A little research today on counties that are taking too long to be indexed led me to the conclusion that the speed of indexing is driven primarily by what Google calls the site "Authority" which is based heavily on the links to that site from other higher authority sites. I'm working on determining what other sites are linking to our county sites (old and new locations) and requesting updates where there is a means to do that. For example, I found that CyndisList has obsolete links for several of our counties and I've already request those changes. As a result this process I'm going through, some of you may hear from me privately if I find incorrect links (for example, in your neighboring county section if you have one). I think this effort will bear fruit by causing Google to more frequently visit our sites and update their search index. By the way, the other search engines also use similar criteria. If any of you have SEO expertise, I'd love to hear any other suggestions you have to improve how the search is working for us. Mike St. .Clair

I tried the Google Search from IDGENWEB home page on my counties, Mike. It works just fine! As for SEO, have you submitted a sitemap to Google? Google responds well and quickly to site maps. I have one personal web site that just wasn't getting indexed even though it has about 130 web pages. I contacted Google and asked what the problem might be. They said I needed to submit a sitemap. I did so and, Bingo, within a week all 130 pages were indexed by Google. My experience has also been that Google doesn't index links on pull down menus. I got rid of my pull downs and made relative links to pages on another personal site. Bingo again! Check it out at http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ I just tried a sitemap for IDGENWEB and 68 pages were indexed on an XML sitemap for the main site. It did not pick up the county sub-folders so any CC interested in submitting a sitemap to Google would have to do so seperately. Mitch ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike St. Clair/ST" <mike@saintclair.org> To: <idgen@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 3:32 PM Subject: [IDGEN] FYI: Search Engine Effectiveness >A little research today on counties that are taking too long to be indexed >led me to the conclusion that the speed of indexing is driven primarily by >what Google calls the site "Authority" which is based heavily on the links >to that site from other higher authority sites. I'm working on determining >what other sites are linking to our county sites (old and new locations) >and requesting updates where there is a means to do that. For example, I >found that CyndisList has obsolete links for several of our counties and >I've already request those changes. > > As a result this process I'm going through, some of you may hear from me > privately if I find incorrect links (for example, in your neighboring > county section if you have one). I think this effort will bear fruit by > causing Google to more frequently visit our sites and update their search > index. By the way, the other search engines also use similar criteria. > > If any of you have SEO expertise, I'd love to hear any other suggestions > you have to improve how the search is working for us. > > Mike St. .Clair > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IDGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

I tried the Google Search from IDGENWEB home page on my counties, Mike. It works just fine! As for SEO, have you submitted a sitemap to Google? Google responds well and quickly to site maps. I have one personal web site that just wasn't getting indexed even though it has about 130 web pages. I contacted Google and asked what the problem might be. They said I needed to submit a sitemap. I did so and, Bingo, within a week all 130 pages were indexed by Google. My experience has also been that Google doesn't index links on pull down menus. I got rid of my pull downs and made relative links to pages on another personal site. Bingo again! Check it out at http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ I just tried a sitemap for IDGENWEB and 68 pages were indexed on an XML sitemap for the main site. It did not pick up the county sub-folders so any CC interested in submitting a sitemap to Google would have to do so seperately. Mitch ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike St. Clair/ST" <mike@saintclair.org> To: <idgen@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 26, 2010 3:32 PM Subject: [IDGEN] FYI: Search Engine Effectiveness >A little research today on counties that are taking too long to be indexed >led me to the conclusion that the speed of indexing is driven primarily by >what Google calls the site "Authority" which is based heavily on the links >to that site from other higher authority sites. I'm working on determining >what other sites are linking to our county sites (old and new locations) >and requesting updates where there is a means to do that. For example, I >found that CyndisList has obsolete links for several of our counties and >I've already request those changes. > > As a result this process I'm going through, some of you may hear from me > privately if I find incorrect links (for example, in your neighboring > county section if you have one). I think this effort will bear fruit by > causing Google to more frequently visit our sites and update their search > index. By the way, the other search engines also use similar criteria. > > If any of you have SEO expertise, I'd love to hear any other suggestions > you have to improve how the search is working for us. > > Mike St. .Clair > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IDGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >