This will guide you through adding Google Analytics to your website.

Please remember you'll need to publish your website online and visit your site before you'll see any tracked visitors in the Google Analytics Dashboard.

Adding Google Analytics to your RapidWeaver Project

Log into Google and go to the Stream details for your website property. You'll want to copy the code under Tagging Instructions > Add a new on-page tag.

Once you have copied the code, you'll need to add it to the header area on your website. To do this go to Settings > Code > Head and paste it in. See below for an example of how this should look.

How to update/change your license key in RapidWeaver Classic

Step 1 - Deactivate Your Old License

First you will need to deactivate your old license. You can do that by:

• Select RapidWeaver Classic » Registration

• Click on the “Activations” button

• Click on the “Deactivate” button next to each device you’d like to activate your new license on.

Step 2 - Activate Your New License

Next you will activate your new license. You can do that by:

• Click on the “Activate License…” button, then enter your new license details, and finally click on the “Activate” button.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully updated your license in RapidWeaver Classic. You will see your new expiration date listed in the registration window. This will be 1 year from the date you purchased the new license.

Upgrade License Video Walkthrough

Below is a video to help guide you through the process.

If you have any questions or encounter any troubles feel free to drop us an email at support@realmacsoftware.com.

All .rw8 projects will open and work the same in RapidWeaver Classic as they did in RapidWeaver 8. RapidWeaver Classic also shares the same addons folder.

ALL RapidWeaver 8 projects are 100% compatible with RapidWeaver Classic.

When you open an existing RapidWeaver 8 project it will be upgraded to a RapidWeaver Classic project and saved as a copy with the extension .rwc — your original project will not be modified.

Once you've upgraded a project you should remember to always edit and work on the newer ones with the .rwc file extension.

Plugin Compatibility with RapidWeaver Classic

All plugins are compatible with RapidWeaver Classic.

Running Multiple Versions of RapidWeaver

As each version of RapidWeaver is a standalone app, it can easily be installed side-by-side, and can even share the same addons folder. RapidWeaver 8, RapidWeaver Classic, and the forthcoming RapidWeaver Elements can all be installed alongside each other without issue.

Upgrading from RapidWeaver 8 or earlier

This section details how to upgrade your project from earlier versions of RapidWeaver to the latest. You can download older versions of RapidWeaver, along with license numbers in the RapidWeaver FAQ.

RapidWeaver Classic (.rwc)

RapidWeaver Classic Project files use the .rwc file extension.

RapidWeaver 8 (.rw8)

RapidWeaver 8 Project files use the .rw8 file extension.

RapidWeaver 7 (.rw)

Make sure you're running RapidWeaver 7.5.5 (the latest version) - all files must be saved in this version before attempting to upgrade further. If you're using a custom add-on folder location, simply go to RapidWeaver > Preferences > Addons and choose your dedicated add-ons folder.

• Make a copy of your RapidWeaver 7 project file (backup)

• Right-click on your project file and select Open With > RapidWeaver 8

• Your project file will be upgraded to the RapidWeaver 8 format

• Add-ons: You can copy over RapidWeaver 7 add-ons to RapidWeaver 8 by going to RapidWeaver > Copy Addons from RapidWeaver 7

RapidWeaver 6 (.rw6)

Make sure you're running RapidWeaver 6.4 (the latest version) - all files must be saved in this version before attempting to upgrade.

• Make a copy of your RapidWeaver 6 project file (backup)

• Right-click on your project file and select Open With > RapidWeaver 8

• Your project file will be upgraded to the RapidWeaver 8 format

• Refer to our guide on manually copying add-ons over from RapidWeaver 6 to 8

RapidWeaver 5 (.rwsw)

Make sure you're running RapidWeaver 5.4.1 (the latest version) - all files must be saved in this version before attempting to upgrade.

