set up a proxy or web filter

Malicious websites are another top attack vector utilized by hackers and other nefarious attackers. Even an innocent looking website has the potential to download harmful files to your PC. The best way to avoid this scenario is to use a proxy or web filter that automatically blocks users from browsing to these sites. A proxy can prevent users from accidentally stumbling upon a site that does damage to their PC and your network.

Layer four: Create strong password policies

Passwords are one of the simplest ways to keep attackers out, but they are also one of the most overlooked aspects of network security. Simple password policies can create a secure environment that is not easily breached.

Strong password policies include:

• Changing the default passwords on computers and network devices
• Requiring that network passwords are strong passwords that include letters, numbers and special characters
• Educating employees to avoid writing down passwords and never keeping passwords that are written down in visible or easily accessible locations
• Educating employees to never share passwords with anyone

Layer five: Audit your security regularly

The best way to ensure your network is secure is to have security audits performed regularly. A good auditing company can spot security loopholes before attackers can, and this allows you to tighten your security before your network is attacked. By working with a trusted auditing company, it is possible for your network security to stay one step ahead of the attackers. The auditing company can spot security holes that your staff may not be aware of, and the auditors are often able to provide detailed guidance about what security measures need to be taken.

Network security is a tough subject to tackle, but employing layers of security can easily help your business become more secure. A layered approach makes your company a difficult target to tackle. When hackers face obstacles like the ones created by this approach, they will often give up and seek out easier targets. While it may be impossible to create a network that is 100 percent secure, these methods will help you keep bad guys out and create a network that is not easy to attack.

How Does Phishing Work?

The most popular vector for phishing attacks is through email. An attacker will send out an email that claims that sensitive information has been compromised. They may ask the victim to respond to the email with their account information, or they may provide the victim with a link to an official looking website. If the individual responds to the email or logs into the site provided, they have been successfully “phished.”

How to Spot a Phishing Scam

As Internet security awareness has increased, phishing scams have gotten more and more complex. Often, it can be nearly impossible to tell the difference between a scam email and a valid email from a bank or other official company at first glance. To add to the confusion, phishing emails often appear to be sent from real organizations, and they include real company logos and website links.

Not only do these fraudulent emails often appear official, they also urge the victim to take immediate action. The attackers make the victim believe they must react immediately in hopes that the victim will divulge sensitive information before they become suspicious.

It can be hard to tell a phishing email from a valid one at first glance, but there are several red flags that can reveal a scam.

Phishing email red flags:

• Minor typos in a company name or logo
• Minor spelling changes in a well known web site address
• Emails from businesses you typically do not do business with
• Emails that claim account information has been compromised
• Emails that claim immediate action needs to be taken with dire consequences
• Emails that ask for a user name, password, account number or social security number

How to Defend Against Phishing Scams

The best way to avoid phishing scams is to simply avoid clicking on links sent through email, and always verify the identity of financial institutions before divulging any sensitive information. For example, when receiving an email that comes from a bank, do not click any links in the email to log into the banking website. Instead, type the web address of the bank into the web browser manually. This simple action will thwart the vast majority of phishing attempts.

Additionally, if an email seems suspicious, call the company in question directly at their official phone number to inquire about your account. Do not use any phone numbers included in a suspicious email, and do not click on any of the contents of the email either.

Other solid anti-phishing practices include:

• Reporting suspicious emails immediately
• Keeping your browser and operating system updated and patched
• Checking bank and credit card statements regularly for fraudulent or unrecognized charges
• Utilizing security tools such as antivirus software and official browser security toolbars
• Never divulging sensitive information over chat or email

What to Do If You Have Been Phished

If you believe you have divulged sensitive financial or account information to a scammer, contact your financial institution immediately. If you have divulged account information for a website, such as eBay.com, contact the site immediately. Once you have notified the company in question that your information has been compromised, they can freeze accounts and reset your passwords to mitigate the damage done by the scammer.

