Since Google Analytics does not offer realtime statistics (it was actually offline this morning when I tried to add a new website to my account) it makes sense to have alternatives.

One such alternative is Firestats

I mention some of its features on my main blog.

In order to integrate it with a PhpLinkDirectory install you need to know a small bit about the Smarty Templating engine which the script uses.

First of all you need to install a standalone copy of Firestats. If you’ve managed to install PhpLinkDirectory, then this should not be an issue, however full instructions are available on their site.

Once you are up and running you simply need to include a call to firestats on all your pages. The default code is a standard php include eg.:
< ?php include('/home/www/www.yourdomain.com/web/firestats/php/firestats-hit.php')?>

which needs to be added to all pages within the head tag.

To do this open header.tpl, which you’ll find in your templates directory.
At the very top of the file you should see:
< !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">



Immediately after that add the following line (edited to fit your site):
{php}include('/home/www/www.yourdomain.com/web/firestats/php/firestats-hit.php');{/php}


If you browse your site and then refresh your Firestats you should start to see hits and information.

Enjoy!

The full source code is available for you to peruse and, if you are up to it, improve on.

One of the system’s weaknesses is that you have very little control over page titles “out of the box” ie. you cannot specify the order in which elements appear (some other systems do allow you easy access to this).

By default the page title tags appear as:

Site Name - Sub-Category Level 1 - Sub-Category Level 2

So if you had a site called say “Seo Directory” and a category “Google” you’d end up with:

Which isn’t too bad until you start adding more sub-categories:

The theme or topic of the subcategory should be given more prominence and the site title, which is a global, needs to be pushed to the end of the line.
As I like to be able to rejig the title order so that I get:

The way to do it involves editing two files:
main.tpl
header.tpl

In main.tpl find the following section of code:
{capture name="title"}
{if count($path) > 1} - {/if}
{foreach from=$path item=category name=path}
{if $smarty.foreach.path.iteration gt 2}
>
{/if}
{if not $smarty.foreach.path.first}
{$category.TITLE}
{/if}
{/foreach}
{/capture}

This needs to be replaced with:
{capture name="title"}
{section loop=$path name=foo step=-1}
{$path[foo].TITLE}
{if !$smarty.section.foo.last}
>
{/if}
{/section}
{/capture}

You then need to make one minor change to header.tpl:

Replace that with:

Taken from the PhpLinkDirectory forum

A few months ago I did a bit of not too scientific analysis of browsers etc., that were being used to access a number of sites that I manage. The results reinforced my suspicions.

But what about the search engines?

What are people actually looking for?

Is there a significant difference between a Google user and a Yahoo! user?

The 2006 Search Wrap-Up would seem to suggest that there are some significant differences.

Google users tend to be more technical it seems, while Yahoo! users are into popular culture if the top search terms of 2006 are anything to go by.

From an SEO perspective I guess that means that you still can’t ignore Yahoo! et al

Like so many of these betas it’s not a particularly well kept secret

Thanks for stumbling upon Ask X, our double-secret sandbox for testing Ask experiences of the future.

In today’s version of Ask X, you’re not just getting back a list of links, but a slick, new three-panel interface (much like the new AskCity), combining great time-saving features like:

* Left: A search control panel that stays with you, complete with Zoom Related Search and Search Suggestions that update as you type.

* Middle: Results front and center to provide clutter-free information without having to scroll down the page, and Binoculars to preview results.

* Right: A preview of other types of search results, including video, news, images, blogs, shopping, encyclopedia and more.

It’s not that different to some of the other interfaces its competitors have been playing with, but it’s still quite nice

If you are using Vbulletin to run your forum(s) there are a number of options open to you.

If you have a look on the Vbulletin hacks and mods site you can come across a number of modifications that combine mod_rewrite and a few other tricks to make your site that little bit more search engine friendly. However there are always ways that you could improve on this, but do you really have the time and the skill to do it?

VBSeo is by far the best solution that I’ve found for this.

Not only does it convert all the ugly URLs into more keyword rich static links, but it also offers a wide range of custom options to help remove duplicate links and give search engine spiders rich and unique content to spider.

It may seem like a hefty investment, but it can definitely pay dividends both in terms of traffic and earnings, be they from Adsense or other sources.

The listing criteria are very simple - the site must be Irish or cater specifically for Irish consumers to be listed. Only sites that sell online will be considered.

Unlike some other directories, armchair.ie offers static, PR passing links for webmasters.

If you could integrate that with adsense it would be really tasty

Roger, who runs Blogsome, BrowseIreland along with several other successful online ventures, is currently working on a search engine to cater to the Irish market. While blogging about the development he cites a very “interesting” example of an Irish site that uses keyword spam.
What amuses me most is that the keywords / phrases that they are spamming with are completely irrelevant!