• Make a copy of your RapidWeaver 5 project file (backup)

• Right-click on your project file and select Open With > RapidWeaver 6

• Your project file will be upgraded to the RapidWeaver 6 format

RapidWeaver 4 and earlier

While this technically could be achieved, we'd recommend starting afresh in a modern version of RapidWeaver to take advantage of the 10+ years of enhancements. Take it as an excuse to revamp your site!

To embed a video from Vimeo you'll need to find and copy the HTML code to embed it. Don't worry, this sounds more complicated than it actually is.

Here's how to do it…

Find the video on Vimeo you'd like to embed, and click the "Share" button located just below the video.

Expand the "Show Options" link.

Next, select the options available to customize the video player that will be displayed on your website.

Then, highlight the code located in the "Embed" box and copy it.

After that, head on over to RapidWeaver and in edit mode paste the embed code into your page. Below is an example showing the embed code pasted into a Styled Text page.

You should now be able to preview your embedded Vimeo video in preview mode. If all looks well you are ready to publish.

To embed a video from YouTube you'll need to find and copy the HTML code to embed it. Don't worry, this sounds more complicated than it actually is.

Here's how to do it…

Find the video you want to embed on YouTube, and press the "Share" button located just below the video.

Press the "Embed" button in the pop-up window that appears.

Next, highlight and copy the HTML code on the right of the window.

Paste the copied HTML code into RapidWeaver while in Edit mode. In this example, we paste it into a Styled Text page.

Here's how the page and video appear when previewing the page inside RapidWeaver.

RapidWeaver Classic doesn't have online editing capabilities built in. However, there are plenty of plugins and stacks that allow you to build a blog or site with online editing capabilities.

Here are a complete list of CMSs compatible with RapidWeaver.

• from (Blog focused)

• / from

• from

• from ( is open-source)

Creating a Project File Zip File

Step 1 - Locate your RapidWeaver project file

This is the project you open, edit, and save when working on your website in RapidWeaver. In the below example we are storing our project files in the Documents folder which can be located in Mac’s Finder.

Step 2 - Select the project file

Select the project file you would like to share for troubleshooting assistance.

Step 3 - Compress the project file

Compress the project file by Ctrl-Click, right-click if you have a two-button mouse, or two-finger click if you are using a trackpad, then selecting Compress "filename" (the filename will be the name of your project file).

Step 4 - Drag compressed file to your Desktop

Drag the newly created zip file to your Desktop (if it’s not there already) so it’s easy to find. You’ll need it again at the end or this guide when you are ready to share the files.

Exporting Your Add-ons Folder

Now we’ll make a zip file for your Add-ons. RapidWeaver can do this automatically, so it’s a lot easier. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1 - Open up RapidWeaver

Step 2 - Open the Settings menu

Click on RapidWeaver Classic >> Settings. Alternatively if you already have a project open in RapidWeaver, you can select the Addons button located along the top toopbar menu.

Next select the Addons tab in the preferences pop-up window.

Step 3 - Export Addons Directory

Click the Export Addons Directory button. This will prompt you to save the exported zip file. Save it to your Desktop so it will be easy to find.

Sharing Your Files

If your newly created zip files are too large to send via email, you can share them via iCloud Drive. If you are using a different file sharing service such as Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer, etc., follow their instructions for sharing files.

If you will be using iCloud Drive to share the files, please follow Apple’s Official Support Documentation. Make sure to select your macOS version from the top of their support document for accurate sharing instructions.

Below are the steps if you are using macOS Sequoia.

Step 1 - Drag your files to iCloud Drive

Drag the two zip files you created in the above steps from your Desktop to your iCloud Drive folder. In the below example we created a folder in our iCloud Drive folder called “share-with-realmac-software” and moved our zip files there.

Step 2 - Select the correct share settings

Ctrl-Click, right-click if you have a two-button mouse, or two-finger click if you are using a trackpad on the first file you’d like to share (in this example we will select the demo-project.zip file).

A Share File sheet contextual window will pop up. In this sheet, select the following:

1. Collaborate from the drop-down menu.

2. Click the arrow-down icon to view the share options. Select “Anyone with the link” from the “Who can access” drop-down menu. Select “View only” from the “Permissions” drop-down menu.

