Getting in the Google Index
November 11, 2009
I read “Q and A: Why Doesn’t Google Index My Entire Site?. After two days of meetings at a company working to generate Web traffic, this question was apropos to me. I have concluded that if a Web site is not in Google, that Web site may be quite difficult to find. Microsoft and Yahoo offer Web indexes, and these companies make an effort to be competitive with Google. The operative word is “competitive”. Quite a few people rely on what Google displays and remain content to stick with a Google result set. Running the same query on multiple search engines may not be some searchers’ idea of fun.
What I found interesting about the article was the suggestions for getting a site in the Google index. Let me outline two of the suggestions and offer several observations.
- “Add all your pages to your XML sitemap and change all the priority tags from 1 “ The site map is important. Quite a few sites rely on an auto generated site map. Some auto generation programs are good; some, not so good.
- “Open a Google Webmaster Tools account and verify your site. You’ll be able to see exactly how many pages of your site Google has indexed and when Googlebot last visited. If Google is having trouble indexing the site, you’ll learn about it and be given advice for how to fix it.” Another good suggestion.
Several observations:
- Some Web sites are coded with errors. Errors, even small ones in capitalization in style sheets, can create some issues. Accurate coding should be a priority.
- Writing and content. Lots of text does not immediately translate to an improved position in a Google result list. Content, urls, and tags should be cut from the same semantic cloth. Getting words that generate a tidy semantic vector takes work and time. The effort can pay off.
- Backlinks. A change in the Google indexing method is approaching. There will be dislocations and some unexpected ranking alterations. One way to prepare for the shift is to have quality in bound links to your Web site. Backlink tricks can backfire. Quality backlinks are important.
Are you ready for the Google indexing tweak?
Stephen Arnold, November 11, 2009
Don Anderson made me buy him lunch. I disclose that it cost me money to write this article. Federal Research, do you have your ears on?
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