RSS Underground - RSS Resources - Dynamic Directory - Article Menu

Featured RSS Underground Sitemaps Article

Why To Use Google Sitemaps

Why are sitemaps important? Sitemaps help search engines to better crawl your web site. Sitemaps are an easy way to tell the search engines about all the pages on your web site, which pages are most important to you, and when those pages change, for a smarter crawl and fresher search results.

In this article, we'll cover how to create and submit a sitemap of your web site to Google Sitemaps.

What the giant says itself: "Google Sitemaps answers questions you might have about how Google sees your site. For example, you can learn about errors (such as if we're having trouble crawling your pages) and statistics (such as and what search queries return your site in the results)."

Search engines find information about your site by using software known as "spiders" to crawl the web. Once the spiders find a site, they follow links within the site to collect information about all the pages. The spiders revisit sites regularly to find new or changed content.

"Google Sitemaps is an experiment in web crawling. By using Sitemaps to inform and direct our crawlers, we hope to expand our coverage of the web and speed up the discovery and addition of pages to our index."

A Sitemap file doesn't replace search engines' normal methods of crawling the web, it simply gives additional information.

Google Sitemaps is a beta program, so it cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when or if your URLs will be crawled or added to Google's index. Over time, Google expects both coverage and time-to-index to improve as they refine their processes and better understand webmasters' needs.

Register for a special 19 page Free Report on PDF that discusses article marketing and how real content will help you keep your site from getting banned! You'll also receive the highly acclaimed Article Marketing News Newsletter! It's free! Sign up today!

You can see statistics and errors about your web site if you have a Google Account. Even if you don't have a sitemap, you still can see the statistics and errors about your web site. You can simply add your web site to your account and verify ownership of it.

Let's get started:

1) Create a Google Account. You can create a Google Account at www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps. See the right side of the Google's page to continue.

2) Log in with your Google Account and add your web site's URL.

3)Verify your site ownership. If you can upload a verification file to the same location as your Sitemap or to the site's root, Google considers you a site owner and will show you site details.

4) Create a Sitemap in a supported format (you can use sitemap generators).

5) Add the Sitemap to your Google Sitemaps account.

6) Congratulations! You are done!

I recommend you to update your sitemap when your site changes. When you've updated your sitemap file, remember to resubmit your sitemap in your Google's account, too. I hope this article was useful!

About the Writer of this Article

Visit Manfred-Knows.com to read more articles about SEO. Manfred-Knows.com also provides SEO tools (including Sitemap Generator).

Google Sitemaps for Newbies and Professionals

The Google Sitemaps is a new program that allows webmasters to create a sitemap of their site. Why is it worth the extra trouble? Well, partially because the web site masters don’t have a choice, but also because it leads to the two things that can improve search engine ranking: it’s easier for Google to index all the pages (thus avoiding the problem of accidentally ‘skipping’ key information) and it’s easier to upload new and relevant content.

Essentially, you use the XML program. That’s easy enough for webmasters. After that, three options await—ranging from the simple and straightforward, to what we’d like to call “Challenging”.

Let’s start with challenging. Of course that’s a relative term; if you’re so comfortable wit your server and so smart you can install scripts in your sleep, then this won’t be much of a problem. You use Google’s Python Generator. You’ll need to install this, and that requires a little more technical know-how than reading “IT Management for Dummies.” How does it work? The search engine gives you a link to a generator. Download this link, and set it up on your server. While you go off and get yourself a well-deserved cup of coffee, the computer does it thing and you come back and find that your sitemap XML file has been automatically fed to Google. Once that’s done, open a Google Account so you can follow your sitemap’s progress and read any diagnostic data. Or, alternatively, you can sign in using your accounts for GMail and Google Alerts.

Not too keen on Python Generator? Not a problem. Use is a PHP Code Generator. This program spiders your site, then takes charge of developing the XML sitemap file. Cool—it does everything for you! Except you’ll have to have a basic understanding of PHP files and scripts, or you’ll be lost. Not something for the average Joe (or Jane) who just wants to make a personal web site, but relatively simple for professional webmasters or a particularly smart weekend tekkie.

If you think Python Generator and PHP are way too complex, or just too complicated, don’t panic. You still have plenty of options—the numerous free online generators that are all over the web, ready to rescue you from the hassles of XML sitemaps. Google itself keeps a directory of these third party suppliers (for lack of a better word), so just visit its web site or Google them yourself.

One such option that is provided by XML-Sitemaps requires minimal supervision. Click it, and let it spider your site and index as many as 500 pages into a handy sitemap XML file. (Although, if you really do have 500 pages, it may be a good idea to get a webmaster—that’s a lot of content to handle on your own. Then you can make him worry about the XML sitemaps for you.)

Once the sitemap is generated, these programs will also let you download files and make minor changes. Another advantage: you can establish the priority of the pages, indicate the kind of frequency you want and adjust it accordingly, and other nifty features that give you more control over your web site. If you are doing daily updates, however, you should use PHP or Python Generator.