Acting quickly is the key to reducing the amount of damage done by a phishing attack. Even if it turns out to be a false alarm, it is always better to err on the side of caution. Resources including identitytheft.org and antiphishing.org contain comprehensive resources that can guide you through recovering from a phishing attack.

Keyword Signals

Have a look at a page on your site. Are you completely and effectively communicating what the page is about and should rank for?

Knowing all the keywords you should be targeting involves keyword research using a variety of potential tools, so having a fully optimized site needs this step. As far as SEO health is concerned, though, it’s a matter of making sure your content reflects whatever you have determined as your targets for each page.

On Page Text

Of course, search engines look at the text on the page. Does your text contain all the terms for which you would hope and expect that page to rank? If you expect to rank for a term on a page, it had better appear on that page at least once.

Note, this does not mean that the more it appears, the better. Search engines want your text to read naturally, so stick to max once per paragraph, or really a few times per page.

Headings

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have your top keyword appear in a heading on the page. The bigger font signals greater importance, and is something search engines are likely to take into account.

Title Tags

Title tags, for many years now, have been an extremely important indicator of what a page is about for search engines. Title tags are a “meta tag”, located in the head part of a web page’s code, appearing nowhere on the page itself but often readable in your browser’s tab or at the top of the browser window.

Title tags become the blue clickable portion in search engine results pages, too, so you can see how it would make sense for it to be a keyword-rich, yet readable, click-worthy summary of the content.

Google truncates title tags after 65 or so characters, and doesn’t value much of what comes after that anyway, so when you write them, try to stay within these limits.

It’s obvious but worth stating: not only should every page have its own unique title tags, but first you need to ensure that your website’s admin area actually let’s you customize them! Most modern content management systems (CMSs) do, but in my time I have seen many that don’t (and I got them replaced.

Duplication

Remember, the goal is effective, healthy, unobstructed communication with search engines. They are looking to know which pages to rank for which terms. You may have successfully communicated keyword content, but what happens when you have multiple URLs with the same content? How is Google supposed to know which to rank?

Search engines want one authoritative (or “canonical”) page for each piece of content, otherwise the confusion created by multiple URLs can result in none of them ranking.

SEO tools can often help you find duplicate content, by showing you duplicate title tags across the site. Alternatively, search in Google the following:

site:yoursite.com

This will list all the URLs Google has indexed for your site. Sometimes duplicates will be immediately apparent. Go to the last page of results. If you are told that many pages are in the “supplementary index”, this could be a sign of duplicate content, of Google doing its best to sort out the canonicals from the useless duplicates for you.

You need to identify what’s causing these extra pages. You may not be able to fix it yourself, and you might benefit from the help of a professional search engine optimizer, but being able to identify the problem is a good start.

Crawlability & Indexability

Duplicate content problems were when search engines found multiple versions of the same page. What about if Google has trouble navigating or reading your pages at all?

A few things can get in the way. If your site is built using iframes, there’s a good chance search engines aren’t indexing it properly. If navigating around your site does not create different URLs in you address bar for each page, your site may be using iframes. Check the page’s source code (right-click and select “view source”) and see if you can see the word “frame”. A website made in Flash is likely to have this kind of problem, too.

If in browsing around your site you see extremely long and complicated URLs, this can potentially get in the way of your site being crawled. You might need to get them rewritten, and potentially need a new CMS.

When you do a site:yoursite.com search, is approximately the right number of pages indexed? Too many can mean duplication issues, too few can mean crawlability issues.

Getting Help

Brand new sites will always have a tough time ranking, but if you seem to be getting nowhere despite being online for a while and with a reasonably well-known site or brand, you may want to enlist the help of a professional SEO to have a look at your site. They are trained precisely to deal with these kinds of site aspects, and can help promote your site online and boost your search engine traffic.

Get in touch if you are looking for recommendations of reputable SEO companies to work with.