Search Engine Optimization...

Xtreme2damax · #1 05-05-2008, 08:38 AM

I've been trying to get my website optimized for search engines and to increase my page rank.

I've looked at guides on search engine optimization and I seem to be doing what I need to do.

However I can't get my website to show up on Google, Yahoo, MSN etc... properly.

The only way my website is showing up on Google and other search engines is if I type in my domain name directly and only one or two results show up that are my website.

However when I type in any of my keywords associated with my website, my website doesn't show up.

Steps I have taken to make my website search engine friendly:

1. Installed an SEO URL rewrite mod for my Mybb based forum.

2. Created a sitemap of my website placed in the root directory of my hosting account.

3. Submitted my website manually to major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

4. Installed a meta tags/keyword mod for my Mybb forum.

However nothing is showing up on Google, Yahoo, MSN for my website when I type in any of the keywords for my website and I am barely getting any traffic or new members as a result of it.

Also it seems my website isn't being archived by the webarchive aka the way back machine.

My website is five month old and checking to see if my page has been cached by the webarchive turns up nothing.

striddy · #2 05-05-2008, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xtreme2damax

I've been trying to get my website optimized for search engines and to increase my page rank.

Have you signed up for Google Webmaster Tools. It's free and might help you.

http://www.google.com.au/webmasters/tour/tour1.html

Xtreme2damax · #3 05-05-2008, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by striddy

Have you signed up for Google Webmaster Tools. It's free and might help you.

http://www.google.com.au/webmasters/tour/tour1.html

Yes, I have had a Google and webmasters account for a few weeks now. I've already specified and submitted my sitemap to Google as well as verified my website.

I'm not sure what else the webmaster tools could be used for. I'm sort of a newbie at administering a website and being a webmaster so I am not sure what to do or what is wrong.

Goddess Dix · #4 05-05-2008, 03:25 PM

that is a bit of a mystery. sitemaps seem to help me quite a bit.

and i assume the seo-urls ends urls in .html or .htm, and not .php, or with query strings (i.e. ?action=whatever)....

are your keywords very generic? do you have good activity on your boards? and how often are the sitemaps submitted? i have sitemaps set up to autosubmit via cron jobs and when content is changed on my main site. and afterwards, i can see the bots crawling me regularly...

it is an ongoing process, but also sounds like you're covering the basics. also, you may want to start using your link in sigs and comments where it's allowed. links back help ranking as well as organic traffic, and if you participate on other sites that are related in content, that's even better.

Xtreme2damax · #5 05-05-2008, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goddess Dix

that is a bit of a mystery. sitemaps seem to help me quite a bit.

and i assume the seo-urls ends urls in .html or .htm, and not .php, or with query strings (i.e. ?action=whatever)....

are your keywords very generic? do you have good activity on your boards? and how often are the sitemaps submitted? i have sitemaps set up to autosubmit via cron jobs and when content is changed on my main site. and afterwards, i can see the bots crawling me regularly...

it is an ongoing process, but also sounds like you're covering the basics. also, you may want to start using your link in sigs and comments where it's allowed. links back help ranking as well as organic traffic, and if you participate on other sites that are related in content, that's even better.

Yes the seo-url's end in .html. How do I set my account up to auto-submit sitemaps using cron jobs.

Also is there a way to auto-generate sitemaps as well as auto-submit?

I have an image link to my website already in various forums that allow it, and my keywords aren't really considered generic.

Some search engines don't allow you to specify keywords when submitting your website to them.

Yahoo's and MSN's site submission forms are very basic (I don't remember how Google's form was.

slapshotw · #6 05-05-2008, 05:15 PM

In the webmaster tools, does Google say it has any trouble crawling your site? If you submit a sitemap.xml, the webmaster tools will tell you the 404s (errors) it encounters when crawling them. That can always be a clue.

Also, are you using very competitive terms? Are your keywords "defense lawyer"?