3. Select Invite with Link.

A share link will be generated and automatically copied to your Mac’s clipboard.

Step 3 - Paste the share link

Paste the share link that was copied to your clipboard in an email message to us.

Repeat step 2 for your My Addons.zip file, and paste that share link in the same email to us. You should now have two share links pasted in an email message ready to send to us.

Step 4 - Send your files

Send the email to us at support@realmacsoftware.com.

Below is what both you and us should see when opening your share links in a browser window. If you don't see the option to "Download a Copy", your share settings were selected incorrectly. Go back to Step 2 and try again.

Excellent Work

Once we receive your files we will start the troubleshooting process as soon as possible. If you have any questions feel free to follow up in the support ticket that is auto-created when submitting your email to us.

To edit a .htaccess file, go to your publishing setup in RapidWeaver, and towards the bottom of the panel, you'll see a button named "Edit .htaccess File" — This will search for your .htaccess file on your web server and preset it in a window ready for editing.

From here you can make changes to your .htaccess file, along with adding a comment for the change you are about to make.

You can roll back to a previous .htaccess file by using the Versions" drop-down menu in the editor window.

Redirect Examples

Here's an example of redirecting a page. The following code will redirect users trying to access the "/original-page/" to the "/new-page/".

If we added the above code to the Realmac Software .htaccess file it would redirect users from this page: https://www.realmacvsoftware.com/original-page/ to this page: https://www.realmacvsoftware.com/new-page/

Redirect with Match

The following example will redirect all subpage URLs from the "/helpdesk/" folder to /support.

What's a 301 redirect?

A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect to the redirected page. 301 refers to the HTTP status code for this type of redirect. In most instances, the 301 redirect is the best method for implementing redirects on a website.

One of the quickest ways to start an online store is to use a service called with RapidWeaver.

You can download the for RapidWeaver and sign-up for a to get started.

👉 We have a collection of videos showing you how to get up and running with Ecwid in the .

works well with and was chosen to create the website! They have released a manual for Rapidweaver 8 (RW8), which can be downloaded from the manuals section. 👉 Here's a video from showing how to create a members area using Sitelok-generated snippets in Rapidweaver.

Knowing who visits your site can be incredibly useful. Now that we’ve published your site, let’s look at ways of measuring how the site is performing. Initially we’re looking to make sure visitors are coming to your site (and how they’re discovering it). To do this, we’re going to add some simple code snippets to your RapidWeaver project that allows you to view visitor statistics via either Google’s free Analytics service, or a free GoSquared analytics account that’s included with every copy of RapidWeaver.

If you’ve never used Google Analytics before, this explains the basics. At the end of the Google Analytics registration process, you’ll be asked to add a site to your account. After entering your website address, Google will present you with the code that you need to carefully copy, and enter into RapidWeaver.  You should place the code that Google provides into the Code item in the sidebar, under the Head sub-tab.

Google Webmaster Tools

While Google Analytics provides you with details of how people are using your website, is a free service that allows you to see any potential issues for search engines that visit your site. The service highlights potential issues with broken links, missing sitemaps, and dozens of other items that may impede your appearance in search engine results.

Making your site SEO ready

Search Engines use a wide variety amount of different “signals” to judge the quality of a page - everything from the speed that a page loads, to the quality of the links to the page and the number of times any given phrase appear on each page. Unlike the early days of search engines, where pages could easily “game” their way to the top of a results page with keyword density, almost every aspect of your site can be used to rank it. Google produces a great to teach the basics - and there’s also a number of tools that you can use to inspect how your site performs once online. We’ll show you some of these in the next chapter, but first let’s make sure we cover the fundamentals that you site should include before we publish it!

The importance of responsive websites

If you’re using a responsive theme, this means you need to do absolutely nothing! All themes in RapidWeaver are fully responsive, which, in combination with any of the built-in plugins or version 4 of the Stacks plugin, allow you to build a fully-responsive site that works beautifully for mobile devices and desktop computers!

