Hi Tenny ~
You're quite right, none of the major search engines, such as the Open
Directory Project, Alta Vista, MSN, Hotbot, Yahoo!, etc., have the
site www.lionelkearns.com/convergences/ listed. Nor is it listed when
one searches for "Lionel Kearns" (with or without the quotation
marks), even though Google returns over 3000 pages on that search
term.
=================================
Getting Listed On Search Engines
=================================
In order to be listed in search engine indexes or directories, they
obviously need to know your site is there. The two ways search engines
and directories find a site is to either submit the site to the search
engines for inclusion, or the discover the site by following links
from other sites to yours and then index and include it.
If you haven't submitted your site to the search engines yet, I've
included the major search engines' submission URLs below.
Before you do that, though, there are some changes you may want to
make in order to give the search engines something to index and list
when a search for your site or your site's topic is entered in the
search box.
================================
Directory Structure
=================================
Search engine crawlers (bots), unlike browser software, follow the
standard directory protocols and naming structures when indexing a
site. In other words, even though you may be submitting
www.lionelkearns.com/convergences/ a search engine will look to just
the "www.lionelkearns.com" as well, because that is the top level
domain name.
Unfortunately, there is nothing within lionelkearns.com except for
some subdirectories within that structure. Moreover, the
'convergences' subdirectory is the last listed, and the first four or
five are protected from web viewing. The main directory, however, is
not protected, so if one approaches the top-level domain,
"www.lionelkearns.com", your visitor can see the directory structure.
There are a few methods you can use to direct both the search engine
bots to the online edition of Convergences:
1. You can move the cover to the main directory and name it
"index.html". Then the links from it can be followed by both your
visitors and any search engines.
2. You can permanently redirect any traffic that will look to the mail
index by inserting a 301 redirection in your .htaccess file.
3. In any case, you really should prohibit visitors from looking at
your directory structure by limiting adding the line "Options
-Indexes" (without the quotation marks) to your .htaccess file.
You can then link to the rest of the pages within the 'convergences'
subdirectory, which will help all the search engines, including
Google, follow the normal directory structure and index your page.
4. You can leave the present structure but ADD an index.html page in
the top directory with rich content that contains the key words under
which you wish searchers to find it. That page would have a link (or
links) to your main page in 'convergences'.
=================================
The Basics - HTML
=================================
Notwithstanding the anomaly in the main directory structure, there is
a lack of content for a search engine to list on the main page
(index.htm), which is the title page for Convergences.
Shari Thurow, one of the leading authorities in web design and search
engine optimization (and author of the book "Search Engine
Visibility"), recently made the following observation with regard to
HTML:
"Clean HTML is absolutely imperative for search engine
indexing. Browsers are extremely forgiving when it comes
to displaying pages with "unclean" HTML (unclosed tags,
no quotation marks, etc.). Search engine spiders are
not so forgiving. Even something as simple as a missing
quotation mark on the <.a href="page.html"> can cause a
spider to not index text or a link." (See: Link Exchange
Digest, July 3, 2003, "Clean HTML")
- http://list.audettemedia.com/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A2=ind0307&L=led&D=1&T=0&H=1&O=D&F=&S=&P=282
She explained how errors in HTML can affect your ability to be
indexed, and ultimately, ranked.
Below are some HTML elements which are often overlooked or omitted,
but which play an important part in your visitor's experience when he
visits your site. A good rule of thumb is always "what's good for the
visitor is good for search engines." The following, considered
"basics" for the best visitor experience are:
2. Title & Alt Tags
--------------------
Google recommends the use of descript alt tags for every graphic. This
is because search engines cannot read graphic images. Instead of
"Click here for larger picture", use a description of the graphic.
This enhances accessibility issues for visitors who may have their
graphics turned off, as well as for those who use audible browsers for
their Internet browsing.
Google's suggestion: "Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are
descriptive and accurate." (See Google's Design and Content
Guidelines) - ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
Putting both the TITLE and ALT tags to work for you makes sense, with
the bonus of giving the searchines substance to index. Your
descriptives should complement your content whenever possible.
3. Accessibility
----------------
Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794
and 794d, set forth the minimum government standards for
accessibility.
Among these standards are such items as ALT and TITLE tags (as
discussed above), and website design which will enable those with
special needs to be able to access and understand your web site.
You might want to run each page of your site through Bobby, which will
give you a full context report of any portions of your site which do
not meet the minimum standards. If you make all the corrections
suggested, it will greatly enhance any search engine's ability to
crawl your website as well.
