Hello,
I submitted my site www.airsole.net to google more than 2 months ago.
One of the pages I submitted (the main index page) was on google for a
few days, then it disappeared. None of the pages I submitted are on
google.. I have been patiently waiting. Why isn't my site listed?  (PS
metatags etc.. on my site are done correctly).

Good Day seankrad-ga,


Before I answer your question, please keep in mind:

There are very few people in this world that KNOW Google's algorithm.
Us Google researchers are not included in that small group. This means
that my answer will be based on what the SEO (search engine
optimisation) community has learned about Google's ways, and not on
scientific information derived from the algorithm. There is a good
reason why the algorithm is secret, and why no one can just give a
magic answer that will work 100%.

Having said that, please do not lose heart! You are about to receive
some information that will greatly improve your chances of a listing
with Google.

I have visited your web site with two web browsers: Netscape 7, and
Internet Explorer 6.  One of the first things I noticed is that some
background text loaded, and was promptly covered up by the main
interface and images.

I checked the code, and indeed you do have a lot of body text, but
other items cover all of it. Google is pretty smart, and often can
detect hidden text. A lot of people use hidden text to spam the search
engine with irrelevant terms. This resulted in a 30-Day “no listing”
penalty being enforced for any hidden text found. Seeing that your PR
rank for your web site is 0/10 vs. "No rating yet available", my hunch
is that this might be the reason you are not showing up in search
results (please see PR, or Page Rank, explained at the bottom of my
answer in the resources section).

Whether the hidden text is a browser glitch due to a design for other
browser versions or browser types than used by me for testing, or on
purpose, I would recommend looking into ensuring that there is no
invisible text on your page.  Remove the hidden text, or change your
code so it shows up under Netscape 7, and Internet Explorer 6.

Other factors to consider are code to text ratio. As of now, you do
not have a lot of true text anywhere. I would recommend converting the
image text to true text.  Search engines cannot view image text.
Converting the images to text will also greatly improve the load time
of your web site, keeping more users happy. Down the road if you ever
need to modify the text, you will find the task a lot easier when
using true text vs. images.

Having gone through your links, I noticed that your contact
information is hidden under the right hand side images when using
Netscape 7. As I motioned above, it is always a good idea to test with
as many browsers as possible. I test my pages with Internet Explorer
6, Netscape v4/v7, and Opera 7. Chances are that when the page looks
good under all four, it will be at least "usable" under other
browsers. Sometimes making the page look readable under the four
browsers I use to test means not using some technologies. I still use
tables for 95% of my layout needs, because this is the only technology
I can rely on 99% of the time. Anything else might render my page
unusable under certain versions or browser types.

Back on the subject of getting you listed with Google.

After you have made some of my recommended changes, head over to
dmoz.org as that is the best way to get into the Google index. Move
through the directory until you find the section most appropriate for
your web site, and click the Submit A Site link. If you don't see the
link, you will have to narrow down the category a little bit more.

Please read the terms that are shown before site submission. Not
knowing the terms means you cannot obey them, and not obeying them can
mean getting banned from the index forever with the submitted domain
name. The only thing you can do when that happens is change domain
names. Not a good option.

Once you have done that, surf over to the regional section of
dmoz.org, and find the geographical location directory that best
represents your physical location. Submit your site here too. dmoz.org
says that only one submission is allowed, but after contacting one of
the dmoz directory editors, I have been notified that a regional and
industrial submission is always welcome. The proof is that you can
find some web sites under two listings, one is geographical the other
industrial.

Once you get listed at dmoz.org, Google will pick you up from the dmoz
index.

There is a lot of information available on the do's and dont’s of
search engine submission, and SEO copywriting (writing text and code
with search friendliness in mind). This is a huge industry, and be
prepared to do some learning. I am including some good resources on
the subject, which should help you get started.


RESOURCES:

WEBSITE: Lessons in Failure - The Top 10 Ways to Ensure Your Search
Marketing Strategy Sucks
URL: http://www.marketleap.com/report/ml_report_45.htm

WEB SITE: SEO Copywriting - An SEO copywriting tutorial by John Scott
URL: http://www.internet-marketing-research.net/seo_copywriting.php

WEB SITE: "Ethical" Search Engine Optimization Exposed!
URL: http://www.webworkshop.net/ethical_search_engine_optimization.html

WEB SITE: Search Engine Optimization 101 (index of many good links)
URL: http://www.marketleap.com/help/seo101/default.htm

WEB SITE: Google Technology (Page Rank Explained)
URL: ://www.google.com/technology/

WEB SITE: Get your own Google Toolbar, and find out your and others
PR!
URL: http://toolbar.google.com/
 
I have answered a similar question to which I would recommend reading
the answer to. There you will find more details on Page Rank and some
additional information that might be of interest to you.

Question: Google Page Rank
URL: http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=238877 


SEARCH STRATEGY: I found the provided information and resources during
my learning about SEO. I have found most of them through discussions
in online forums, and general web surfing on the subject.

I hope my answer will prove helpful, and is the first step in a
successful listing with Google.  If you are left with some of your
original questions still unanswered, please ask me for a clarification
before rating this answer.

Thank you for choosing Google Answers, and the opportunity to aide you
with your venture!

Regards,
slawek-ga

Very Informative. Excellent answer. Great knowledge on the topic. A+++++

I tried listing my site with dmoz.org.  I read and followed the
instructions with great care. I spent more than two hours attempting
to select the proper category and then submit my URL.  When I click
the "Submit" button, all I get is an error message saying "This site
does not exist".

Due to the cost in time, I don't recommend dmoz.org at all.

Good Day cyntlhiadiane-ga,


dmoz.org is regarded very highly by search engines. The content at
dmoz.org is edited by human editors, resulting in better quality
content than most other directories (I don't know of any directory of
this size that uses human editors for editing).

A listing in dmoz.org can improve an existing your listing with
Google. Your website will often come up higher in search results when
listed in dmoz.org vs. no dmoz.org listing.

While I can see your frustration with dmoz.org being unavailable, this
kind of problem can be experience by any website, and often with no
control of the events. The problem often happens "higher up", and
cannot be fixed locally. Instead, websites are often at the mercy of
Internet Providers, power companies, and such.

I would recommend you try submitting to dmoz.org again. Write down the
URL of the directory of you chose in case any problems occur. If there
are problems, you can just re-enter the URL, and go straight to the
correct category without spending any time browsing through the
categories all over again.


Regards,
slawek-ga

I would not recommend DMOZ at all. I've submitted more than 20 sites
to DMOZ and everytime I've received a rejection email for no reason at
all.

In my opinion if you want to get your site listed on google, you need
to look at sites that offer reciprocal links - this should enable your
site position to improve.

The more sites that have your website listed the better and the more
sites that have your website listed and your site also listing their
site in return the better.

An easy, although slightly sneaky way around linking is to join many
many forums and start a topic with your product name/description as
title with your website url and name in the body.

Make a note the page is located at and submit that page and your
website page to google:

://www.google.co.uk/addurl.html
://www.google.com/addurl.html