NeatClubs.COM is designed to generate sitemaps in the format required by Google. Google employs an XML based technology called site maps to help Google classify content. A “sitemap.xml” file should be automatically generated for your site. To verify that you have a sitemap.xml file to assist google with classifying content on your site, visit the sitemap.xml file on your own site:
You will see some XML code appear starting with the string “- <urlset>”. If you see this, your sitemap is being generated properly. NeatWorx automatically registers your site with Google when we configure your service. You can make sure that Google is aware of your site, by entering the following into the google search engine via your browser:
Site:myclub.com will show the pages in your site that are indexed in the Google search engine. If Google does not return any pages, please contact support@neatworx.com since this means that Google is failing to index your web-site.
Link:myclub.com will show the various sites on the internet that have a link to your site. Having additional sites link to your site helps your search engine ranking. Having popular sites that link to your site is especially helpful.
Info:myclub.com typed into the Google search engine will provide information that Google has about your site.
Related:myclub.com shows websites that Google considers similar to your site.
Below are some steps you should take to optimize your web-site placement in Google.
| ▪ | The first recommendation is to implement Google sitemaps – this is done for you automatically, so no need to worry about this! |
| ▪ | One of the most influential items on your web-page is what appears in your <title> HTML tag on your site. For NeatClubs / NeatWorx sites, this is the name of your web-site. To have Google include additional search terms consider adding a few words to your web-site organization name as defined under “System Setup” / “Website Layout & Preferences” / “A-Organization Name” – For example, instead of calling your club “Moonlight Bay”, call your club “Moonlight Bay Competitive Figure Skating Ajax Ontario”. These additional words will give Google more content to search on. |
| ▪ | Provide search engine “hints” under “site Metatags” under “System Setup” / “Website Layout & Preferences” / “B-Website Setup Information”. Provide a list of comma delimited words here that will be included in your sites metatags. Although Google claims not to put much wait on these search terms, they clearly examine them since values entered here show up in an “info” Google search. |
| ▪ | Note that graphics, DHTML and Flash are unreadable by Google. Therefore in addition to the fancy graphics on your home page, it is useful as well to have some written text. The written text helps Google classify your content and ensures that your site will respond to more search terms. |
| ▪ | Publish articles on other sites and have them link back to your site – this will help improve your search engine ranking. Persuade other website administrators to link to your site in return for you linking to their site. |
| ▪ | Check your web traffic analysis and see what keywords are generating Google links to your site. You can often find new keywords that you had not thought if and you can then adjust your content to make these keywords more prevalent in your web pages. |
For best results, you should submit your site as well to other search engines. Quick links to some of the leading search engines and their interfaces to add new search sites are included below:
| • | AltaVista http://addurl.altavista.com/addurl/default |
| • | MSN Search http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx |
| • | Open Directory Project (ODP) Find an appropriate category and submit to it |
| • | WiseNut http://www.wisenut.com/submit.html |