Hi Nokaoi ~
Many webmasters want to ensure their sites are included in Google's
search engine and how to optimize the chances of the site being found
by others when they're searching.
In direct answer to your question, "What am I doing wrong with the
"tags" or whatever it is that a search engine uses to find pages??"
... there are few search engines that give much weight, if any, to
information contained within the keyword or description metatags
contained in a website's header. There are a few directories, such as
the Open Directory Project (DMOZ.org), which may use the description
metatag, but the major search engines ignore them or give so little
weight to them that they aren't important.
=============================
Some background information
=============================
The good news is, the site *is* listed in Google if you search for it
by the domain name, "www.sweetadelineshawaii.org" (without the
quotation marks). Your PageRank for the site is 0. You can check your
site's PageRank by downloading and installing Google's Toolbar
(http://toolbar.google.com).
A check with other directories and search engines returned these
results:
Listed in the following Search Engines:
* All The Web
(listed with one external link - music workshop advertisement)
- http://www.alltheweb.com/
* Alta Vista
(listed with one link from Sweet Adelines International)
- http://www.altavista.com/
* Teoma (link to a non-existent page - Untitled12.html)
(link to Christina Smith page)
- http://s.teoma.com/
Not listed in these directories and search engines:
* The Open Direct Project (DMOZ.org)
- http://search.dmoz.org/
* HotBot
- http://www.hotbot.com/
* Netscape
-http://search.netscape.com/
* Yahoo!
- http://search.yahoo.com/
==================================
Understanding Google's Page Rank
==================================
To ensure your page does get listed under the search terms you want,
you need to build a series of links to and from your site. Here are
some of Google's recommendations and suggestions.
From "Getting Listed"
======================
"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."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html#A2
From "How does Google rank pages?"
===================================
"Google's order of results is automatically determined by
more than 100 factors, including our PageRank algorithm.
Please check out our "Why Use Google" page for more de-
tails."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/4.html
And from "Our Search: Google Technology"
=========================================
"PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web
by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an
individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a
link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B.
But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or
links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts
the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important"
weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."
- ://www.google.com/technology/index.html
A check using Google's link: tool shows no external sites linking TO
www.sweetadelineshawaii.org or no sites containing the term
"www.sweetadelineshawaii.org". In other words with no links TO your
page and a PageRank of 0, it is unlikely that Google will list your
site under the terms you wish.
============================
How To Get Listed In Google
============================
Since Google's indexing is based on a complex algorithm which weight
over 100 factors, among them PageRank, they offer recommendations on
how to build a Google-friendly site. No one hand places or determines
Search Engine Results Placement (SERPs) as Google points out:
"Google's complex, automated methods make human tampering with
our results extremely difficult"
- ://www.google.com/technology/index.html
==============================
Google's Webmaster Guidelines
==============================
You should become acquainted with Google's Webmaster Guidelines.
For instance, the "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.
* Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the
important parts of your site ...
* Create a useful, information-rich site and write pages that
clearly and accurately describe your content.
* Think about the words users would type to find your pages,
and make sure that your site actually includes those words
within it.
* 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
Use of Frames
==============
I noticed you use frames (another problem Google may have indexing the
site and your pages).
Here's what Google says about the use of frames and why you might not
be listed:
"Google supports frames to the extent that it can. Frames tend
to cause problems with search engines, bookmarks, emailing
links and so on, because frames don't fit the conceptual
model of the web (every page corresponds to a single URL). If
a user's query matches the site as a whole, Google returns the
frame set. If a user's query matches an individual page on the
site, Google returns that page. That individual page is not
displayed in a frame -- because there may be no frame set
corresponding to that page."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html
While it is true that your site is listed in Google using the domain
name (the link below is the search results) -
-
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=www.sweetadelineshawaii.org&btnG=Google+Search
You will notice that there is NO description under the title. This is
because using frames as you have, the Google crawler cannot find any
text to add as a description. Most sites will have roughly 250
characters of some description added under the title.
===========================
Establish Links
===========================
As noted above, 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 you in your endeavor to get respectable position
placement 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.
A WORD OF WARNING:
==================
Google specifically warns "Don't participate in link schemes designed
to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid
links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web as your own
ranking may be affected adversely by those links." (See Google's
Quality Guidelines - Basic principles)
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
It stands to reason that what's good for Google are good rules to
follow for other search engines.
Articles on Link Popularity
===========================
A couple of excellent articles on how to establish the right kind of
links are available in Traffick's "Ten Steps to Building Links to Your
Site", Craig Fifield - 5/3/2002
- http://www.traffick.com/article.asp?aID=77
and "The Right Way to Improve Link Popularity", By Paul J. Bruemmer
-4/14/2002 -
- http://www.traffick.com/article.asp?aID=41
Both articles may seem dated, yet they offer excellent suggestions
which can be easily adapted for use on any website without resorting
to link farms. They both point out the differences and offer easy ways
to get started to the kind of linking search engines prefer.
=================================
The Basics - HTML
=================================
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:
1. DOCTYPE Declaration
----------------------
DOCTYPES are essential to the proper rendering and functioning of web
documents in compliant browsers. It is also essential for the search
engines to understand and follow the coding contained on your pages.
