Tag Archives: important
The Google Index New Webmaster Tools Feature Reveals Which of Your Pages Are Indexed
A widely asked question from webmasters for several years has often revolved around the notorious Google index and their sites placing within it. Is my site included? Has it been removed? Has that new page been indexed yet? What about that other one?
Fortunately for everyone, last month Google announced its attempts to answer some of these questions by publishing a new feature to its webmaster tools.
Found under the Health section of your webmaster tools account, the new Index Status report is able to tell you exactly how many pages it has included in its index.
Initially youll be given a graph showing the total number of URLs from your site that has been added to Googles index during the last year. Most sites will see a steady increase in the number indexed over time.
Under the advanced tab you are given access to far more useful information. Not only are you given the total number of pages indexed but also the total pages crawled, the pages crawled but not indexed and the attempted page crawls which were blocked.
It is broken down as so:
Total Indexed the total number of URLs from the site added to the Google Index.
Ever Crawled the cumulative total number of URLs on your site which Google has ever accessed.
Not Selected URLs which Google have chosen not to include in their index. This is often due to the URLs redirecting to other pages or containing content which is significantly similar to other pages.
Blocked by Robots – URLs which Google have attempted to crawl but were denied access due to being blocked within the sites robots.txt file.
It is important that you note that the figures provided are all totals. In that the figure for that particularly day meant that at that point in time, those number of pages are indexed or have been crawled. The figure doesnt suggest that number of pages were indexed that day. This is important for older sites with a large number of pages. Those sites may experience significantly large differences between the number of pages crawled and the number of pages indexed.
But what if your graph doesnt look like those above. What if your graph is showing spikes and valleys? Whilst a spiking and dropping graph would be the first indicator of possible indexation problems, the important thing to do is assess how and when the graph spikes.
Any variations in the charts could well be easily explained based on changes you have made to your site.
Changing your URL structure, setting up a high number of redirects or canonical URLs could well see a rise in the “Not Selected” count as well as a spike and drop with your total indexed count. Adding lots of new content to your site which is getting initially indexed will also cause variation in the charts.
It is important to assess any variations and see if there are legitimate causes behind these changes. If you have no clear idea as to why these counts may change then that is a fairly clear indication that there are technical issues with your site which need addressed.
The most useful function of the new feature is to allow webmasters to identify trends and discover whether Google is indexing their content. If Google is shown to be having difficulty indexing the site correctly this can be the first indicator that the site is having technical issues with canonicalization, duplicate content or other elements of your sites structure.
Although only once Google reveals exactly which pages are indexed or not will this tool be able to fully solve any indexation problems.
The Top 10 Ways to Build Backlinks
Backlinks are incoming links to a website or a webpage. They are also commonly referred to as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks and inward links.
Why are backlinks so important?
Backlinks are the most important factor for determining a websites search engine ranking. The number of backlinks is an indication of popularity the links themselves are synonymous to votes. The website with the most votes is the most important, and these websites rank higher on organic search queries in Google, Yahoo!, Bing and other search engines.
The backlinks themselves must meet several criteria. The links must be placed on relevant pages that hold a good search engine rank. Also, search engines do not just care about the number of backlinks, but how these links were achieved. If a website builds too many backlinks within a month, for example because they used a backlink purchasing service, then the search engine may discredit these links and the importance of the website because the backlinks were not created organically.
For these reasons, the quality of backlinks is more important than the quantity of links.
One of the best strategies to achieve more backlinks is a geometric link building strategy that requires a website to gradually build backlinks over time. Listed below are the top ten ways to attain more backlinks in order to improve the websites overall page rank and SEO.
1. Website Directories
Submit company information and website URL to online directories. These sites typically offer two options: users can submit basic information for free, or create an enhanced listing for a low monthly or annual cost.
2. RSS Directories
Submit feeds to company blogs and websites to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) directories for free or at a cost. Directory visitors can explore blogs and articles in specific industries and niches.
3. Press Release Distribution Sites
Submit news articles and press releases to free and/or paid news distribution websites. Depending on the website, services can include distributing articles to every major news site and search engine on the web, and giving detailed analytics of the press release.
4. Article Marketing /Article Directory Sites
Post articles and other content to these sites for more exposure, credibility and targeted traffic. A membership is typically required (for free or at a price).
5. Build Company Blog
Create a company blog (if it does not exist already) and create more content and posts. This will increase the probability of the articles being reiterated. Also, notable individuals could be interviewed in order to build readership.
6. Blog/Forum Commenting
Comment on blogs and forums that are relevant to a niche and have good page rank. Add a backlink in the signature line. Make sure that the website allows URL posting in the comments.
7. Guest Blogging
Offer to write free content for a website that is relevant to industry. In exchange, add a backlink in the byline of the article.
8. Social Bookmarking Sites
Utilize bookmarks that reference and share online resources on social media and other bookmarking sites. These communities allow people to discover and share content relevant to their interests.
9. Testimonials
Write testimonials for clients, suppliers and other collaborators and ask them to post it to their websites.
10. Joint Ventures/Partnerships
Ask friends, acquaintances, partners and the like to post the backlink URL to their webpage. Be sure to offer to reciprocate the favor.
Collectively, these ten recommendations will create an efficient and effective backlink building strategy. It is important to differentiate the links; use deep links that navigate to other pages on the website apart from the homepage. The most important takeaway concept is that quality beats quantity. Create backlinks that are relevant to an industry or niche. In the long-term this will boost search engine page rank.