Optimise your Site

Over the years, we’ve learned a few tips about how to make your website sing when a search engine visits it. Here’s some top tips for preparing your website - we recommend you run through this checklist before you publish your site for the world to see! This checklist also forms the basis of RapidWeaver's Health Check feature - to get started, click the Health Check toolbar item and run a check!

• Make sure you’ve added descriptive browser titles in the RapidWeaver Page Inspector. Don’t be overly-verbose, or potentially spammy. Google and other search engines penalise sites that use “keyword stuffing” (the practice of cramming in lots of keywords you’re wanting to appear under).

• Use concise but descriptive filenames for web pages. For example,the Realmac Software About page uses as its web address. Keep website addresses short - some users will attempt to guess the address of pages, and http:// rapidweaver isn’t that guessable.

• Test your web site on a few different devices to gauge how the page displays, and how quickly it loads. If your site is responsive, don’t fret about making your site layout pixel- perfect at any given screen size. The whole point of responsive design is to allow the content to dynamically reflow: as long as there’s no quirks or overlapping content, you’re good to go.

• Make sure you’ve added concise description meta tags in the RapidWeaver Page Inspector for every page. While “description” metatags are no longer used by Google to determine your page’s ranking, they are used to generate the short snippets on Google’s results page. e.g. “Learn more about RapidWeaver, the award-wining website creation app for Mac”.

• Add “Alternate” descriptions to images in the Media Editor. Double-click on every image in your site, and in the popover ensure that the Alt Tag is something meaningful and human-readable. The Alt tag is shown when an image isn’t downloaded, and helps visitors who may not display images (e.g. visitors with a visual impairment may be using a screen reader to read pages aloud, or users using on a mobile connection while abroad may choose to disable images to avoid expensive roaming charges). Don’t try and over- load this with extra information, simply describe the content the user would otherwise see, and avoid generics such as “Logo” or “Button”. If you’re using photos, you may want to describe the content of the image: “Brighton Pier at Sunset”.

• Use the built in Search Engine Sitemap feature. RapidWeaver automatically adds your pages to a special, machine-readable, XML file that is automatically submitted to Google and other search engines on your behalf. If you want to hide a page from this sitemap, you’ll need to uncheck the Show in Navigation option in the Page Inspector.

As with all SEO tips, be aware that these are merely a set of suggestions, and not all- encompassing ways to appear on your chosen results page. Google uses a huge number of different “signals” to rate your page, and ensuring there’s great content to make it worth while for visitors should be your primary focus before embarking on any optimisations specifically for search engines! Remember also that changes made to your website will not instantly impact your appearance in search results, and it could be a month or more before substantial changes have any effect.

RapidWeaver SEO Tips

Good examples:

Use Page Titles to Describe Your Content

The page title is really important. Google tries to match the words in your title to the content the user sees. The two most important things to think about when writing page titles are: Use as many of the keywords you want to be found for as possible, without being spammy.

Describe the Page Content

Whilst most people think putting their company name at the beginning of the title is important, if you want the best results then your most important keywords should be at the beginning. Google cares more about the content than your company name. The page title should be between 50-60 characters, as this is the amount that will typically be displayed on Google. Going over 60 characters won’t harm you, but anything after roughly the 55 character mark won’t be displayed, or help your SEO score. Plus it looks neater, and more professional, if your entire title is displayed in search results.

Bad Examples:

• BCS - Brewing (Really bad)

• Ben’s Coffee - Location (Bad)

Coffee Brewing. Brewing Coffee at Ben’s Coffee Brewing Coffee Shop (Spammy, don’t do this) The first two examples are bad because they are short, don’t describe the page content, and don’t include many keywords. The third example is spammy, and will harm you in the long run. Google are getting better at filtering out sites that are attempting to game the system. So whilst you might see some short-term results, you’ll be feeling the wrath of Google once they realise what you’re up to. No-one wants to be banished to page ten for eternity.