DOCTYPE is explained and discussed further in "A List Apart",
- http://www.alistapart.com/stories/doctype/
and in Web Design Group's article, "Choosing a DOCtype",
- http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/doctype.html
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 search engines 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. Design For Your Visitors
---------------------------
Basically, design for your visitors. Since the search engines are
almost constantly changing and tweaking their algorithms to bring
searchers relevant content for their search terms, designing your
sites with that content can help keep you from bouncing around each
time there is a change.
Add enough content, rich in the words you want to be found under, so
that the search engines can index each page.
=============================
About those search terms
=============================
Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that you want
www.sweetadelineshawaii.org to be found using the keywords you have
chosen: "Na Leo Lani, Hawaii Chapter, Sweet Adelines International,
women's barbershop, 4-part harmony, a cappella"
Now ... think about what your visitors will "really" enter in that
search bar. My first guess is you're not sure. So to help - I
performed some searches for you and the results are below. (Note: I
did not use the quotation marks in my search, although they are
included below so you can recognize the search term.)
1. "Na Leo Lani" - 46,000 + results
- ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Na+Leo+Lani&btnG=Google+Search
Surprisingly, a page titled "SAI8", which is a no-longer-existing page
from Sweet Adelines International, is the third result. That is not to
say it will stay there, as Google is always refreshing and updating
its listings.
2. "Hawaii Chapter" - about 857,000 results
- ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Hawaii+Chapter&btnG=Google+Search
3. "Sweet Adelines International" - about 15,100 results
- ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Sweet+Adelines+International&btnG=Google+Search
4. "women's barbershop" - about 20,800 results
- ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=women%27s+barbershop&btnG=Google+Search
5. "4-part harmony" - about 12,000 results
- ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=4-part+harmony&btnG=Google+Search
6. "a cappella" (I did use the quotation marks, since Google considers
'a' a term to be discarded - about 514 results.
- ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22a+cappella%22&btnG=Google+Search
No matter how you look at it, that is a powerful lot of competition in
which to find your site under those search terms.
You may want to spend some time at Wordtracker
-http://www.wordtracker.com - to seek out all the related phrases you
can, then write copy based around the best, most relevant terms.
Include those words in your Title tags and within the content of your
website accordingly. That will certainly help.
=============================
Submitting to Search Engines
=============================
After you have established some links from relevant sites and worked
on the HTML to make the site more search-engine friendly, you may want
to submit to the important search engines and directories.
Google recommends, " ... you may want to consider submitting your site
to either or both of these directories. You can submit to Yahoo! by
visiting http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/. You can submit your site
to Netscape's Open Directory Project (DMOZ) by visiting www.dmoz.org.
Once your site is included in either of these directories, Google will
often index your site within six to eight weeks."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html#B2
For DMOZ.org, you will want to dig down deep enough to get where you
more appropriately should be.
Some search engines gather their own listings for the main results
they display. For example, Google crawls the web itself for the main
results it shows.
Other search engines use third-party search providers for their
results. For instance, the main search results at AOL come from
Google's crawler-based listings, rather than from work inside AOL.
Below are the 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/
* Teoma -
- http://www.teoma.com/
MSN's search submit is located here:
- http://search.msn.com/
which takes you to LookSmart, a "for-pay" listing, and can be found
here:
- http://listings.looksmart.com/?synd=zdd&sid=prt100933&chan=zddresults
If you are listed on other important engines, it is pretty certain you
will also be listed on MSN.com, or you can use the LookSmart
submission.
===============================
Other Sources of Information
===============================
There is good information from many of the top search engine
optimization experts, such as
* Detlev Johnson, Search Engine Guide
- http://www.searchengineguide.com/detlev/
* Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Watch
- http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
* Jill Whalen, High Rankings
- http://www.highrankings.com/
* Shari Thurow, Web Pro News (and quoted all over the Internet)
- www.webpronews.com/
who all have columns or newsletters to which you can subscribe and
keep abreast of the best way to use good content for better
positioning in search engine results.
In addition, Webmaster World - http://www.webmasterworld.com/ - has
discussion boards on most of the search engines. While some of the
discussions are anecdotal and/or questions for information, there is
usually enough discussion to keep abreast of what seems to be
happening.
There is an entire section devoted to Google at:
- http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/
It never hurts to keep track among these discussions, but remember,
trying to optimize for search engines only is like trying to hit a
moving target. You'll notice among the more experienced contributors
to the discussions - plus the SEO experts listed above - that there
really is no substitute for content, relevant links and good HTML.
Disclaimer
============
This is just a reminder that Google Answers Researchers are
independent contractors and not employees of Google. We have no inside
track on Google's closely-guarded algorithms. The closest you may come
to an 'official' word from Google is when GoogleGuy posts to the
discussions at Webmaster World. The information listed here is
generally acknowledged to be the best practices for good SERPs and
PageRank.
Search Terms
==============
In addition to the searches listed above, I relied on bookmarks and
other resources used on a daily basis.
It will take a bit of work, but working on the design (without the
frames), supplying rich content, and establishing important links to
your site will help your site's visibility. As a rule, I would suggest
a search term or two you might work into the text, but I am sort of
nonplussed at what to suggest, besides "Sweet Adelines" and "Hawaii" -
however, I couldn't have imagined searching for a Sweet Adelines site
prior to this question, either. Please do not take that as an insult,
I only meant that it would not have occurred to me prior to this.
Good luck and best wishes,
Serenata |
