Top 5 White Hat and Black Hat SEO Optimization Techniques

Posted on July 14, 2017December 5, 2023 by Krunal Vyas

Optimization is essential for obvious reasons – the search engines will ignore your website otherwise. Now, the way one optimizes is subject to debate so much so that the unethical practices become the Black Hat optimization and those that are accepted are the White Hat techniques. You can see how everyone is doing it and so they will all get the same ranking. What you need to do is to use a Black Hat technique in a way that does not offend the search engines.

Sandwiched link on site

This is straightforward and qualifies under white hat techniques because it does not lead you directly to a low content site or mislead the reader. The idea is to create links to your site and place them in between high-quality links. For instance, you use a first high-quality link to a high-authoritative site such as New York Times. Then, after the required number of words, you place the link to your main site. This is the site that sells sports equipment. After you fill in the needed number of words, you again link to a high-authoritative site such as Wikipedia. Now, this might fool Google search engine into thinking all the links have the same value and if it works, your page rank surges upward.

Information and contact scraping

Undoubtedly, scraping qualifies under Black Hat means of optimization. This means you use unfair means to obtain information. However, you stop short of spamming the website you take the content from and merely use scraping to increase the connections and thus build a wide network that could prove useful to many people. How does this work? Scraping is spinning content you lift off other websites, digging out webmaster information, sending automated messages for links, and so on. Once you scrape the website of all the domains, you can use software such as Growbots. Growbots is automated software that helps you connect to the people shown in the domain links.

Create internal links for your web pages

This is easy to do. If you have 5 pages on your website, create links on each of the pages and link them to other places on other pages. Use the right phrases to create the link so they enhance the value of the links. These links must provide value to the end user and you can do this by listing out the advantages of the product you sell and then distribute it all over your site as little links.

Check the links used for images

The images you use on the site could improve your ranking. This is brought out by the fact that Google uses a separate tab for images. Optimize the images by using good descriptions and words that match the content to use as links for the image. Keep the priority in the right order with the content and you will get a boost in the search engine rankings. You could omit some information and show them as images. This will make the reader look at them and thus increase value of the images.

Optimize title tags

This is so obvious but where do we stop? I mean, after you have got the top spot on Google, you will have someone come up from number two spot and push you from the number one spot. You can resort to a little partisan behavior here. Check up the list of websites and find out their selling point – how they came up on the number one page. Then, include these points in your website in some form. Keep up with the others who follow you and your website will retain the top spot.

You cannot go wrong if you put in the effort. As for Black Hat strategy, you have it under your White Hat.

Avoid Black Hat Tactics

Black Hat tactics traditionally involve methods of tricking the search engines and utilizing tactics that are purely based around exploiting certain characteristics of the Google Algorithm. All Black Hat tactics will damage your site and reputation.

Black Hat tactics include:

Purchased and/or irrelevant links
Duplicate content
Keyword stuffing
Link farms
Hidden, unrelated text

These tactics, while they can generate short-term success, can lead to your website being blacklisted by Google or other search engines. Once search engines catch on to tactics that violate their terms of service, a website utilizing these tactics could disappear from search results. This is why it is so vital to do SEO correctly. According to Google, “Not even the most experienced SEO can guarantee a certain rank for your site.” If someone says they can- RUN. They are bad news.

Conclusion

To the untrained eye, identifying if your site is potentially at risk from black hat techniques can be difficult, that’s why at iQlance we offer white hat SEO Techniques, So that your ranking up in SERP.

iOS 11 Release: Know the best features of Apple’s new OS

Posted on July 5, 2017December 4, 2023 by Krunal Vyas

Much awaited, the iOS 11 release has brought with it the lengthy list of design changes. On the subtler note, there is the touch of stronger accent in the darker lines and bolder fonts. The thin lines of that characterized the Apple fonts since iOS 7 have given way to the bolder ones.

Thicker lines and fonts

A few of the app have remained unchanged such as the Calendar and Reminders. The Phone and Calculator have added round buttons and thicker lines and fonts. We see some smaller tweaks in many other apps such as the Apple News, Podcasts, and Messages. The most significant changes we see in the UI elements in the Control Center.

In the older version, the iOS 10, you could split the Control Center into smaller windows by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. In the new iOS 11 the window has become consolidated into one unit. The icons are fashioned like bubbles. It has two top sections – one for Apple Music control including volume controls and brightness controls and the second for basic networking. Below these you have the array of smaller icons for various functions such as Do not disturb while driving, Timer, Flashlight, Camera, Alarm, and so on. So, when you bring up the control centre it takes up the entire screen.

. On the right side of the display, you see the Control Center.

New Notification Center

In the new iOS 11, the Notification Center and the Lock Customise Control Center

You can customize all the functions that appear on the Control Center. You can access a wider range of functions because it is visible on the screen. To do this, choose the Setting button and then make a selection of the apps you want to be able to access through the Control Center. This would include these:

Flashlight
Timer
Calculator
Camera
Accessibility Shortcut
Alarm
Apple TV Remote
Do Not Disturb While Driving
Guided Access
Home
Low Power Mode
Magnifier
Notes
Screen Recording
Stopwatch
Text Size
Voice Memos
Wallet

So, while you can add just about everything, the wise thing would be to add just what you use the most. Along with the customization options, you now have an added 3D option. The 3D touch brings up a larger window which is useful when you want to play songs. These are slightly more complicated than operating a mere on/off toggle button. On the iPad, the Control Center displays differently.

Improvements to Siri

Like always, Siri improves with new edition. The male and female voices on Siri has been revamped and made more realistic. Apple says it is trying to give Siri a more expressive voice that emphasises the right pronunciation. Th eon-device learning is to know about the personal preferences you have and to adapt them to the iOS usage no matter which device you use. Siri is getting smarter due to the cross-device Siri syncing. The emphasis is on privacy all the time with Apple.

One of the things you can do with Siri now is to ask Siri to suggest a topic to hear the Apple news. Similarly, while typing Siri will suggest ideas and phrases from topics you recently viewed. You can get Siri suggestions on Safari based on what you have been searching or reading so far.

Importance of Test Cases while Testing your Mobile App

Posted on July 4, 2017December 4, 2023 by Krunal Vyas

Testing the Mobile App is of prime importance. You need to be sure that the app will deliver when you put it out in the field. So, it needs to be functional. What else do you need in a mobile app Development?

Easy to use

You do not want to be intelligent to operate the app…even a child can operate it. That summarises the basic approach to the design and functionality far as the user is concerned. He does not want to keep punching buttons and get lost in a maze that no one understands.

Find the right slot

Each user has a specific concern and the app must be amendable for him or her. So, we incorporate smart working capabilities that checks the functions the user most often uses and provides shortcuts for them. Great!

Superior performance

Loading time of less than 3 seconds is the preferred value for an average mobile phone user. We have apps that have a standard page opening time of 1 second but the point is whether this is maintained throughout.

Tests and their key features

That covers the preferred features in the app. Now, we see what the important tests are. These include the tests that check the way the user finds the app easy or difficult to handle, the way it responds to commands, and the way it remains free of bugs. Here are the tests:

Load testing: This is done to check whether the app can handle all that you throw at it. Whether you keep increasing the number of users or adding more features the app must be able to keep functioning.
Visual tests: These tests will help detect bugs when the UI components are updated. If you do not do these tests, you will not know when the UI components break down.
Unit tests: This is the basic tests and on this rests the entire strategy of testing the app. You should initiate this process as soon as you begin to write the code. This will help you write a better code. This test helps you understand how the code works under different situations.

Use the Appium Studio tool

One of the tools for functional testing is the open source tool Appium Studio. This helps you to check without putting you out of pocket. You can establish it within a few minutes and then you can also enable remote testing of the mobile application. It allows you to run iOS applications with Windows machines which is useful. You get beta support for the tests you do. In addition, you need to do the performance testing to know how much of the device resource such as the CPU memory or battery power your mobile app needs. This will make sure that the app does not crash by setting different operating conditions and checking the performance. You can use device monitoring while running the mobile tests. Else, you can do them while manually testing the app.

Importance of testing

One can appreciate the need for testing. Though we have hundreds of apps for almost everything, the ones that are in use and not chucked out of the door are the ones that do not crash, have a simple interface, and do not drain the battery. By testing the app, we make sure that we do not have to keep on swiping on the mobile phone screen to get to the next page on the app.

