Part I of this article was published on December 20,
2004 and can be found in the SiteProNews Archives.
Setting up Your Blog for the Best Chances to Be Included in Google - and Your Best Bet For Staying In
Here are the top 8 items you need to be concerned with to get your blog prepared to be recognized and listed well
by Google. The 8th item will clarify one of the most important factors if you want to stay in.
1- The Location of Your Blog
Your blog is doing you the least amount of good on someone else's server. If you have Blogger, you can change from
the blogspot version to have Blogger FTP your files to your server for free.
2- The Links on Your Blog Template
By links, I don't mean what you link to when you post. I am specifically referring to the links in your blog. If
you don't edit your blog template to include links to the main part of your site, you're making a mistake. How is
Google going to find a link that isn't there?
Edit your chosen template to make sure there is at least one link from your blog directory to the rest of your site.
3 - The Frequency of Your Updates
A wise webmaster recently said that the best thing you can do for your search engine efforts is to add a new page
to your site a day, and to make one change to your site a day.
Why is this such great advice?
Because Googlebot does not need to re-spider your site if it never changes. It probably will - but I've noticed the
more there is a legitimate need for it to return, the more likely it is that you'll get re-spidered.
Posting to a blog, or an RSS feed, and leaving it to stagnate will bring you zero traffic. Furthermore, when people
see an abandoned piece of web real estate, they leave. It's like tuning into a TV channel and seeing "snow". Most
people can't stand it for more than a few seconds, and will either turn the channel, or turn the television off.
There are even shorter attention spans online, from both search engine robots and people. If you want either to
return, update constantly.
4 - The Right Keywords for Your Blog
When you're selecting keywords for your blog, your best bet is to pick keywords that have a medium to high yield
and low competition. The essential difference is this - would you rather be ranked #107 for "internet marketing"
and get no traffic, or be ranked number one for "learn internet marketing" and get a few hundred?
5 - The Placement of the Keywords on Your Blog
Here's where your primary keywords need to be:
- in the title
- in the description
- in your post titles where applicable
- in the name of the links to individual posts
- in the text that links your posts
If you look at the front page of my blog, you'll see the phrase "Free Traffic Tips" everywhere. And yet, the
pages don't sound ridiculous.
This is because I set up my blog so that every page and every post utilizes these words. If you set up your blog
correctly, and get in certain habits when you post, you'll find that your site will begin to rank for the term
that best matches your topic.
6 - The Length of Your Blog Posts
Always remember this. "Posts are paragraphs, sentences are spam." Your posts should be at least two paragraphs.
If there is little to no content on a page, there's no reason for it to be indexed unless it is the only page
available for that term.
The only time your post can be shorter than that, and still be effective, is if you're linking to something else.
It won't always work out that you'll have several paragraphs worth of content to discuss. But do your best to stay
above 90%.
7- The Frequency of Your Archives
Remember the wise webmaster's quote earlier? Well, here's a question - if one new and updated page on your site
is good, do you think creating or updating three pages of your site can be better?
It sure can.
Daily archiving makes a huge difference. If you have this option, use it. If you don't switch. If you need more
room on your server, get some. It's worth it.
When you combine daily archiving and having individual post pages, each time you post, your site generates a new
page for your post, updates the day's archive page (or creates it if it's the first post of the day), and updates
the index page of your site.
Combine these date-stamped pages with real content and you've got great spider bait.
8 - When, and Where You Are Linked
If you have Blogger, you'll want to make sure your blog is listed as "public", so that it will appear on Blogger's
recently updated blogs pages whenever you make a new post.
There is some speculation that this is what gets your blog spidered so quickly by Google if you use Blogger to
post. And the answer is yes, if you are willing to wait about 48 hours, this will get you spidered.
Once.
And IF your site is indexed, it will probably be dropped out the next day, if this is all you do. This has been
documented in public on other sites.
What hasn't been made public yet is that your best bet for staying spidered is frequent and regular updates. Let
Google know that you're not trying to use Blogger to spam its database. Provide useful content that updates at
regular intervals.
All these tips help you get ethical attention from Google. You don't need to do anything dishonest or underhanded
to get your site spidered, or listed. So, if your site fills a need that Google has for sites, and you have a
quality site, you can get listed.
With just these tips. you have enough to get a good blog into Google.
It'll be up to you to stay in.
About The Author
Can you really get spidered by the Googlebot in less than 24 hours? Is there more you can do to get your blog into
shape for inclusion? What if you're using another blog system? Find out more at
FreeTrafficTip.com .
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