Sitemaps for search engines (and for people!)
Search engine optimization (SEO) expert
Dr. Andy Williams has written a 21 page report
called "Sitemaps: The Missing Link of
Search Engine Optimization".
In it, he identifies the key features you'll
need in your website's site map if you want
to get the maximum mileage out of it.
FIRST... WHO IS ANDY WILLIAMS?
 He's
the creator of the highly regarded Sitemap
Creator which automatically generates
themed site maps. For the linking text, his
software uses the title of each web
pages and it creates a description
for each link using your meta description
tags (or your visible text if there's no meta
description). Then, before you upload the
newly created pages, you can change the order
of the listings so as to create themed
sitemap pages if you wish.
Fascinating software indeed!
But you can also create effective sitemaps
BY HAND -- if you know what you're doing.
So let's get into it.
YOUR TWO VISITOR TYPES
You have TWO types of visitors to your site:
search engine spiders and human visitors.
And BOTH are important.
The spiders must visit your new web pages
before they can be listed in their indexes.
And the people? -- aha, they're the ones
with the credit cards who will buy your products
or services.
So your site map needs to appeal to BOTH
groups.
After reading through Andy's report, here
is my "profile of the ideal sitemap".
- How does your site measure up?
- And what changes can you change to get better
results?
ANATOMY OF A SEARCH-ENGINE FRIENDLY SITEMAP
* It contains the links. No surprise here,
of course!
* Your new page's keywords are hyperlinked.
Include the most important keywords in clickable
text links. My example above shows how I did
this. Yes, text is better than graphics for
links purposes.
* You can add value to your human visitors
by adding a description of the linked page.
Andy's report illustrates how best to do that
on page 11.
* All the links on the sitemap page are theme-related.
So you may need several sitemaps, one for
each cluster of themed pages. You connect
all of these themed sitemaps together by having
one overall sitemap for your site.
* Link to your overall sitemap page from
your home page, so the search engine spiders
will be able to identify all your new pages
quickly.
Note: it's better NOT to submit your new
web pages directly to the search engines.
Let Mr. Spider find 'em on his own!
* By adding a little more information to
your overall sitemap, you've created a page
that the search engines will just love. On
page 13 of his report, Andy explains what
else to add.
FREE COPY OF THE SITEMAP REPORT
If you would like to know more, you can download
a copy of Dr. Andy Williams 21-page report
called "Sitemaps: The Missing Link of
Search Engine Optimization". It's in
PDF format and is available by subscribing
to eProfitNews. No charge, of course. http://eProfitNews.org
The report explains in non-technical jargon
why sitemaps are important to your success,
and how to do them properly.
GET THE EDGE
When you look at many sites, you'll probably
agree with Andy that the humble sitemap is
one of the "most under-rated SEO weapons".
And that's great news for you, because now
you know how to transform your sitemap into
the powerful weapon it can be.
Gary Harvey is the driving force behind
eProfitNews Internet Marketing Newsletter.
He's been helping people make money online
since 2001. Are you ready? http://eProfitNews.org
Copyright © Gary Harvey.
EZINE PUBLISHERS: This article is
also available in text format, set at 65
characters wide at search-engine-friendly-sitemaps.txt.
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