So, app testing is as important as the sunshine and app testers are the apple trees from which one gets these apps. No, seriously, we need them and unless we are prepared to go through the motions, we might not have a Pokemon Go to play within our spare time.

Useful Tools to Measure Your Application Performance

Posted on June 30, 2017December 4, 2023 by Krunal Vyas

App and websites know that their initial offering is not going to work on all the websites and in all conditions. To know how good the Mobile App Development or website Development is, one must test them to find the bugs and check the performance issues.

Foremost among the testing methods it the load testing. This will do the tests to determine whether your application will withstand the load of the concurrent user, data volumes, and requests. This tells you about the viability of the application in real-time usage. While there are hundreds of load testing tools available, one must have at least one or two in hand to do the testing of the apps and websites before releasing them to the world.

Load testing is important

The first among the web testing tools is the load, stress, and performance test, which we discussed above. The second is the regression testing tool. This means you test those parts of the application that have not undergone testing. The test cases will be checked again whether the old functionality of the application has undergone change due to the introduction of new parts in the application. It may be that some new bugs have been introduced.

Verification of functionality

So, by doing the regression testing we verify that the previous version of the software are working fine and are not disturbed by the introduction of the new features. You also can check to see that all the previous bugs have been fixed. The functional testing is performed by testers when the new build is available. The tester will verify that the existing functionality is working as it should. You must consider regression testing as a part of the release cycle so that it is a part of the test estimation.

Regression testing is usually performed after the recent changes or the new functionalities have been verified. But this need not be the case. If the changes will take months to complete the regression tests are included as a part of the daily cycle. If the changes will be over within the week, then the testing will take place once the week is over.

Various things that you must test

The other important thing on the minds of the software testers is cross browser testing. The things you need to check will consist of the following things:

CSS Validation
Page Validation
HTML Validation
Check Ajax and JQuery functionality
Page content alignment
Check the header and footer sections
Images and their alignment
Page layout for different resolutions
Validation for the font size

Other than these, you must also check for things like page zoom-in and zoom-out functionality, date formats, and page styles. Then, testing takes place for special character with HTML encoding. The entire range of tests will have to be done for different Operating Systems such as the Windows, Mac, and Linux. You may also have to check for different versions of the browser.

You have several free of charge and paid cross browser testing tools in the market. You need to decide on the browser compatibility testing tool according to your obligations. And, if cross browser testing is vital to your job, you should spend time and put in the effort and budget test the website on different browsers. When your project has more browser dependent functions, it is better to opt for the paid version rather than choosing the free version that has lesser functionalities.

The list compiled above contains both free open source and certified tools for web testing. But, the accredited tools will have free trial versions that allow you to decide which one works well for you. Try them for a while before you decide on one.

Win More Users of Your Business Through iPhone Apps and Android Apps

Posted on March 16, 2017December 2, 2023 by Krunal Vyas

A recent study has shown that the worldwide mobile app revenue for 2015 and 2016 has been $69.7b and $88.3b respectively. The projected revenue for 2020 is said to be an astounding $188.9b. Seeing such figures makes one wonder, what makes the app industry such a high revenue yielding sector? And how do companies make money when most of the apps on the app store are free? Well, the answer to that question is not a secret.

Having an app is far easier than visiting a website or a physical store to get some product information. Let’s just take banking for example. Customers have realized that transferring of funds or checking your balance on the app is simpler and saves them a bank visit. Over the past few years, we have seen immense growth in mobile apps and developers. Companies want to ensure that they have their apps available to all their customers.

Drawing more traffic to your app:

Marketing your app is a crucial element for the apps performance in the market. It begins even before the app is fully functional and out on the store. Below is few of the key ways one can advertise the app before rolling out in the market to draw users towards the product.

Blogging: There is no surprise that blogging is a power tool to voice out your opinion regarding anything that is going on. So why not your app. Create a dedicated blog regarding the upcoming app. Keep readers posted with updates and changes you have been making. This will help customers to build expectations from the app and will let you know what you might need to work on.

Beta Version Testing: Considering releasing a beta version to the android / iOS developer forum to get inputs from other developers.

Video Demonstration: Once the app is up and running, it would be a good practice if you could give the users a demo tour of the app. Screen capture the different aspects of what the app can do so that the users are aware what the app is capable of and how it would help them.

