Hi Steve,
I had a look at the souce code of your page, and didn't find anything
amiss there, so my next step was to give the index a shot by using
your URL as my query.
It was there that I discovered your problem: You're not linked from
anyone, and nobody has mentioned your site on their pages, so the
Googlebot can't find you.
The Googlebot travels the web by jumping from link to link, indexing
based on links to and from a page, and content in linked pages.
According to the current index, no one else is pointing at you -
you're all alone with your pretty coastline picture. As far as the
Googlebot is concerned, you're not even there:
"The best way to ensure a high listing on Google 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."
[...]
"When a URL is submitted to Google, we look for it in our next crawl.
If you've already submitted your URL, your site could easily appear in
our new index, which will go up when the current crawl is completed.
However, if no other site links to yours, it may be difficult for our
crawler to find you. Conversely, if many sites link to your page,
there is a good chance we will find you without your submitting your
URL."
[...]
"If we have not picked up your site and it has been several months,
then it is likely that our spiders are not able to find your site. The
ONLY way a site is included in our index is if our crawlers are able
to find it by jumping from link to link on the Web. If we have not
found your pages, it is because we have not encountered any links on
the web pointing to your site. This is not to say that no sites on the
Web contain links pointing to your site - it simply means that no
sites found by Google contain links pointing to your page. If you
increase the links pointing to the page, Google will likely find your
site in the future."
I've submitted my site to Google and it's still not listed. Why?
://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html
Don't feel bad. My business page isn't indexed either, for the exact
same reason - not uncommon for a new page or a page with an unassuming
owner. There are ways you can fix this, though!
The first thing you need to do is get the word out on the web about
your business. You have a sizable client list, why not start with
them? Ask your clients if they would give you a link from their pages
- perhaps on a credits or contributors' page. Ask that the link be
phrased to include what you did for them: "Database design by Steve
Buchanan - TechCoastDesigns" (with the link pointing to your page),
for example. The link doesn't even need to be big. A small, 5 point
type hyperlink on a client's page is enough for the Googlebot to find
- it's looking for those <A HREF> tags, not the <FONT SIZE> tags.
Another way to get listed in Google is to submit your site to Yahoo
and DMOZ, both of which partner with Google:
"Google partners on the Web include Yahoo! and Netscape. As part of
our agreements with these sites we include the sites in their
directories (Yahoo! and DMOZ) in the Google index. If you are having
difficulty getting listed in the Google index, 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 you can
expect to see it appear in the Google index in four to eight weeks."
What else can I do to get listed in Google?
://www.google.com/webmasters/1.html
Keep in mind that the Googlebot doesn't pay any attention to <META>
tags. It likes links, and lots of them - it's just a little spider,
and likes a good map of where to go next!
Another way to help get listed is to ask your friends to link you.
Many webmasters maintain "friends" listings on their pages. It's
especially helpful if any friend that links you is already included in
the index, and uses either your full business name or your full name
in the text of the link.
Submit to DMOZ and Yahoo, gather some friendly links, re-submit to
Google, then be patient. It might take a little time to get listed,
but with a few well placed links, we'll be finding you in the Google
index too!
If you need further assistance, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll be
happy to help!
Good luck!
--Missy
Search terms: none. I keep the Google Help pages bookmarked. |
