Couple of SEO questions.

[John Dirks Jr]

1. Are file names important for optimization? I mean the actual names of the pictures. I know alt text for mouse over is seen by the spiders but what about the actual file names of the pictures? Would strategically naming the picture files help anything?

2. With regard to back links, link sharing, reciprocal links, whatever you want to call them. If your link is on someones page and their page does not get crawled by the spider, would that explain why stats do not report the presence of your link there?

I can go to pages where I know my links are, click on them and verify that they work. However, my stats do not report them as back links and therefore I don't get credit towards SEO.

I just trying to figure out why some of the external links show up on my stats and others do not.

[inspector57]

Even though your question is over my head (much less the answer) I eagerly await any input on this.

[dcmeagle]

If the links page on the persons site is not linked to from some other page (which I see from time to time), then the spiders will never see it and it will never help you.

File names are definitely important. Google can read full PDF documents and the file names help with optimization.

There shouldn't be a reason your stat program doesn't pick up a referral from another site. Even if the person has a "nofollow" tag on it (which tells the search engines not to count it as a link, sites like Wikipedia do this), your site should still pick up the referral. It's possible if it's a javascript or a flash link your stats program is having a hard time picking it up. Give me an example and I'll check it out.

[John Dirks Jr]

Thanks Dom.

Now for another question. Do you do websites for contractors other than inspectors? I know of a small asphalt paving company who I am trying to convince that they need to make a presence on the web. If I can, and you do that kind, I'll be glad to refer them to you.

[dcmeagle]

Hi John,

We have quite a few plumbers and other contractors using our system. I even had a company that makes water fountains out of steel setup a site a couple of weeks ago. All they need to do is change the images at the top or bottom of the theme to suit their own needs. I can help them if they need help with that.

Dominic