Greetings, Roger!
Before we start, I have to ask whether you have submitted your site
yet to Google and the Open Directory, since you don't say that you
did. Many people are under the mistaken impression that those two
entities, in their omniscience, will just find sites automatically.
While it *is* possible that someone's site may be indexed by Google
automatically when it follows a link from another site, the best way
to be sure that your site is found by Google is to submit the URL
yourself. A little bit later, I'll talk about how to submit to Google
and DMOZ/ODP.
First, though, let's take a look at your site to see if there are
things that you can do to make your site more friendly to Google and
other Search Engines.
META TAGS
-----------
You want to make your Page Title and Description work for you. These
are the first things that the Googlebot sees on your site. They should
contain the important, relevant words for your site, but not be *too*
long.
I highly recommend changing
<title>Technology policy - Roger Seaton. </title>
to
<title>Technology policy - Roger Seaton - Seaton Associates</title>
and
<meta name="description"content="technology policy, innovation,
applied to sustainability issues in transport, water resources and
waste management.">
to
<meta name="description" content="Roger Seaton of Seaton Associates -
consultant and writer in the areas of Technology Policy, innovation
applied to sustainability issues in transport, water resources and
waste management.">
SUB-PAGES
-----------
Google actually indexes words in URLs, so I recommend changing the
names of the following pages (and the links to them on your home
page):
Projects and Consultancy
http://www.seatonassociates.co.uk/page2.html
to
http://www.seatonassociates.co.uk/projects.html
Publications
http://www.seatonassociates.co.uk/page3.html
to
http://www.seatonassociates.co.uk/publications.html
LINKS and BACKWARD LINKS
------------------------
One thing that can help to make your site show up higher in Google
search results is getting some quality links from highly-relevant
sites. For instance, all of these pages refer to you:
http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/sims/waste/rogerseaton.htm
http://www.csiss.org/resources/maslucc/details.php
http://www.gnest.org/Countries/members.IDC?varcountry=unit
I encourage you to e-mail the webmasters of these sites and nicely
request that they add the URL of your website to their listing for
you.
What's more, if Wolverhampton College (
http://www.wolverhamptoncollege.ac.uk ) ever gets around to putting on
their website a staff directory like the one that Wulfrun College did,
you could ask them to include the URL of your website in your listing
there.
http://www.wolverhamptoncollege.ac.uk
If you can think of similar sites for which you've provided services
and which might be kindly disposed toward you, you may want to e-mail
them with this request as well.
SUBMITTING YOUR SITE
------------------------
Submitting your site to the search engines that really matter is a
fairly simple process.
Be sure to follow their instructions; for instance, some Engines
request that you submit only your top-level URL rather than every one
of your pages. Failure to follow the instructions can result in
lowered rankings or even in being blacklisted from a Search Engine.
DMOZ (Directory Mozilla/Open Directory Project):
A DMOZ listing is **critical**, because it will get you on ODP partner
sites (AOL Search, Netscape Search, Google, Lycos, DirectHit, and
HotBot, and hundreds of others).
You should first find the *one* category that best fits your site,
then click the "submit URL" link on that page. I recommend that you
choose one of the subcategories on this page:
http://dmoz.org/Science/Environment
http://www.dmoz.org/add.html
And here are the submission URLs for the rest of the Big Guys:
---------------------------------------------
Google:
://www.google.com/addurl.html
(Be aware that it may take a month or longer for your site to start
showing up on Google; however, since Google also uses DMOZ as a guide
to its indexing efforts, submission to DMOZ might speed that up a
little.)
---------------------------------------------
Yahoo, AllTheWeb (subject to editorial approval):
http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request
---------------------------------------------
Zeal (LookSmart/MSN free submission w/free registration)
http://www.zeal.com/users/register.jhtml
---------------------------------------------
About.com:
You should first find the category that best fits your site, then
e-mail the Editor of that Category to request inclusion:
http://home.about.com/gi/pages/homehc.htm#c4
Before Rating my Answer, if you have any questions about the above
information, please post a Request for Clarification, and I will see
what I can do for you.
Best Wishes on placement in Search Results and increased web traffic to your site!
aceresearcher |