Upload the file to your web site, tell Google Sitemaps that you’ve “done the deed”, and let the hits come.

Why Google Sitemaps is a Win-Win Situation for Webmasters

The process of informing search engines about new pages in your web site or about new web sites in your care can be quite a time consuming task. The submissions process is just way too much trouble for its own good that even the search engines have realized that it is a path not worth pursuing and completely stopped using this method a long time ago.

There have been many innovations presented since then as a way of simplifying the submission process and eliminate most of the drudgery that has been associated with this task. With the development Google Sitemaps, the process has indeed been a big help to many webmasters and business owners. In fact, many people contend that Google Sitemaps is probably the most important development on the internet since the RSS, blogs and ping.

RSS, weblog and ping had actually been used by webmasters as tools in informing search engines about new additions to their web sites even though this function was not the primary purpose of the aforementioned innovations. Of course, Google Sitemaps is so much faster and easier to use compared to the said systems and this is the reason why it has risen in popularity and is now acknowledged as the most effective way of updating a web site to search engines. In fact, this new innovation of using sitemaps for the search engine submission process has become a very vital part of operating a web site and a webmaster can ignore it at his own risk.

There may still be some sceptics who may still not believe that a sitemap method of submitting new web pages or new content to a web site is very effective. One reason why using the sitemap method like Google Sitemaps is that the technology was developed from the ground up with solely one primary goal, which is to alert and direct the Google search engine spiders to the web pages that you have specified. All the other methods are considered as indirect and submissions to search engines are not their primary purpose either.

Clearly, using Google sitemaps provides a win-win situation for webmasters and online business owners.

First, Google sitemaps limits the huge waste of the resources needed to crawl web site that have not changed. The technology allows webmasters to inform Google which pages have changed or if there are new content added to a web site and then direct Google’s spiders directly to those pertinent pages.

Google Sitemaps also radically speeds up the process of discovery and addition of pages to Google’s web site index. This can only be achieved if you use the technology and nothing else.

Google Sitemaps offers a level of usability that is different from conventional sitemaps because it offers a directory of all the web pages in the web site that the webmaster or online business owner wants the search engine to visit.

Without the assistance of sitemaps like Google’s, it may become hard for a web page to be found by the search engine crawlers. There is even a chance that the page may not be found at all.

Sitemaps and SEO - Do Sitemaps Help Your Google PageRank?

With the millions and millions of web sites in existence today, how do you get yours noticed? The most common way is for it to be high up in the rankings of useful and relevant web sites. Google is the most widely used search engine today. When someone keys in a search term on Google, you can only hope that your web site comes up in the first ten pages of results. You do not have to sit there and just hope, though. There are a number of things you could do to improve your chances of being noticed.

Google came up with a system to determine how important a web site is. Everyday, Google’s automated programs called spiders “crawl” the World Wide Web. The purpose is to index all the existing web pages out there. The information these spiders gather is used as the basis for calculating what Google calls PageRank. This concept was developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Stanford University.

What exactly is PageRank? It is an algorithm which assigns numerical weights to linked pages. The higher the figures, the more important the page is. The PageRank is resultant of how many pages link to your own page. It is of no use to make bogus incoming links to your page though. Google gives more weight to more reputable sites that link to your page. Bogus and paid incoming links can actually be detected. The algorithm takes into account all incoming links – both external and internal.

This is where sitemaps come into the picture. As can be gathered from the name, sitemaps are basically a guide to what can be found in your web site. It is a page within your site wherein the user can see the overall structure and informational content. It contains links to all the pages in your web site.

Will providing a sitemap increase your Google PageRank? The answer is simple: yes it may. As mentioned earlier, the PageRank system also takes into account internal links. The more pages you have in your web site, the higher you PageRank. A word of caution is necessary here. Pages should contain original content and not simply be copies of each other. Otherwise, your PageRank may actually decrease. As the spiders follow links to get to web pages, a sitemap will actually facilitate the “travel” of these spiders within your site. If each of the pages on your web site are interconnected and are easily accessible from one page, then chances are the spiders will find the necessary information faster and easier. Experts suggest that you put only a maximum of 100 links in one page. If you have more than that number of links, you should create different sets of sitemaps. In order for the idea of the sitemap to really work, you need to provide a link to the sitemap on every page on your web site.

The keys to increasing your PageRank are fairly simple. Include original content in as many pages as you can. Link your pages together. Create a sitemap to make navigation easier. Provide links to the sitemap for each page. This way, both user and spiders can find all the information that you have to offer.

The Newest Features of Google Sitemaps

Google has announced the addition of some truly useful features to make Google Sitemaps an even better tool for the web. They’ve given their site a facelift and made it easier to navigate. They asked for feedback and they listened. Hopefully, the result is something everyone will love.

