17th May 2007

XML Sitemaps enhances indexing and ranking!

By : Admin

If you want your website indexed onto the major search engines, you will need a sitemap – XML sitemaps amongst the most effective!

Some time ago, top search engines like MSN, Yahoo and Google has added a great tool to their toolkit. Now, they all are going to standardize on the use of one common XML Sitemap file to index the websites (Search engines can crawl sitemaps quickly if they are all following the same formats; and therefore provide you with better indexing of each page!).

XML sitemaps are simply a way of allowing major search engines to crawl URL’s listed. It is a quick and easy way for you to keep your site constantly indexed and updated in Google. XML is only simple code like HTML and it is used to syndicate your content to all interested parties.

XML generated file on your site will transmit or send any updates, changes, and data to Google. XML (Extensible Markup Language) is everywhere these days!

Each XML has a structure in order to for a search engine to crawl through the links and therefore index them. Keeping your sitemap, clean and manageable will help you to update it, making indexing again more effective. Removing URL’s that are no longer there, and replacing these with new URL’s, with fresh content further enhance your sites fresh appeal to the crawling search engines.

This is a ‘Good’ thing! With the steady influx of new web sites growing rapidly, indexing all this material will become a challenge, even with the resources of Google. With Sitemaps, webmasters can now take charge and make sure their site is crawled and indexed!

With Sitemaps, you can make sure all your pages are crawled and indexed quickly by Google.

In order for this XML sitemap file on your site to be constantly updated, you need a Generator that would spider your site, list the entire URL and automatically feed them to Google and thus, constantly updating your site in Google’s massive index or database. Keep in mind, Google also gives you the option of submitting a simple text file with all your URLs!

There are different ways of generating your XML powered sitemap file. You just have to choose one and then upload the file to your site as sitemap.xml to the root directory of your server i.e., where you have your homepage. Then notify Google Sitemaps of your XML file and you’re in business.

Of course, the only drawback, if you constantly add pages to your site you will need to also add these pages to your XML sitemap file!

To conclude, an XML sitemap is a must for anyone interested in building search engine recognition and gaining a higher search rating. This is a really basic SEO tool, which is used by millions of websites as they battle it out in order to achieve the highest search engine ranks.

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posted in Sitemap | 0 Comments

17th May 2007

Search Engine Friendly is NOT Search Engine Optimized

By : Nidhi Gupta

Search engine friendly and search engine optimised, both the terms are completely different from each other. The SEO provider or consultant should be involved in the website development process, though those two roles are completely different. The developer designs and creates the front and back end of the website. A good developer can do that job well, but mostly they do it to function for the user, not perform for the search engines. The SEO should be involved to ensure that what the developer produces is as search engine friendly as possible.

Most web design and development companies don’t know the first thing about SEO or creating SE friendly websites. And most who claim to are liars. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.

Hint: If your web developer says they will SEO your website for you as part of the one-time design fee, they are a liar. If they tell you they’ll develop a search engine friendly or SEO ready site then there is a better chance they know what they are talking about.

Designing or programming a search engine optimized website simply cannot be done. Designing or programming a search engine friendly site can.

Design/development and SEO are two completely different things, though closely tied together. Each, however, requires a completely different skill set. Most SEOs don’t claim to be web developers (though some are), but oddly, many web designers claim to be able to SEO (though most can’t.)

The process of SEO requires hours of additional research and a skill set that usually is not included as a part of the site development contract. There are a few development firms that also specialize in SEO and Marketing and these firms can develop and engage in long-term optimization services. But be aware that any short-term website development contract that claims to include SEO simply will not provide adequate or successful SEO marketing results.

It’s very smart to find a web developer that can create a search engine friendly website, but one should be aware of claims of SEO services being included. It’s even smart to find an SEO that will work with your web developer to create a search engine friendly website completely compatible with their optimization processes. This prevents the SEO from having to ask for numerous, and expensive, site development changes in order to embark on a successful SEO campaign.

Get more details at searchengineguide.com

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posted in SEO/Search Engine News | 1 Comment

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