Copyright 2005 Ron HuttonGoogle's calling your name...
Hi, Google here. We want to index your website...
Is anyone there?
This article has a free corresponding online video tutorial
that shows you how to summons the magic Googlebot to spider
and index every page on your website, and it will only take
about 10 minutes of your time.
Go here now to watch exactly what to do,
step-by-easy-step...
http://www.gothrive.com/google-sitemap-video.htm
What you have access to with the new Google Sitemaps
program is truly a gift from the Google gods. They've
offering you a tool that you can use to keep your site
constantly indexed and updated in the search engine
database. With Google Sitemaps, webmasters can now take
charge and make sure that their entire site is crawled and
indexed.
One important note to make is that the Google Sitemaps
program will not necessarily improve the ranking of your
site's pages. It only ensures that Google knows what you've
got online for them to look at.
Before reading the following statement, promise yourself
that you won't stop reading if you see a term that seems a
little scary. OK? Promise? Good. Go ahead and keep
reading then.
The format specified by Google for "their" sitemap is XML
(extensible markup language). Did I loose you yet? No?
Good again.
You do not need to understand how to code XML to
participate in the Google Sitemap program. There are
plenty of free online tools that will create your XML
sitemap for you with no XML knowledge required on your
part. More on this in a second.
What information is including in this XML sitemap?
1) The URL for every file on your website.
2) A relative priority rank that you can assign telling
Google which pages on your site are most important for them
to look at.
3) The date last modified for each page.
4) Anticipated change frequency per URL. This again is a
variable that you control.
According to Google, your XML sitemap can include up to
50,000 URL's. If your site is a real monster and has in
excess of 50,000 URL's, then you'll need to create a
hierarchy of sitemaps with one leading to the next. This
way you'll be able to lead Google to all of your pages.
The options for generating and maintaining your Google
Sitemap range from complex systems that are highly
automated to very simple systems using online sitemap
generators that require nothing more than clicking a few
buttons.
Google now keeps a list of these 'third party suppliers' of
generators on their site. Find them here:
http://code.google.com/sm_thirdparty.html
The program that's demonstrated in our free video tutorial
(http://www.gothrive.com/google-sitemap-video.htm) is found
here: http://www.auditmypc.com/free-sitemap-generator.asp
In a nutshell, here are the steps involved with using
online generators:
1) Start the program.
2) Enter your site's URL
3) Click the "Start Crawling" button
4) Customize URL priorities and change frequencies
5) Save the site map to your local hard drive
6) Upload your new Google XML sitemap to your website in
the root directory (where your home page resides)
7) Validate your new sitemap
(can be done here:
http://www.smart-it-consulting.com/internet/google/submit-va
lidate-sitemap/)
8) Submit your XML sitemap to Google.
You can access the pages for the Google Sitemap program
here: https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login
8 steps in about 10 minutes. That's all there is to it.
One question that you might ask is whether or not you still
need an HTML sitemap, and the answer is "Yes, you still
need your conventional sitemap". XML sitemaps are not
intended for human visitors. To see what I mean, take a
look at the two following sitemaps:
HTML sitemap: http://www.gothrive.com/sitemap.html
XML sitemap: http://www.gothrive.com/sitemap.xml
Which version do you prefer? Your visitors will like the
HTML and Google prefers XML.
When you add pages or new content to your site and you want
Google to go back to have a fresh look, just log in to your
Google Sitemaps control panel, select the sitemap to
revisit, and click "Resubmit". It's never been easier to
get Google to spider and index a website. Don't miss your
opportunity to use this tool to your advantage.
----------------------------------------------------
Ron Hutton is a 20 year sales and marketing veteran with a
passion for coaching and training. Subscribe to "GoThrive
Online", for big juicy marketing tips in small,
easy-to-chew, bite size servings. Free Video Tutorial
Archives Here:
http://www.gothrive.com/free-video-library/video-directory.h
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