Getting Indexed- Search Engine Optimization
So, you have your shiny new website, full of functionality, great toys to amuse people, and its all set and primed with a good standard of SEO. So you wait. And you wait. After a few weeks, you still can’t find your site when you type your keywords into Google, and according to Google analytics, the Marie Celeste has had more visitors than you.
What have you done wrong?
Well, this is a problem that we often encounter. People do the right things for their sites, but leave out one or two vital pieces of the puzzle that makes the difference between and successful site and an unsuccessful one. A common mistake is submitting their site to the search engines that they want to list for.
Sometimes search engines need to have someone come to them and wave a flag and shout “Hey! Come here and look at the site I have made and have put on the Internet!” as you cant rely on them to pick up your site automatically.
So, how is this accomplished? Well, lets take Google for example. With Google, using their Webmaster Tools, you can create an XML sitemap and submit it to them for them to take a look at. This allows them to index your site, normally in a matter of hours. Other search engines use different methods. For MSN for example, you can go to http://search.live.com/docs/submit.aspx to submit your site. For Yahoo you could use http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/uk/free/request
These actions don’t guarantee that your site will work, but it is definitely good practice to submit them anyway. They could potentially bring an increase in business from the very moment your site goes live.
And isn’t that worth it?