Social Media: Ensure that you share you app updates on all your social media platforms to cover all the target users possible. Using a screenshot of the app interface, app logo and other aspects will help drawing more attention.

Alternate App Store: Alongside releasing the app the native play store / app store considering uploading it on alternative app store for example Amazon Appstore, 9 apps or Appslib

App monetization: There are a few common ways a developer or software developing company earns revenue of an app, which is available on the app store.

In-app purchases: In this method, the app is supposedly free to download on the app store. Customers would download the app without any cost; however they will not be able to use the complete feature of the app unless there is an in-app purchase made. For instance, let us talk about a racing game. The user has downloaded the game for free and has unlocked a new stage. But to win that race they will have to buy a featured car through the app to beat the rival. This method is most common in the apps on the app store. The disclaimer itself says that the app is free, but has “in app purchases”

In-app Ad model: As the name says, developers allow other websites to post some ads on their apps. This app could be a small banner at the bottom, which does not interfere with the app interface, while others are a full screen which can be skipped or canceled. There are two ways a developer or company can get paid in this method.

Customer Click: Every time the user clicks on the ad on the app, the developer or top mobile app development company gets paid. It could be a shopping website or an informative blog. It does not matter as long as the user clicks on the ad button and site is redirected to that particular website.

Merchant Pay: If the ad featured in the app is a shopping website, and the customer buys a particular product from that website, the merchant would pay the developer a certain percentage of the product purchased by the customer.

User Pay: This is probably the least way to earn revenue on your app. In this method, the posted app is not free and user needs to pay a certain amount to download this app. As you might have noticed there are very few apps that are paid because consumers do not want to pay just to download the app.

Subscription: This method is commonly used in music and video streaming apps like Netflix and Wynk respectively. Customers are able to download the app for free and would be given the full features of the app for a set timeframe (mostly 30 days). However, after a certain point of time they would require to purchase a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription. User opts for monthly subscription thinking about the low cost and thus the cycle continues.

Email Marketing: Every now we come across apps which need an account to be registered to use that particular app. At the same time, it also gives us an option to register using the user’s Facebook ID / Gmail ID. Since users usually have their Facebook or Gmail already registered on his phone, they do not need to go through the hassle of creating a new ID. Using this method, the developer is able to acquire the customer’s email ID which is crucial information. Depending on which ID is selected by the consumer Facebook or Google would pay the developer accordingly.

Cost per Install: Like it says, the developer is paid depending on the number of times the game is installed on a separate device.

Product Sales: If you are a retail seller of any kind you can have revenue coming in by having products displayed on the app for the customers. Rather than going to the physical store, customers would like to order the items they want to purchase directly from their phone.

Now, the next important remaining step is to carefully choose and hire best web development company having experience in building on demand apps.

Make sure before getting down to implementing your idea, consider analyzing competitors and their respective business model to build your app successfully to stand in the marketplace.

Consider this 10 Common App Rejection Reasons while going to live your app on App store

Posted on March 16, 2017December 2, 2023 by Krunal Vyas

As of January 2017, the Apple store has approximately 2.2 million apps in the market. Out of these 2.2 million, 26% of the apps are games. With the mobile technology growing drastically with every passing day, it is safe to assume that we would have an enormous growth in the app sector. With that being said, Apple certainly has some norms they follow to ensure that the apps released on their store are worth their shelf time. They would not want buggy and copied apps to flood over their store which would, in turn, hurt their reputation. Though there is no clear indication from Apple about what steps they take before authorizing a potential beta app to be published on the store, below are the top 10 reasons why Apple could reject an app before it goes live. read more about App Store Review Guidelines.

Not factoring the target audience: One of the top reasons why apps fail is due to the fact that the target audience is not considered when developing the app. The whole purpose of the app is to reach out to the required users in order for them to use it on a regular basis. However, many app developers overlook this crucial step during the early stage of the project. Focusing on the target consumer helps a developer understand what an average user expects from the app. Apple knows this and would want the app to relate to the consumer. Your app might be well made but if a layman cannot understand how the app works or what are the functionalities of the app; this would lead to the failure of the app.

Read also : Why iPhone Application is Better Platform for your Startup?