The Bobby analysis page can be found here:
- http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp
4. Aesthetics
-------------
The title page contains the daunting caveat: "Best viewed with
Internet Explorer 6 or later, set at 800x600 screen resolution." and a
page hit counter.
There is such a negative reaction to those "best viewed with"
statements, no matter how helpful the intention, that even visitors
interested in what a site offers will click away. It is better to
design your site to the greatest use of browsers.
An interesting aside is that when I performed the search on the name
"Lionel Kearns", there were so many academic listings there - and a
lot of universities use Netscape or other browsers (for whatever
reasons they have). So you may want to reconsider that statement and
make it easier for any visitor to experience Convergences.
So far as the page counter - there are other ways for you to measure
the site statistics without announcing the actual number to your
visitors. Do you really want them to know you have only had 22 visits?
Even if you have over a million visits, it really screams a lack of
professionalism, an image I doubt you want to convey.
It has no bearing one way or another on your search engine listings,
so my recommendation would be to get rid of it. Allow Convergences to
stand on its merit.
=================================
How to Get Listed in Google
=================================
Google enjoys a reputation for delivering *relevant* sites in its
search. To do so, Google employs technology explained in "Our Search:
Google Technology" -
- ://www.google.com/technology/index.html
Its search results are based on a combination of pages linked to yours
(for PageRank) and the relevancy of the information on your site (not
your keyword meta tags).
"Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google
remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages
mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google
combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find
pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes
far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines
all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages
linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query."
(See: PageRank Explained)
- ://www.google.com/technology/index.html
Webmaster Guidelines ~
=======================
Google explains in its Webmaster Guidelines how to get listed:
"Design and Content Guidelines:
* Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links.
Every page should be reachable from at least one
static text link.
* Try to use text instead of images to display important
names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't
recognize text contained in images.
* Make sure that your TITLE and ALT tags are
descriptive and accurate.
* Check for broken links and correct HTML."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
Notice the reference more than once to establishing links TO your
site. It would seem that with a return of over 3000 pages,
establishing links to Convergences would be easy.
=================================
Establishing Links
=================================
As stated, Google's PageRank is based on the number of pages which
link to your site.
"The best way to ensure Google finds your site is for your page to be
linked from lots of pages on other sites. Google's robots jump from
page to page on the Web via hyperlinks, so the more sites that link to
you, the more likely it is that we'll find you quickly." (SEE Google's
" How Do I Get My Site Listed on Google? - 2. Submitting Your site")
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html#A1
There are many practical ways of establishing links which are
beneficial to inclusion on search engines. These methods may take
time, but they also help in establishing credibility and help with
your page rank.
Approach like-minded or complementary businesses about linking to your
site (with a reciprocal link from your own). This works without
harming search engine positioning or page rank.
Once you've made some changes to increase your chances of being
included in search engine directories and indexes, including making
sure those who should know about the Convergences site have linked to
it, you can then submit them for inclusion.
=================================
Search Engine Submission
=================================
Below are top search engines (as determined by Nielsen Net Ratings):
- http://www.nielsen-netratings.com/
* Google -
- ://www.google.com/addurl.html
* DMOZ -
- http://www.dmoz.com/
* All The Web -
- http://www.alltheweb.com/help/webmaster/submit_site.html
* Hotbot & Lycos InSite (requires registration)
- http://insite.lycos.com/searchservices/
* Yahoo! -
- http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
* Zeal -
- http://zeal.com/
Submitting your site to the above will help reach the greatest amount
of visitors who are searching for your site.
=================================
Patience is the name of the game
=================================
After you have submitted your site, then you have to wait for it to
show up. You may notice some search engines and directories will get
your site added faster than others. Google says, on its Add URL page,
that it may take 6-8 weeks or longer.
I noticed the domain, lionelkearns.com, was registered in May of this
year, so it is still relatively new. Most search engines will not
penalize for more than one submission, so after a reasonable length of
time, you may way to resubmit to those who haven't picked the site up.
Search strategies -
*Google -
- link: lionelkearns.com
- lionel kearns
- directory structure (canonicals)
*Whois.net -
- lionelkearns.com
*All The Web -
- lionel kearns
- lionelkearns.com
Additionally, I used personal bookmarks and information used in my
day-to-day employment in web design and search engine optimization to
answer this question.
Regards,
Serenata |
