Hi CyBird ~
The good news is that your site *IS* listed in Google's Index.
Try a search on www.woodworks3.com, and you will see that you are
listed. Note that it is listed with the "www" in front, and not merely
as woodworks3.com - this is as it should be.
Here are the results I got December 7, 2003 at 9:22pm PST:
"The Wood Works Inc.
The Wood Works, Inc. We offer a wide range of products
and services to companies and individuals, such as
engraving on your products. ...
Google can show you the following information for this URL:
* Show Google's cache of www.woodworks3.com
* Find web pages that are similar to www.woodworks3.com
* Find web pages that link to www.woodworks3.com
* Find web pages that contain the term "www.woodworks3.com"
[From results of Google Search for "www.woodworks3.com"]
- ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=www.woodworks3.com&btnG=Google+Search
However, when you click on "web pages that link to
www.woodworks3.com", and there are no pages listed.
Click on "web pages that contain the term "www.woodworks3.com", and
there is one result, just your 'home' page.
==========================
Getting Listed in Google
==========================
Google has excellent information for webmasters that, if followed,
greatly increase your chances of being listed in the index.
From "Getting Listed", Google explains its PageRank:
"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
And it further explains its technology in "Our Search: Google Technology":
"The heart of our software is PageRank?, a system for
ranking web pages developed by our founders Larry Page
and Sergey Brin at Stanford University. And while we
have dozens of engineers working to improve every aspect
of Google on a daily basis, PageRank continues to provide
the basis for all of our web search tools."
and its PageRank in "PageRank Explained"
"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."
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."
- ://www.google.com/technology/index.html
In other words, without any links TO your site, it is highly unlikely
you will be found among the first several hundred results for the
search terms under which you want your site to be included.
A search for the term "Wright Flyer" (without the quotation marks)
returns about 161,000 results. That is a lot of competition, so it is
necessary to add links to your site - using those terms - in order to
bring your site near the top.
===========================
Establishing Links
===========================
There are many practical ways of establishing links which are
beneficial to you. 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, currently ranked as
the number one search engine is good rule to follow for other search
engines.
Articles on Link Popularity
===========================
Some 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
"Link Building Is Important", which discusses link building from A to
Z and also provides a good reference page with linking resources.
- http://www.linkingmatters.com/WhyLinkingIsImportant.html
The information contained in the above articles offer suggestions
which can be easily adapted for use on any website without resorting
to link farms. The differences in "good links" and those which may be
harmful are discussed, and the articles offer simple ways to get
started to the kind of linking search engines prefer.
I noticed some design issues which you can change to help both your
site visitors in navigating your site, as well as search engine
crawlers index your site.
==========================
Google's Guidelines
==========================
Google offers information for webmasters to assist in getting their
sites included in its index:
"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. If the site map
is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break
the site map into separate pages.
* 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."
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
It's hard to index your site when your links to internal pages are in
the form of an image map. A better way would be to use text links
instead so the search engine crawlers can crawl and index those pages.
Other changes which can increase your chances are discussed below.
==========================
HTML - Back to Basics
==========================
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.
Taking a look at www.woodworks3.com, there are some important items
missing and some which should be added to make your site
crawler-friendly.
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
You do not have a DOCTYPE Declaration and you should add one to every
page on your site.
2. Title and Alt Tags
----------------------
Put those title and alt tags to work for you! Use key word rich words
in both. Instead of repeating "The Wood Works Inc." in every page's
title, use descriptive words (terms you would like to be found under)
first in your page titles.
You have no alt tags on the graphics - you should use a descriptive
term relevant to the site content to describe them. This helps both
the search engine crawlers and anyone who may be browsing your site
with graphics turned off. The navigation within the image map is no
doubt part of the problems in getting your whole site indexed.
Google recommends using a text only browser, which will give you a
very sobering look at your site (and what it looks like, to some
degree, to search engine crawlers):
"Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site,
because most search engine spiders see your site much as
Lynx would. If fancy features such as Javascript, ...
keep you from seeing all of your site in a text browser,
then search engine spiders may have trouble crawling
your site." [From Google's Technical Guidelines]
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
Adding descriptives to the alt tags will give the crawlers something
to 'index', since they cannot read graphics - it also makes your site
more 'user-friendly' and will help with accessibility issues.
==========================================
Important Google Links For Your Reference
==========================================
I am including important links from Google's site. This information
will help you understand Google's goals and responsibility to the web
searcher (and not the webmaster or site owner).
Webmasters who follow the guidelines and avoid Google's "Thou shalt
nots" usually have no problem getting listed and showing up under the
search terms they desire.
* Google Today (absolutely the best information you
can read about the "how and why" of Google's results
- ://www.google.com/corporate/today.html
* How Do I Get My Site Listed on Google?
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html
* My Web Pages Are Not Currently Listed (a good 'primer'
on how and why Google works so well)
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html
* PageRank Information (covers both Google's PageRank and
SERPS)
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/4.html
* Webmaster Guidelines (contains both the dos and don'ts)
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
* Google Facts & Fiction (can you buy your way to a
high ranking in Google?)
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/facts.html
* Search Engine Optimizers (some good advice on what to look
for if you're going to hire a Search Engine Optimizer)
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html
* Frequently Asked Questions (pretty much what it says, but
definitely worth wading through)
- ://www.google.com/webmasters/faq.html
================================
Other Sources of Information
================================
There is also 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 of the 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.
======================
Summary
======================
Your site is listed with Google, but only your home page, which is
because of some design features which can easily be fixed using
Google's Webmaster Guidelines.
While you do have some good content, remember to include relevant
content on each page in order to increase your chances of being found
among the millions of pages in Google's index.
The basics, good HTML, content, content & content, and relevant links
to and from your own page help increase the chances as well.
Search technologies ~
======================
Except for the particular search on the term you mentioned in your
question, "wright flyer", and for your own site, "www.woodworks3.com",
I relied on bookmarked material and my familiarity with resources used
on a regular basis.
With a little work and site "cleanup" to make it more user-friendly
(and therefore more search-engine friendly), plus the addition of
links from relevant sources, your site should be able to rank better
in Google's index.
Best of luck to you,
Serenata
Google Answers Researcher |