Good examples:

• Learn how to brew amazing coffee at Ben’s Coffee Shop

• Drink the Best Coffee in Brighton at Ben’s Coffee Shop

These examples are good because they use keywords a coffee shop might want to be found for, describe the content on the page, and are roughly 55 characters long. These titles will give you the best long term results. Just make sure your content matches up with the title (we’ll talk about content more later). You can customise the title for each page on your RapidWeaver site by using the “Page Title” text box in the Page Inspector. Responsive Design At this point responsive design is pretty standard across all sites. If you’re maintaining a site that isn’t responsive, you need take the leap and make it responsive. Why? Because, for a while now, Google have been giving sites that are responsive, or “Mobile friendly” as they label them in search results, more points on searches made from a mobile device. The reason for this is because Google wants to ensure the sites they send you to are easy to use, on the device you’re using. If you keep getting sent to sites that are hard to use, you’ll find the “Google experience” annoying and might start using a competitor (Hello Bing). All RapidWeaver themes released in the last few years are responsive, so it’s easy to create a responsive, mobile friendly site. And with RapidWeaver’s built in “Responsive Preview” you can easily see how your site will look on desktop, tablet, and mobile. So just pick a theme, make sure your content layout is good on a variety of screen sizes, and you’re good to go!

Make it Fast

Make it Secure

You’ll want to get HTTPS setup on your server. This sounds scary, and it used to be, but these days we have sites like CloudFlare that will take care of it for you. Why do you need HTTPS? Again, mostly because Google is giving more points to sites that are secure (there are other reasons why secure sites are important, but it’s beyond the scope of this post). HTTPS is not something RapidWeaver can setup for you, it’s something that is handled by your server. You could go through the hassle of purchasing and installing a certificate, or if you’re just starting out I suggest you signup for a free CloudFlare account and setup HTTPS with them. Once you have your site setup with CloudFlare, it is literally two clicks and your site can be served over HTTPS.

Content is King

It’s true what those SEO experts say, “Content is King”. If you only do one thing, concentrate on adding quality, relevant content to your site. And do it on a regular basis, don’t allow your site to become stale. The best way to do this is to create a blog, and make a commitment to post regularly. You don’t need to go crazy and post updates five times a day — you’re not trying to replicate your twitter feed. Start slow, say one or two posts a month, and cover a topic that’s relevant to your business. Cover the topic in-depth, as doing so will show your visitors (and Google!) that you know what you’re talking about and that you’re a good source of information. Think about, and plan, what you’re going to write in each post. SEO experts will probably bang on about “keyword research”, giving you a long list of must-have tools that help you research and choose which keywords to use. Don’t worry about all that, there’s an easy way to get started... Start typing a couple of words in to Google, and see what it suggests. Those suggestions are the keywords you’ll want to focus on. For example, my imaginary coffee blog will likely cover how to brew coffee. If you start Googling for “coffee brew” you’ll get the following suggestions:

• coffee brewers

• coffee brewing

• coffee brewing methods

• coffee brewing ratio

Those are the most popular phrases people are searching for. Use those phrases as your keywords, and start writing posts that contain them both in the title and the body (you should also tag your posts). This is the basics of how you target the keywords you want to be found for. The main thing to keep in mind is, and I can’t stress this enough; Write good quality content that’s relevant to your business. Write something you’d want to read. Write it on a regular basis. I keep saying “good quality”, and I mean that in every sense of the word. Don’t be sloppy! Make sure there are no spelling mistakes and don’t use jargon or acronyms. Your content should sound professional and be easy to read. If you put this in to practice you’ll start to find people link to your articles, perhaps via their own blog or on social media. This is known as “link building”, which I’ll cover in another post, but in short: Link Building is increasing the number of inbound links to your site. You need to do this because it really helps your ranking score. SEO Roundup As I said at the start, implementing these tips won’t guarantee you a top spot on Google, but it’ll certainly give you an excellent foundation to build from. You won’t get to the top of Google (or even page one) over night, be patient and stick at it.