Webmaster Etiquette

[Scott Gilligan, CMI]

Ok...I've been doing some SEO work on my site and noticed a couple of members have been linking to some of the files on my website. This is just really bad manners to do without asking the website owner. Most webmasters pay for bandwidth on their sites. I have sent emails to the inspectors that I found linking to my files and hope to get this resolved within a day. My previous way of dealing with this is to just replace the file with something they really wouldn't want on their site and relink my file under a different name.

If you want to have a file on your site...Save it for yourself and host it on your own site. Don't steal other people's bandwidth by linking to their files!!!

If you want to find out if anyone is linking to your files do a search in different search engines. Graphics are the biggest culprit and google makes thiefs real easy to find. Type in site:www.yourdomain.com in the Google Images Search and see how many people are linking to graphics hosted on your site.

Thank you

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

Not that I have linked to your site, but isn't that one of the items that you DO want? More links to your site bring you a higher ranking with the search engines.

I would think that more links TO your site would do more for your ranking. I am sort of ignorant when it come to bandwidth but most of the basic hosting plans have 3-5 GB. That is a heck of a lot of visits and downloads regardless of the size of your files.

I also can't see why someone would want to send people to another site? Sort of defeats the purpose of having your own site.

I agree that if someone wanted to use or link to a file, it would be more than appropriate to ask first.

Good luck.

[Erby Crofutt]

Good info, but just don't have time to follow up on it.

Results 1 - 100 of about 4,050 for "B4UClose".

Results 1 - 100 of about 3,970 for "B4U Close".

(Note that this is after clicking the "repeat the search with the omitted results included")

[Scott Gilligan, CMI]

Yes and No Stephan...

You want to gain links that link to your website...something like...If you are seeking for a home inspection in Philadelphia you might want to call Accuracy Assured Home Inspections, LLC.

Those are the kind of links that search engines really look for as well as direct links like http://www.accuracyinspections.com .

When someone is pulling files such as a large graphics, search engine spiders don't really pick up those links and give you credit for them. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but if a couple of people do it, it can really start to add up.

Files like PDF's, Word Docs, Excel Spreadsheets, and Powerpoint Slideshows are different because they are all spiderable doccuments. When someone adds a link to one of these doccuments into their sites to one hosted on another site, the search engines follow that link and spider the document and see it as relevant enough that somene linked to it and then scores it as quality content. So...you want those kind of links to your site.

The way SERP's look at and grade your site is really complex. Basic jist of it all is...if the file can be read as text...you want people to link to it. If it is a a graphic file and has no way for spiders to see what it is because they can only read code and text...keep graphic links confined to your own site.

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Scott, you're very correct. To expand on what you are saying to hopefully help some people understand.

The InterNACHI logo on the top left corner of this page is stored at http://nachi.cachefly.net/images/2007/internachi.gif if I used

<img src="http://nachi.cachefly.net/images/2007/internachi.gif">

to insert that image onto a page on my site, then on my site you'd see the InterNACHI logo. But every time someone saw the image, it would actually be downloaded from the InterNACHI site and use their bandwidth. Now whether that matters or not is up to the host. It is considered bad 'web manners' as Scott mentioned to load up a graphic stored somewhere else without there permission. Now, I have a 2000 GB limit on my server and barely use 1/4 of that each month. Many inspectors use sites that only give them 1-2GB of data transfer a month. That's the difference between paying $20 a month for a site, or $400 a month for a dedicated server.

Everyone wants people to LINK to their site. Which is exactly what Scott gave an example of above. Even linking to documents counts towards you, but some people might not like that either. The rule of thumb is that it's always ok to link to a page on someone's site, but you should ask for permission before you actually use someones graphic or link directly to a document within your own site.

[Scott Gilligan, CMI]

Very good explaination Dominic!

[jmichalski]

Scott, it happens to all of us. I have recently found an Inachi member who has "borrowed" my original text from my website (text and grainy copied photo included) for his own. While mine started out as a template, I rewrote ALL the text myself and am still rewriting.

I was annoyed at first. Then I considered it a form of flattery. Now if he was in my market, I probably wouldn't have passed so easily from annoyed.

[Steve Blayney]

That would infringe on your own copyright material even if its not (TM) or (r). Any thing on your site is considered your property. It would be like me taking your brochure and making color copies of it with my name on it.

Those inspectors out there practicing business like this are just asking for trouble. I have an Industrial Design Background and I am very familiar with TM and R and there proper uses.

You may want to add a disclamor to you site.

The contents included herin are and remain the confidential property of "your company" where the contained photographs, drawings, diagrams and text are provided expressly and exclusively for my clients for the sole purpose of evaluating the potential servises and said confidential information may not be communicated or coppied without the express and explicit written consent of "your company". (c) All rights reserved.)

- or something like this.

Steve Blayney

[jtedesco1]

The contents included herein are, and remain the confidential property of "your company" where the contained photographs, drawings, diagrams and text are provided expressly and exclusively for my clients for the sole purpose of evaluating the potential services and said confidential information may not be communicated or copied without the express and explicit written consent of "your company". (c) All rights reserved.)

Looks good!

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

Are you curious on what content from your website is being used on someone else's website? I found this site that is free to use.......to a point, then there is the option to purchase their program. Not sure if it is for text only, or it includes images.

http://www.copyscape.com/

[jmichalski]

Stephen,

You can also paste the first line of text on your own site into any borwser and see if there are any matches. This is probably less effective than the software you linked, but it is how I found my copycats.