Google sitemap

[Papoloko]

Does Google sitemap help at all in getting your site listed?

I did put up a sitemap about 2 weeks ago but all Google index is my home page and the only other thing they show is a link for christmass font, I don't even know what that christmass font is about because I don't have a link with that name in my site.
MSN is catching up with more pages but Google and Yahoo all they show is my main page. Can anybody help me with this issue?

[bear]

I didn't see a link from the main page to a sitemap?
It would also help quite a bit to have some meaningful text on that first page, and have links to the rest of the site anchored in that text.

[Tyler]

I didn't see a link from the main page to a sitemap?

http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/siteoverview?hl=en

How are you generating your sitemaps? And to answer your question, yes they should dramatically increase rankings if you send Google most if not all your URLs :)

[Papoloko]

bear,
I didn't know you was supose to link to the sitemap file. Should I make an html page with the site map file linking to it?

When you say meaningful text, do you mean mentioning all the diferent photo album, videos and the forum with anchored key words links in the text pointing to them?

My site is mainly photos and videos about my jetski. The forum was an experimental addition but if I can't get people to go the site, I figure, it would be even harder to get them to my forum. I'm trying to get the website going first and then I will work on the forum. Your help has really given me a new horizont and I'm going to redo my home page. Thanks

How are you generating your sitemaps?
Tylerclaus,
I used the free one, GSiteCrawler-102. The sitemap was verified by Google.

[bear]

bear,
I didn't know you was supose to link to the sitemap file. Should I make an html page with the site map file linking to it?I haven't used the Google sitemap, but any time I've made one, I've linked to it from every page, especially the index. When pages get linked to each other, they get found easier...

When you say meaningful text, do you mean mentioning all the diferent photo album, videos and the forum with anchored key words links in the text pointing to them?
Pretty much exactly that. Here's an example (generic, yet overdone):
"We went <jet skiing> on <Goodyear lake> and took some <exciting photos> using the <brand> of jet ski."

That's a bit over the top, but gives the general idea. Link short phrases that might be used to locate your site on the SE's.

[Papoloko]

Hey bear, you sure got me going yesterday. I wrote a long article for the home page. It was hard, I'm not a writer but I was able to do it half decent and then I wrote a whole different page in html. I got a temporary sitemap link too. Lots more content now. Me very happy!

The only thing that I don't know how to do is the anchored key part. The true is I don't even know where to start. I will search for info on how to make them tomorrow but I do have plenty words in there for later.

I only sleep 2 hours last night and my wife may divorce me because I wouldn't leave the computer and take her out on "Christmas Day". I appreciate the help you been giving me. Thank you and Merry Christmass to you and your family.:smooch:

Papoloko

[Scott]

I've used Google Sitemaps and found they have helped in getting threads listed in google. A good mod exists for both IPB and vB (I think) which generates the sitemaps - a worthwhile install if you ask me.

[bear]

Well done on adding the content! By anchor text, I'd suggest something like this:
" A good video to watch is the one called "Crossroads at Dawn". This one will give you an idea of what a part of the Colorado River, "The Parker Strip" area, look like at 6 AM, in a cloudy day, from our campsite at Crossroads Campgrounds."

Just link the bold bits (they don't need to be bold on the page) to the relevant page/video. This would help the SE to find it, as well as classify or associate it with those keywords. Just try to pick out the short phrases that are important, and use those to link to the content they describe.

[Papoloko]

Well done on adding the content! By anchor text, I'd suggest something like this:
" A good video to watch is the one called "Crossroads at Dawn". This one will give you an idea of what a part of the Colorado River, "The Parker Strip" area, look like at 6 AM, in a cloudy day, from our campsite at Crossroads Campgrounds."

Just link the bold bits (they don't need to be bold on the page) to the relevant page/video. This would help the SE to find it, as well as classify or associate it with those keywords. Just try to pick out the short phrases that are important, and use those to link to the content they describe.
Got the catch of making the anchor text link and I'm getting there but just today I discover that I had made a mistake when I first created the site. All the photo album were at a 4 level structure. I didn't know it would make a difference. Today I got an email from some SEO explaining the structure thing and I had to go and change lots of things.

I made a full article for the Lucky Ghost page and I ran out of space. To finish that article I'm going to make another page. Who know... I may end up learning to write :joker:

Now I got to make a new sitemap with the new links arrangement, submmit it and hope for the best.

Another thing, I was using all bold letters on everything readable in the pages because the letters look more solid, easy to read and I like that look better but, from what I been reading, that could offend the robots. I went back and changed the main articles to regular letters. Does it make any difference? I will let you know how I'm doing. Thanks. Papoloko

[spechackers]

yes it does, googlebot first searches for sitemap and do also keep a track of your robots.txt file.

[Papoloko]

yes it does, googlebot first searches for sitemap and do also keep a track of your robots.txt file.

You guys were right. My site pages are starting to show up in the SEs. Google has taken longer than the others, maybe it's due to the page ranking thing. MSN has been the fastest to pickup my pages so far.

I have been working day and night optimizing all the pages in the last few days and I have learned quite a bit... Still going at it.

bear got me started on it and now I don't know how to stop. It's addicting, I just keep on getting link coming to my site and changing the pages. Thanks guys for all the advices. Papoloko