Inadequate market research: Another reason why apps fail to hit the shelf is because of incomplete or in-depth research. If you have thought of a brilliant idea for an app it is most likely that there would be somebody else who has had the same thought. Thorough research is required before even developing the app you intend to. This helps developers understand the number of competitors in the field you want to build your app on. Also, it will help you determine the shortcoming of the rival on the market giving you an opportunity to supersede them. Lack of market research prior the development can hamper the success of the app in a major way.

Buggy App: Nobody likes a buggy app. And Apple is no different. Having a bug free app is every developer’s dream. Such an app helps to build a reputation for the developer. Apple would not even consider apps that have bugs or crashes midway during the run time. As a good practice to thoroughly test the app for bugs and debug if any prior to submitting it for approval, you can see here many apps live in app store with bug free.

Incomplete App/Broken Links: The person who has set the Guinness record of the highest score on Pac-man said there was no end to the game. After a certain level binary codes and random computer language covers half of the screen. There are no credits, no background music or fade to black. You had nothing to do but go and die. The developers never expected anyone to reach that far in the game. The point here is that developers need to ensure that their app is robust and complete without any broken link. for best example like GPS Tracking app, The last thing Apple would want is the back-end code written in your favorite programming language shows on the phone screen.

Poor UI/UX: Apple has always strived on making their products stand out in the market. The design, form factor, and user interface of the phone is unlike any device in the market today. It is all the more true for an interface of the iOS. An iPhone user usually finds it extremely difficult to switch back to an android or any other platform because of the simplicity and elegance of the iOS. And that is exactly what Apple would expect from their developers. Apps with a poor user interface or user experience would be rejected by Apple straight away because this would eventually harm their reputation.

Backward Compatibility: iOS 10 is currently the latest OS for iPhone. However, an app developer must realize that there are about 20% of iPhone users who are still using iOS 9 and 8. The reason for this could be because the users have not upgraded their OS or their iPhone. Whatever may be the reason, a developer needs to develop the app which will work on across all the variations of the OS. Apple will want every user with an iPhone can run the app from the app store.

No Monetization Strategy: An important part of app development is the monetization strategy. How the app makes money can make or break the deal? Apple knows that users do not want to pay money just to download the app. This leaves developers to either place ads on the interface of the app or gets paid for the number of times the app gets downloaded. Either way, if Apple feels that hosting the app on the store would not be profitable, it would be rejected.

Memory/Battery Usage: Apps which constantly run in the background draining the battery and using the phone memory are a big no. Users eventually feel that it is the phone which is facing issues when in reality the app is using up the phone memory making it run extremely slow. Users must be able to exit and quit the app whenever they want. Once the app is closed, it should not wake automatically and end up using the phone resources.

Content: The content of your app plays a crucial role in getting the approval from Apple. If your app is redundant or there are already apps like yours running in the market, it would be very difficult for you to attract consumers. Considering the competitor app has been on the market for a while, users will not want to have two apps of the same category on the phone. And eventually, would decide to stick with the current app they have.

Misleading users: Apps should never be misleading. Go to the App store and read the reviews of the lowest rated apps and you would realize that most of the customers had a different understanding of the description about the app.

Once you successfully done your apps with fixing this factors, you can easily make animations on view objects. Though, if you’d like to get to more advanced level, or make your iPhone application with advanced animations, graphics you may hire iPhone app development company and make recommendations for the improvement in your idea.

Effective ways that should be Improve Your Ranking on Google Search

Posted on March 16, 2017April 26, 2023 by Krunal Vyas

Search Engine Optimization: If you are into creating websites or are interested in having one, you surely must have come across the term SEO. By definition SEO Solutions is optimizing your website content so that it achieves better search results in various search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. This might sound a little complicated, however, once you understand the main concept how a search result is displayed by a search engine and what are the potential factors involved, it gets relatively simpler. Today we will look at a few ways you can significantly improve your website’s search rankings by altering certain parameters.

Understanding how the search engine works:

Before we understand how SEO works, we would need to understand how the results in a search engine are displayed. When an internet user searches a particular word in Google, the search engine is required to search this word across the World Wide Web through different websites all over the world. The word used is called keyword.

The most relevant websites would be displayed on the first page of Google. Now, the ranking of the websites is based on sophisticated algorithms run by complex bots called “crawlers” which scan through the entire websites. However, below mentioned are the three common parameters a search engine would use to gauge the relevance of the keyword to the website.

