SIte Map Optimization

Site Maps: A Force to be Reckoned With
by: Kristy Meghreblian


Another important component of search engine optimization is the use of site maps. If you want visitors -- and search engine spiders -- to find every page on your Web site, a site map can be your biggest ally especially if you have a lot of content on your site (and if you’ve been reading all the advice on our site, you should know by now that the more content you have the better your chances are for top ranking).

So, what is a site map? Basically, it is a navigation tool. It lets visitors know what information you have, how it is organized, where it is located with respect to other information, and how to get to that information with the least amount of clicks possible. A good site map is more than a hyperlinked index, which only provides the user with a list of alphabetically arranged terms.

Site maps also provide lots of nutritious spider food for search engine robots that crawl your site and eventually index it. Once the robot gets to the site map, it can visit every page on your entire site because all the information is clearly indicated on that one page. However, in order for your site map to work most effectively, you must include a link to your site map in the navigation on every page of your site.

To make your site map most appealing to both the search engine robots and human visitors, be sure to include descriptive text along with the page URLs and links. Be sure to use your targeted keywords in that text. Remember not to be too repetitive with your keyword phrases, though, or you may be penalized.

When you make it easy for people to navigate your site, they will find what they are looking for and will most likely be a repeat visitor. Likewise, when your site is easily navigable by search engine spiders, you increase your chances of being favorably listed in their search results.

So, if creating a site map isn’t part of your current search engine optimization strategy, maybe it’s time you thought about adding this beneficial -- and fairly simple -- tool to your repertoire.

For an example of Submit Today’s site map, go to: http://www.submittoday.com/site_map.htm.

About The Author

As Submit Today’s copywriter and editor, Kristy Meghreblian has written online content for many successful companies, including Monster.com. She has successfully combined her excellence in journalism with the delicate art of keyword density as it relates to search engine optimization. As a result, she has helped many Submit Today clients achieve top ranking. Submit Today (http://www.SubmitToday.com) is a leading search engine optimization, submission and ranking company located in Naples, Florida.
kristy@submittoday.com





Tips on Creating a Site Map
by: Rachel Gawith


A quick search on Google for advice on creating a site map initially threw up many links to software you could buy or download for free to create a site map.

But why do you need a site map?

Basically as websites get larger and more complex both the human browser and the search engine spiders need an easy to follow map to find all the pages within your site. A site map gives them a simple navigational tool.

Site maps have 3 main benefits:

1) A site map allows visitors to easily find what they are looking for by simply visiting your site map and clicking on the link to go directly to the page they want to visit.

2) Often technologies employed to assist in reading webpages such as web page readers and screen readers can only follow text links. For practical reasons it may not always be possible to show a text link to every other page within your site on your main page and other pages within your website and so use a site map.

3) Search engine spiders like text and text links. If they cannot follow a text link to a page of your site it may not get indexed. Make it easy for the spider to index all your pages through a site map.

A site map consists of the two things search engines love - text and keywords. To build a good site map combine relevant keywords with a hyper text links. For example on your site map you may have a link to your webpage about website promotion so your hyperlink should contains the words 'website promotion' and link directly to that page within your site.

A site map does not need and indeed should not be fancy, but should be clear and easy to navigate.

Here are some tips for a good site map:

1. Place a prominent link to your site map on every page and lable it SITE MAP.

2. It should show all your webpages through different levels as basic text links.

3. Use standard colours for links and visited links.

4. It should show a quick, easy to follow over view of the site without the need to scroll around in the web browser.

Google started allowing people to submit site maps to their account as a way of letting google know about all your webpages and updates to your site. It does not increase your page ranking at all but is worth taking the time to set up properly.

You can find free software for creating site maps at:

http://www.likno.com/sitemap.html
http://www.freesitemapgenerator.com/
http://www.sitemapspal.com/

And when you are done, don't forget to tell Google about your site map so they can trawl and hopefully index all the pages of your site.

http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login

A well planned site map can ensure your Web site is fully indexed by search engines.