Xtreme2damax · #7 05-05-2008, 05:35 PM

I'll check my webmaster tools account for errors and post back here. What do you mean by:

Also, are you using very competitive terms? Are your keywords "defense lawyer"?

What would the definition of that statement/sentence be?

I found that google is indexing my website, however I must be way back on google search results.

site:www.xtemu.com

However these following tools/links turn up zero results, I don't think my page is being cached among other things:

[quote]link: Pages that link to your site's front page - link:www.xtemu.com
cache: The current cache of your site - cache:www.xtemu.com
info: Information we have about your site - info:www.xtemu.com
related: Pages that are similar to your site - related:www.xtemu.com

slapshotw · #8 05-05-2008, 05:45 PM

Defense lawyer was an example. What is your site about? It's *extremely difficult* to get ranked quickly on the most competitive terms without very very heavy SEO and great link building. "Defense lawyer" is an example of that, as is "red wine," etc...

Goddess Dix · #9 05-05-2008, 05:58 PM

it's a gaming site, not much activity on the forums yet. i took a look over in the site promotion eariler. i imagine most of it is about keyword competitiveness on this topic...

Xtreme2damax · #10 05-05-2008, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goddess Dix

it's a gaming site, not much activity on the forums yet. i took a look over in the site promotion eariler. i imagine most of it is about keyword competitiveness on this topic...

Thanks slapshot and goddess, can you suggest any unique keywords to do with my websites existing content?

Are keywords grabbed off of my websites content, or do I have to embed them in my website or submit them to a search engine with my site submission?

Theres not much activity in my forum other than a few members posting here and there. If I could get more traffic, it would probably increase the amount of new registrations and thus the content.

However, it does no good if I'm way back in search results on Google.

Teddy Rogers · #11 05-06-2008, 02:53 AM

Sitemaps and robots simply help spiders search the areas of your site you want them to see and include in search engine results.

The only way you can directly improve search results is if you use meta data/tags correctly and if people click through to you from the search page or have your site linked to on other sites.

Meta tag description is also important because Google and other search engines use this as a description of your site in the search result.

Example: you have a site on cheese, wine or whatever. You can use a meta tag description such as, "This is a site dedicated to the churning of many different types of cheese."

When someone puts in keywords such as, "how to churn cheese" and other phrases if your site is listed it would look something like this in Google (as an example):

Quote:

My Cheese Site: churn cheese by squashing cows in to cheesy pieces...
This is a site dedicated to the churning of many different types of cheese.
www.cheesywebsite.com/churningblue.html - 57k

Also be careful how you use meta tags, if you go crazy with keywords search engines such as Google can blacklist your site...

Ted.

striddy · #12 05-06-2008, 03:22 AM

Don't forget the "title" tag. It is one of the most important tags for you to be adding keywords to. Don't just use the meta tags for this. But you need to do this on a page by page basis.

Take a look at any high ranking site and you will see the title is well used.

Don't just put the company name, or some other plain vanilla text. Each "page" should have a different title.

I tried to check your site for how you are using the title tag just now, but it is giving the "500 internal server error".

Xtreme2damax · #13 05-06-2008, 03:44 PM

How do I auto generate and auto submit sitemaps using cron jobs? I found a free sitemap generator that can be run via cron jobs, however I am unsure how to set it up:

http://enarion.net/google/phpsitemapng/download

striddy · #14 05-07-2008, 04:35 AM

If you are using a CMS or Forum, check to see if there any plugins or addons available that generate site maps.

Goddess Dix · #15 05-07-2008, 02:27 PM

i use plugins for mine...my drupal has one that generates and submits, and for vb, i use the vbseo addon sitemap generator.

Xtreme2damax · #16 05-07-2008, 04:25 PM

Thanks for the tips, I did check and indeed there was a sitemap generator plugin for the specific forum software I am using.

Xtreme2damax · #17 05-29-2008, 05:04 PM

I'm working on getting content on my website, slowly but surely I'm getting new members. Some keywords/phrases turn my website up on the first page of Google a few results down, so I know I must be doing something right.