10 replies to this topic

[smudge]

Ok please be patient with me I am new, first post. I have been reading your postings and have used many things I have read and am number 3 n i google for several types of searchs for my product. But only my main page comes up. should I put meta tags on all pages?

[Jill]

Welcome, smudge!

Actually, if you're talking about the Meta keyword tag, it's pretty useless. It's certainly good to put it on each page, but don't expect to get any rankings because of it.

More important for you is to make sure that the search engine spiders can actually "crawl" through to the inner pages of your site, and that you are targeting specific keyword phrases within the copy and Title tags of each page of your site.

If your site is new, very often only the main home page will be listed for awhile. It takes the search engines some time to crawl and index the inner pages.

Hope this helps!



Jill

[smudge]

Thanks Jill you may have to hold my hand through this. What do I have to do to make sure the spiders can crawl through? I have several sub-directories or child webs in my site should I have them all accesable from the home page ? thanks for your advice

[deborah2002]

Hi, Smudge!

I think what your aiming for in your question is a site map. I would vote a big yes to that one.

deb

[fred]

Hi

I use different meta on each page even tough I know that most engine won't even look a them.

as to your question of making sure that all your pages are crawled , I suggest a sitemap available from all pages on your site

create a sitemap with a link to every page on your site this way the spiders will pick up all the links and eventually craw all your pages.

you should also have links from inside your pages to all pages in your site , no orphan page that can only be reached by direct url input.

your links should also be keyword rich to help with your ranking

hope this helps

[Jill]

Thanks Jill you may have to hold my hand through this. What do I have to do to make sure the spiders can crawl through? I have several sub-directories or child webs in my site should I have them all accesable from the home page ? thanks for your advice

Smudge,

You need to make sure that your links are spiderable. For instance, if your menu was a java applet, they may not be spiderable. Some DHTML menus are also not spiderable. Some mouseover scripts make it difficult for the spiders to read and follow your links. Use the noscript tag for javascript links.

A good rule of thumb is to have plain-old text links at the bottom of your pages to your top-level category pages, as well as a sitemap that lists all (or most) of your pages with good, clear, text links. Link the sitemap minimally from your home page, and even better, from every page of your site.

The search engines will easily be able to follow your links and will eventually index your inner pages if you do this.

Oh yeah, one more thing...if your pages are dynamically generated, make sure you have an alternative to session ids, and that you don't have too many query strings in the URL (question marks, equal signs, etc.)

Hope this helps!



Jill

[qwerty]

you should also have links from inside your pages to all pages in your site , no orphan page that can only be reached by direct url input.

I think that depends on the size of the site. As a user, I wouldn't want to see links to 100 different pages anywhere but the site map. Instead, I'd make sure that every page links to all the main pages, and that the main page of each section links to all the pages within that section.

Basically, I try to make it so that one never needs more than three clicks to get from one page to any other.

[compar]

I use different meta on each page even tough I know that most engine won't even look a them.

This a has been a recurring theme in this thread, but I don't think it is accurate. Many of the search engines still use the meta description tag when they display your site. So I would include that at least on every page -- and optimized for that page. And it won't hurt to put on Meta keywords -- some SEs still crawl this tag.

But the rules for optimizing an interior page are exactly the same as those for optimizing a home page. With the possible exception that you need good navigation on the site or a site map -- preferable both -- so that the SEs can find the interior page.

Always remember this mantra: "They can't index what they can't find." Or the reverse. "If you link to it they will find it."

[smudge]

I am overwhelmed by the response and now I have one more question. Should the site map page be the home page? or how about this, I do have a table of contents page is that what you all are talking about. What has me concerned is that my home page and my table of contents page were listed as #1 and #2 on google search plus a few others for about a month and now they are slipping But my table of contents page has completley disappeared? SO I was asleep at the wheel for a while I guess But oh the satisfaction I had for a month

[qwerty]

The site map should be separate from the home page, but easily accessible from it. There should be a text link somewhere on the home page to it. And yes, it's very much like a table of contents.

[compar]

The site map should be separate from the home page, but easily accessible from it. There should be a text link somewhere on the home page to it. And yes, it's very much like a table of contents.

If the table of contents contains a link to every page in the web site then it really is a site map already.

The question is does every page on your site have a link to your home page and a link to your table of contents -- the site map? If not then add these navigational aids to every page. The spiders have to be able to find there way to each page and back again to the starting point. They can't do this without a link.