About The Author

(c) Rachel Gawith

Rachel runs her own homebased business website at ComputerIncome.net which recommends a couple of excellent online businesses and promotional tools. Subscribe to Rachel's free weekly newsletter FreeDailyCash for more tips and information on working from home and get FREE advertising.



Google Site Maps - Does Your Site Need One?
by: Mark Scriven



If you are involved in the marketing of your company website then you may well have received a call at some point from businesses offering to create and submit a Google site map on your behalf.

The caller stresses the importance of a Google site map and the positive benefit to your site's positioning in Google. But just how necessary is it for your website to have a Google site map? The answer is "it depends".

A Google site map is a highly useful tool as it allows a website owner to 'tell' Google which pages it should index, and in which order of priority. However, if your site is already well positioned in Google then there may be little if any benefit to submitting a Google Site Map, and it is unlikely to have any impact on your existing rankings.

The real value of a Google Site Map is if your site uses complex technology, has poor internal navigation or delivers dynamic content and you are having problems in getting your content successfully spidered. On bigger and more complex sites using a Site Map could help encourage a deeper crawl and ensure that constantly changing URL's are indexed. It's also a useful exercise when you launch a new website as it puts it firmly on Google's radar.

If your site would benefit from a Google Site Map it's relatively simple and quick to put in place. If you have a small and uncomplicated site then you can do it yourself using one of the many third party site map generator tools that are now available(http://code.google.com/sm_thirdparty.html). For larger and more complex sites this is something that your IT or development department should already have put in place. More information on Google Site Maps can be found here https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/about.html


About The Author
Mark Scriven is the M.D of Turismotec Ltd (http://www.turismotec.com), a UK based search marketing agency that specialises in the travel sector. Turismotec publish a bi-monthly search marketing newsletter called etravel.success. Subscribe here - http://www.turismotec.com/news_letter.html.



Using A Site Map Builder When Adding Google Sitemaps To Websites
by: Cliff Posey Jr



Using a site map builder to add Google sitemaps to your website can be very beneficial. With Google sitemaps, you can inform search engines when you have new or updated content. This process allows search engines to more intelligently crawl your site, significantly reducing the amount of time it normally takes to index your pages. A site map builder is especially beneficial for any site with pages that are only accessible through a search.

The best part about sitemap protocol is that once it is in place, the submission process will be fully automated, giving you more time to concentrate on other aspects of your website. Smart webmasters love Google sitemaps because they can increase traffic without having to do a great deal of work.

Getting Started

If you are interested in adding Google sitemaps to your website, the first thing you will want to do is study the free tutorials that are available on the Google website. These tutorials can walk you through the entire process and answer almost any question you might have.

Your next step will be installing a Google sitemap generator. There are many different site map builder programs out there that will help you generate the sitemap. Some builders can also help you create an rss feed, an html sitemap, and other url submission lists.

Creating Google Site Maps

There are several things you will want to keep in mind when creating Google sitemaps. A sitemap must begin with an opening urlset tag and end with a closing urlset tag. It must also include a url entry for each url and a loc child entry for each url parent tag.

Another important rule to note is that sitemaps should be no larger than 10MB when uncompressed. They should also contain fewer than 50,000 urls. Anything more, and you will need to create multiple sitemap files.

If all of this sounds confusing to you, a site map builder will come in very handy. This program can take care of the trickier, and more time consuming portions of creating sitemaps.

Placing and Submitting Sitemaps

The best spot to put your sitemap is at the root directory of your html server. Once your sitemap is in place, you can validate the xml structure with one of the many free online sitemap validation programs. Validating now can save you from submission errors and a huge headache later on.

The final step is to submit your sitemap. To do this, you will need to sign up for a free Google account or sign in on your existing account if you already have one. Only first time submissions require the access of a Google account; resubmits have many other options.

Once your Google sitemaps have been accepted, you will notice your pages being indexed much faster. You may also see an increase in traffic. If you want to keep check on stats, you can request daily crawler reports. You may also be able to utilize follow up measures through your site map builder.


About The Author
Cliff Posey, owner of CRP Marketing, owns and operates http://webbusinesstoolsonline.com. Cliff Posey has also operated several other successful web businesses including Love Song Cards and Radio Career Consultants. The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses.