Optimising your Web Pages 2
Please note this article was first published in 17 Aug 2009. Its content may now be out of date. We recommend taking a look at more recent website building blog posts or check out our comprehensive support pages. If you are looking for information on our 14 day free website builder trial we have a large number of webpages that guide you throug the process.
Optimising your Web Pages 2
As we discussed in the last Blog, your Reason8 website is not only very clever when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation, but is also happy to work extremely hard, 24/7, to help you achieve the best position possible. However, there are a number of ways in which you can give it a helping hand.
Verifying your Site with Google and submitting a Sitemap.
search engines extra
Website verification is a must for any Website Builder. If you don’t have an account with Google, then now is the time to get one. Google relies on automated 'robots' or 'spiders' to crawl websites and capture information. However, this can take time and some pages, which are not “visible” enough, are never found. With billions of web pages to crawl, Google can't know when pages have been created or changed or which ones are most important, but we now have the opportunity to say, Hey! – Have a look at my site and here’s a map to help you.
As a thank you, Google will give you access to a whole set of Webmaster tools, which can help you boost your search engine optimisation even further. Verification also provides great security for your website by refusing access to its information to anyone else but you.
Lets get Verified !
Top left in any of your main control panel windows (Step 1,2,3 or 4) you will see the Google verify button.
Click this and you’ll be offered the choice to either Get a Google Account or go to an existing Google Account. Follow the steps to login or register your account. You’ll then be offered two ways to verify your site; “Add a Meta tag” or the option you need to select – “Upload an HTML file”. Google will then give you the name of a file to upload. Copy this file; go back to the Google Verify window in your control panel, paste in the file name and click Submit. DotGO will create and submit the file for you. Now go back to Google and click “Verify your site”. Google will then confirm your site's verification.
Your DotGO website will also create a “Sitemap”. This is basically a detailed map of your site, which also allows Google to see when you make changes to your pages. DotGO will give you the address for your sitemap, which you then need to give to Google. The address is simply your website address with ” /sitemap.cfm “ on the end. Now every time you rename, delete, change or create a new page on your website, DotGO will automatically update your site map and notify Google of your changes. Even if you don't change your website, DotGO will re-submit your sitemaps to Google every 14 days to make sure they have up to date information.
Links, Hyperlinks & Navigation
We’ve covered Navigation in previous Blogs. There are many types of links. Internal Links are those inside your website, which connect your pages to each other. A great tip is to put a HOME link at the bottom of each page you create. Search Engines particularly like External Links, especially if these links are created using keywords in your content. A short, keyword rich description of what you do or offer at the bottom of your pages with an external link to your domain can add great SEO visibility to your page. To do this, highlight your word or line and click the yellow “Insert Link” button. Choose Webpage > External Webpage > then enter your website address in the window provided – Choose NO in the Open in new window option.
Other links, which can help SEO are the links that connect your website to another external website. The links coming INTO your website from another are the most valuable. The more INCOMING links you get the better, as each one is seen by the Search Engines as a vote for your website.
The relevance of your Incoming Links can be important as well so ask for links from Websites, which are related to your industry, such as suppliers, associates, partner companies, organisations or skill qualification associations. You can offer reciprocal links back to participating websites as an incentive, payment or appreciation.
We'd love these blog pages to become a handy forum for all DotGO Web Builders, so please add your comments or questions and let's get chatting!!
Please remember, this article was first published 17/08/2009. The content may be out of date and you cannot post comments any more. Please check out our new blog.
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