The highest number of clicks: High numbers of clicks means that number of users have visited the page. The search engine would feel that this website would be most relevant to the keyword used by the user.

Keyword Relevance: If the crawlers scan and find the keyword used many times in your post they would communicate to the search engine that the site will be related to the search criteria and would display the website on the first page.

Time spent on the website: Google will determine time users spend on the website. More time spent on the website means that users are reading the content on the page. This makes the search engine decide that the website is more relevant and thus the website will have a higher ranking in the search result.

On-Page: On page SEO deals with the changes made on the website and in the contents itself. For instance, changing or adding a keyword to the title of the post to attract more traffic on your page. Some of the changes one can make within a short amount time which will help yield great results are the following:

Web page content: It is crucial that the website has relevant and high-quality content. Users should have a good experience once they visit your website. Especially while navigating through the different web pages.

Design: Keep your design minimalistic and one without a heavy amount of code. Ensure that your website is mobile and tablet friendly. To check this, load the website and adjust your browser size as it would be on a phone (portrait mode). If the layout smoothly snaps in place you are good to go. If not, try a different theme.

Upload time: Make sure your website loads within 1-2 seconds. On an average, a user will wait 5 seconds for a website to load. If the site is buggy or the web host has connectivity issues you would surely lose potential traffic. Google factors the loading time of a website while displaying the search results. Hence you should ensure that your website is quick to load.

Plugins: Plugins are a great way to optimize your website. Use a cache plugin to clear any unwanted cache. SEO plugin is a great way to edit your Meta title and Meta description and having the keyword used. Note that Meta title is a title that appears on the search result for a user after they search for the keyword. While Meta description helps to give a brief overview to the user what the website is about.

Optimize posts: Websites which have posts with around 1100-1200 words tend to do better. However, not all topics can have a description of 1200 words. In such cases, write good 2-3 long posts. This will not only help you rank better on the topics related to the long posts but on other topics as well.

Bullet Points: Keep your content concise and develop a habit of making bullet points. This will help your post grab the attention of the scrollers who do not read the entire posts.

Use images and videos: For a post of 1200 words, at least use 4-5 images. They help in getting the attention of users. Post a video at the beginning of the post. If a viewer watches a 10mins video on your web page, this will help your search ranking drastically.

The above-mentioned points do not directly affect your SEO ranking on Google. However will help you get more users and more traffic to your website, which plays an important role in optimizing your website to rank higher.

Keyword Optimization: Here are a few ways you can include the keyword in various different aspects of your website.

Meta title: As mentioned already, using the SEO plugin to edit your web page title which displays in the search results.
URL extensions: Google has a way to identify which web page is regarding what topic through the permalink in the website URL. Edit the URL and include the keyword.
Hyperlinks: Use links within your website to navigate through different posts. In this way, you link the keyword to another related post.
Image alternative text: Image text helps Google identifying what the image is about. Rename the embedded image to a related keyword.

Off page SEO: This basically deals with back links which are nothing but links which are directing users back to your website. The common strategies to obtain good back links are as follows.

Social Media: Use all platforms of social media to promote your website. Create a page on Facebook or group on Google+ linking back to your web page. This method helps especially if you have a new website and social media is a great way to divert traffic initially.
Q & A Forums: Browse through Q & A forums like Quora related to your topic and try answering some of the questions there. Ensure you link your website to the answers. The clicks you get through this method are not significant, but by constantly giving quality answers would help build a reputation in the community.
Comment on popular blog: Comment on at least two popular blogs who have more influence related to your topic.

Do you want a special service of SEO for your website?

The existing website needs to popup when user search with keywords used in your website. If SERP page shows negative output then it indicates the weak SEO of your website. If website domain depicts on the second page or other pages of google.com that noted you to keep maintenance of the website with good SEO provider that will optimize your website and gain rank on google.

The mentioned experience and recommended platforms are very worth for the business users to go with it. iQlance is a Calgary’s leading SEO Agency and have lots of projects had been done. The firm with best of developer’s team and outstanding designer’s team will prepare best marketing professionals for the small business website to reduce their work and make them free to more focus on their business expansion on Google.

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Tag: mobile app

Top 5 White Hat and Black Hat SEO Optimization Techniques

Sandwiched link on site

Information and contact scraping

Create internal links for your web pages