A feature that many webmasters will be happy to know about is the notification of violations. No longer will they be left in the dark about what is happening. They will know if they have violated the webmaster guidelines and why.

The rules are pretty simple. Create your site that is truly helpful to your users and avoid doing naughty things just to increase your ranking. Linking to bad sites, hidden texts or links, installing viruses, trojans or other “badware” are just a few of the reasons why your URL will not be included in any Google index.

You don’t even need to look far to know if you have a violation. Google notifies you directly on the summary page of your account. They also place a link to webmaster’s guidelines so you can double check that your site is once again in proper form to be included in Google’s index – this is the second new feature.

Google does not want to exclude any sites that are good. It is possible that the violations were unintentional. It may even be that the webmasters truly have overlooked some items on their site. Google says clean it up and get the chance to be re-included.

Re-inclusion is absolutely simple and easy. Once you see the violation notification, check what needs to be fixed. Correct the item that Google felt is a violation of their rules. Now all you need to do is click on the request reinclusion link on your summary page, or the link at the Google Sitemap home page, and fill out the form. Just don’t forget that you don’t need to request reinclusion if you haven’t received a violation.

If you’re a new webmaster and need a helping hand, Google has a help center for webmasters. It has all the information you need to know about Google Sitemaps. If you have questions about Googlebot, crawling, indexing, ranking and the like, this is the place to go. If the answer you’re looking for isn’t there, no worries; the Google Sitemaps community is there to interact with as well.

By the way, not everybody by the way receives a notification of violation. Google has chosen not to notify certain webmasters of their penalty in certain cases. For example, they will not notify a spammer that he’s been caught. Doing so will only alert him that they have caught on to his game and possibly trigger his making even sneakier ways to get in.

On the whole, these improvements are wonderful additions and long overdue. Google really wants to improve their services and the best way is for people to keep using their products and giving feedback. The team behind Google is definitely listening.

Hey, please visit the Internet Marketing web sites:

Content & Traffic System

Internet Marketing Blog

Recently Added Internet Related Articles:

Favorite Feeds - RSS Feeds are the latest in cutting-edge tools for alert webmasters. Globally, consumers are gobbling up this latest trend. The convenience of being able to monitor all of their favorite feeds in one place carries tremendous appeal. Webmasters and marketers find RSS feeds equally as attractive. The instant widespread distribution of content updates becomes a breeze with RSS feeds.

Content Sources - Before going further on explaining how to create AdSense web sites I will give my opinion on AdSense program. First, a quick review: the AdSense program from Google matches advertisers with Web site publishers who display simple text ads. Advertisers pay Google per click for results. Google shares the profits with Web publishers like you and me. It is clear now that AdSense was real revolution in Internet world.

Text Content - There is no dispute that affiliate programs are lucrative ways to make extra money whether you do it full time or part time. By all accounts you can make a very good living by affiliate marketing alone. However, don't be overzealous about some promises people make as there are alot of people who know the tricks of this business and try all avenues to lure you into selling thier products for a meager percentage of the sale.

Using Free Blog - The internet is notorious for it's fast paced evolution of practices, accomplishments and it's very nature. The evolutionary step, is the blog and the way it epitimizes todays global society generally. The hype surrounding blogging is absolutely incredible! Everywhere you turn there is someone elses tale about the unpresedented boom in blogging. It appears as if anybody from middle school children to senior people register their own blogs and article after article advocates blogs as the internet's present "big thing."

Content Management - Before you scrape off last year's dates and slap on next year's information, think about what you would think if you got the same old, same old in your mail or inbox. Remember the teacher in Charlie Brown? You could hear her voice but not what she was saying.

Content Traffic - Going into business is a hard decision to make for obvious reasons. The path to a successful business is littered with the remains of failed entrepreneurs. That path is made more treacherous when we lack knowledge. With the proper knowledge, we improve our odds and the chances of success. With internet business, the stakes are even higher.

Creating Quality Content - In the western side of the world and in developed countries, many business establishments have not only their physical building present in the business area but also their online stores. Everyone who has access to the internet can buy almost everything that he needs. Clothes, gifts items, book, CDs, VCD, DVDs, and even the food that he wants to eat, he can buy it on the internet.

Useful Content - Good, quality content can be summed up as offering useful information that is current and offers new or interesting points of view. There are several ways to accomplish this and writing articles is an excellent way of adding content but if you're not a writer, and believe me most people are not, there are several ways to add content that is not found everywhere, yet will offer a new, fresh perspective.

Article Google Sitemaps - Google has had a feature out for some time which allows webmasters to create a sitemap file to help Google's crawlers find and index content. It sounds like a great idea. After all, it's much easier to feed the crawler the content then hope it finds it on it's own.

Articles on the web

How to Use Online Data Storage at Home or at Work
Have you ever arrived at work, knowing that you needed a particular file you were working on at home, but you suddenly realized that you forgot it? There is perhaps no easier way to make sure that you always have the files you need than to enroll in an online data storage program. With a few [...]