UpBuild

Values-Driven Technical Marketing

Will Hattman

Why You Should Never Blanket-Redirect All Your Invalid URLs

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Here’s a conversation I’ve found myself having too many times with clients over the years not to feel like it would be worthwhile to make my sentiments public. So here goes: it’s well-intentioned but short-sighted to configure your server to redirect all invalid URL requests to the homepage.

At first blush, the idea seems like it would offer a clear enough user experience benefit to be worth considering. Instead of the cold-water shock of a 404 page — which, however gentle, is still at its core a message that the user has done something wrong — you’re offering the front door of the site, from which the user would theoretically have the easiest time finding the page he or she was originally looking for (or any other). But the signal of the 404 error page is sent in two ways: in the form of the error message and available options presented to the user, and in the form of the 404 response code presented to the server making the request. There’s a reason why that code exists.

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How to Combine Multiple Schema.org Itemtype Declarations in a Single Script

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Because “educator” is among the many hats that someone in our line of work must wear on any given day, I really cherish those moments of role-reversal when I find one of my clients educating me. It brings a welcome balance to the relationship and a dose of the kind of humility that all anointed “experts” should take from time to time. In a neighboring spirit, I also enjoy those moments when I discover some novel feature or quirk of one of the tools I commonly use that empowers me with a new perspective on the tool and makes me a more capable user.

In January, on one of UpBuild’s first days back following the holidays, I had a doozy of a day that gave me both of these experiences in quick succession. First, a client taught me something about SEO that I didn’t know. Then, in seeking to apply the new wisdom with the pertinent toolkit, I immediately encountered a problem that I’d never seen before. Then, a small amount of research online led me to a solution to that problem, granting me a new and deeper understanding of the toolkit along the way. Any day full of learning like that is worth remembering. If what you learned should be shared, it’s worth blogging about too. So, in that spirit, welcome! [Read more…] about How to Combine Multiple Schema.org Itemtype Declarations in a Single Script

Filed Under: SEO

7 Reasons Why You Should Switch to HTTPS Right Now

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With the announcement of the Linux Foundation’s Let’s Encrypt project, the thought of migrating a website fully to the secure HTTPS protocol quickly, easily, and free of charge has passed from fantasy to reality. Accordingly, I’m sitting here scratching my head trying to dream up reasons why you still ought to hesitate to make this change on your site, or other considerations that you should mull over before pulling the trigger, and I’ve got bupkis. And now that our very own upbuild.io has taken the initiative, we’d be safe from charges of hypocrisy should we badger others to do likewise. So let the badgering begin!  [Read more…] about 7 Reasons Why You Should Switch to HTTPS Right Now

What I Learned at MozCon 2016

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Another year, another MozCon. You get a new theme and color scheme and Roger toy, you get a speaker list refreshed with new faces, and other trivial features of the Northwest premier marketing conference change as well — I’ll have you know the whole shebang moved across the street this year, and also I’m pretty sure it isn’t July right now — but the spirit of the thing endures beautifully and dependably, and that’s what keeps us all keep coming back. If you’re in this line of work, there’s simply no better conference on earth. You’re all but guaranteed to walk away thinking about 1) new big ideas that hadn’t occurred to you before it began, 2) new tactics that you can get cracking on immediately for the benefit of your clients, and 3) how much fun you had. How many other digital marketing events can offer up that trifecta?

Another traditional part of the MozCon experience for me, in each of the years I’ve been fortunate enough to attend, has been to blog about the presentations after the fact, and it’s a tradition that I don’t intend to break now. So come with me on a voyage back in time (one week) and have a look through my eyes at MozCon 2016 in all its glory. Here’s what I learned. [Read more…] about What I Learned at MozCon 2016