6 replies to this topic

[jhwss]

I've created a site for a client using their own web hosting.

However, as yet none of the search engines have indexed the site, despite the site being submitted about 3 months ago (there have been at least two google dances since then). I designed it with search engines in mind. The only reason I can possibly think of is that I have used XHTML style HTML, though the <DOCTYPE> tag doesn't indicate XHTML as IE seemed to get very confused when the page was defined as XHTML.

Any help greatly appreciated!

James Holt

[Matt B]

James - Have you established any external links to the site?

(Yahoo, JoeAnt, DMOZ, GoGuides?)

I wouldn't worry too much about doctype - less conforming websites perform admirably in the search engines.

[Jill]

Welcome, James!

XHTML is a wonderful way to create Web sites and absolutely will not hurt you in the search engines. If anything, it can help because it's generally very good code. So it's most definitely not that.

More likely, you simply don't have any incoming links that Google knows about. Get some of those, and wait 4 - 6 weeks and you should see your pages show up in the database.

There was an article in my newsletter recently How To Find Niche Directories which may be helpful to you.

Good luck!

Jill

[deborah2002]

Another factor may be (if you are referring to Google, and I assume you are) is that Google has been changing a bunch of stuff around for quite some time.

Some listings showed up, some didn't, some fell off the board only to re-appear the next day. Could be that since some suggest Google is still "fine tuning", you just haven't "landed" yet.

Jill's idea of linking is a strong one. That will not only help your ultimate rank, but will get your mind off Google till you can properly judge your placement.

Hope this helps a little! Good luck!

deb

[Thanol]

I would get rid of this meta tag before you get found...

<meta name="revisit-after" content="21 days" />

[Jill]

I would get rid of this meta tag before you get found...

<meta name="revisit-after" content="21 days" />

That tag won't hurt the page. It won't help, but it won't hurt.

Jill

[jhwss]

Thanks all for the advice. There are at least 3 sites indexed by Google that link to the site, though not all of them use direct links so they may not help. I am interested in other search engines too, though they don't seem to have indexed the site either.

I have submitted to a number of directories, though not all of those mentioned, and I will check out Jill's article.

Thanks again!

James Holt