Google Hacks 2Nd Edition [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hack 86. A Webmaster's Introduction to Google

Steps to take for optimal Google indexing of
your site .

The cornerstone of any good search engine is highly relevant results.
Google's unprecedented success has been due to its
uncanny ability to match quality information with a
user's search terms. The core of
Google's search results are based on a patented
algorithm called PageRank.

There is an entire industry focused on getting sites listed near the
top of search engines. Google has proven to be the toughest search
engine for a site to do well on. Even so, it isn't
all that difficult for a new web site to get listed and begin
receiving some traffic from Google.

Learning the ins and outs of getting your site listed by a search
engine can be a daunting task. There is a vast array of information
about search engines on the Web, and not all of it is useful or
proper. This discussion of getting your site into the Google database
focuses on long-term techniques for successfully promoting your site
through Google, helping to avoid some of the common misconceptions
and problems that a new site owner might face.

8.7.1. Search Engine Basics

When you type a term into a search site, the engine looks up
potential matches in its database and presents the best web page
matches first. How those web pages get into the database, and
consequently, how you can get yours in there too, is a three-step
process:

A search engine visits a site with an automated program called a
spider (sometimes called a
robot ). A spider is just a program similar to a
web browser that downloads a site's pages. It
doesn't actually display the page anywhere; it just
downloads the page data.

After the spider has acquired the page, the search engine passes the
page to a program called an indexer, which is another robotic program
that extracts most of the visible portions of the page. The indexer
also analyzes the page for keywords, the title, links, and other
important information contained in the code.

The search engine adds your site to its database and makes it
available to searchers. The greatest difference between search
engines is in this final step where ranking or result position under
a particular keyword is determined.

8.7.2. Submitting Your Site to Google

The first step is to get your pages listed in the database, and there
are two ways to go about it. The first is direct submission of your
site's URL to Google via its add URL or submission
page. To counter programmed robots, search engines routinely move
submission pages around on their sites. You can find
Google's submission page linked from their Help
pages or

Webmaster Info pages (http://www.google.com/addurll).

Just visit Google's add URL page and enter the main
index page for your site into the submission form, and press submit.
Google's spider (called
GoogleBot) will visit your page usually
within four weeks. The spider will traverse all pages on your site
and add them to its index. Within eight weeks, you should be able to
find your site listed in Google.

The second way to get your site listed is to let Google find you
based on links that may be pointing to your site. Once GoogleBot
finds a link to your site from a page it already has in its index, it
will visit your site.

Google has been updating its database on a monthly basis for three
years. It sends its spider out in crawler mode once a month, too.
Crawler mode is a special mode when a spider traverses or
crawls the entire Web. As it runs into links to
pages, it indexes those pages in a never-ending attempt to download
all the pages it can. Once your pages are listed in Google, they are
revisited and updated on a monthly basis. If you frequently update
your content, Google may index your search terms more often.

Once you are indexed and listed in Google, the next natural question
for a site owner is, "How can I rank better under my
applicable search terms?"

8.7.3. The Search Engine Optimization Template

This is my general recipe for the ubiquitous Google. It is generic
enough that it works well everywhere. It's as close
as I have come to a
"one-size-fits-all" SEO
(that's Search Engine Optimization) template.
Use your targeted keyword phrase:

In META keywords. It's not
necessary for Google, but a good habit. Keep your
META keywords short (128 characters max, or 10
keywords).

In META description. Keep keyword close to the
left but in a full sentence.

In the title at the far left but possibly not as the first word.

In the top portion of the page in the first sentence of the first
full paragraph (plain text: no bold, no italic, no style).

In an H3 or larger heading.

In boldsecond paragraph if possible and anywhere but the first
usage on page.

In italicanywhere but the first usage.

In subscript/superscript.

In URL (directory name, filename, or domain name). Do not duplicate
the keyword in the URL.

In an image filename used on the page.

In ALT tag of that previous image mentioned.

In the title attribute of that image.

In link text to another site.

In an internal link's text.

In title attribute of all links targeted in and
out of page.

In the filename of your external CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) or
JavaScript file.

In an inbound link on site (preferably from your home page).

In an inbound link from off site (if possible).

In a link to a site that has a PageRank of 8 or better.

Other search engine optimization things to consider include:

Use "last modified" headers if you
can.

Validate that HTML. Some feel Google's parser has
become stricter at parsing instead of milder. It will miss an entire
page because of a few simple errorswe have tested this in
depth.

Use an HTML template throughout your site. Google can spot the
template and parse it off. (Of course, this also means they are
pretty good a spotting duplicate content.) Keep the page as l or
extension. Any dynamic extension is a risk.

Keep the HTML below 20K; 5 to 15K is the ideal range.

Keep the ratio of text to HTML very high. Text should outweigh HTML
by significant amounts.

Double-check your page in Netscape, Opera, and Internet Explorer. Use
Lynx if you have it.

Use only raw hrEFs for links. Keep JavaScript far,
far away from links. The simpler the link code the better.

The traffic comes when you figure out that 1 referral a day to 10
pages is better than 10 referrals a day to 1 page.

Don't assume that keywords in your
site's navigation template will be worth anything at
all. Google looks for full sentences and paragraphs. Keywords just
lying around orphaned on the page are not worth as much as when used
in a sentence.

Brett Tabke