Set It And Forget It SEO
Posted 01-10-2008 at 12:03 AM by Josh Sommers
One thing I love about SEO is that there are so many opportunities to "set it and forget it." Sure marketing is an active process, but sometimes you need only to make one change for long term benefits.
Here are 3 things you can "set and forget" to help improve your search rankings, findability, and indexability.
1) Make sure you have an XML Sitemap!
Google/XML Sitemap: An XML sitemap is nothing more than a structured document that contains information about every page on your website. Instead of a search engine crawling your site hoping it sees all your content, you can make sure they find your content by actively submitting it to the search engines.
Many platforms can automate this process, here are some of the more popular platform plugins.
WordPress: WordPress Sitemap Generator
Drupal: gSitemap - Auto Sitemap Generator
vBulletin: vBSEO Sitemap Generator
Having an XML sitemap is one thing, getting it into the hands of search engines is another. There are a bunch of ways to do this.
2) XML Sitemaps and Robots.txt
First, and easiest is to modify your sites robots.txt file. Yes, that handy file that blocks search engines from viewing content you would rather not share with the world, can also make your sitemap findable! Simply add the following line to your robots.txt file. (You will need to modify it to point directly to your XML sitemap.) (More Info)
Now, when search engines like Google, Yahoo, Ask and others view your robots.txt file (and they all do) they will see your xml sitemap. They will now instantly see every page of your site without having to crawl through your content. This means faster indexing, and that means faster ranking!
3) Manually Submit Your Sitemap
If you are impatient like me and would rather not wait for the search engines to "Find" your sitemap, manually submit it!
I'm not going to go into detail (yet) on how to do this, but here is what your going to need.
Google: Webmaster Tools
Yahoo: Site Explorer
MSN: Webmaster Tools
I would love to hear your feedback! I love hearing stories about improved search engine findability and indexability!
Please DIGG This If You Found It Helpful
Here are 3 things you can "set and forget" to help improve your search rankings, findability, and indexability.
1) Make sure you have an XML Sitemap!
Google/XML Sitemap: An XML sitemap is nothing more than a structured document that contains information about every page on your website. Instead of a search engine crawling your site hoping it sees all your content, you can make sure they find your content by actively submitting it to the search engines.
Many platforms can automate this process, here are some of the more popular platform plugins.
WordPress: WordPress Sitemap Generator
Drupal: gSitemap - Auto Sitemap Generator
vBulletin: vBSEO Sitemap Generator
Having an XML sitemap is one thing, getting it into the hands of search engines is another. There are a bunch of ways to do this.
2) XML Sitemaps and Robots.txt
First, and easiest is to modify your sites robots.txt file. Yes, that handy file that blocks search engines from viewing content you would rather not share with the world, can also make your sitemap findable! Simply add the following line to your robots.txt file. (You will need to modify it to point directly to your XML sitemap.) (More Info)
HTML Code:
Sitemap: http://www.example.com/sitemap.xml
3) Manually Submit Your Sitemap
If you are impatient like me and would rather not wait for the search engines to "Find" your sitemap, manually submit it!
I'm not going to go into detail (yet) on how to do this, but here is what your going to need.
Google: Webmaster Tools
Yahoo: Site Explorer
MSN: Webmaster Tools
I would love to hear your feedback! I love hearing stories about improved search engine findability and indexability!
Please DIGG This If You Found It Helpful
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