Posted by Bill Chambers on September 11, 2006 at 1:33 PM
Almost all the info I've been reading on search engine submissions state that Links are very important in the SE analysis. What does this mean? Are they talking about how my pages are linked to one another, or talking about outside links to other sites.
Also, how does one go about getting their site linked to other sites? Is there a particular protocol or link etiquette involved?
Thanks.
Posted by Guy Tal on September 11, 2006 at 1:44 PM
I believe it's the number of other sites that link to your domain (not specific pages).
As far as linking with other websites it is usually common etiquette to contact the site owner and ask if you might link to their site in return for a corresponding link on their's.
Depending on who it is I'd shoot them an email and ask. Some of the bigger sites might expect something more than just a reciprocal link, but hey, you never know 'till you try.
BTW, nice opening page. I'm at work or I'd surf the rest.
I'll try to tackle both questions 1 and 2 here. I use meta tags to describe my site. They allow me to put in a description and keywords. When someone uses a search engine and my site comes up as link, the description and keywords are sometimes displayed along with the link to help the searcher decide if the site is really what they want. I put keywords on every page, but use the meta description tag only on my home page.
Having other sites link to your site is the best way to get indexed by search engines. I've never submitted any pages, yet over 80% of visitors to my site get there via a search engine. BTW, a robot is just a search engine's web crawler.
Because you have a www link on all your new NPN posts, you already have a link to your site, so I predict search engines will find you. However, some search engines will rank you based on the number and ranking of other sites that link to yours. If the gallery where you are displaying your prints has a site ask for a link to you from there. Also consider local chamber of commerce and photography organizations such as NANPA. Getting links from other low ranking sites (such as other photogs) isn't that helpful. What you really need are links from "important" sites.
This is a complicated topic, but I hope this will get you started.
Posted by Guy Tal on September 11, 2006 at 3:01 PM
You can check site ratings on alexa.com. This will give you an idea of some relative weight associated with links. NANPA may be very vocal in the photo community but their site's ranking is about the same as my personal site (around 600,000) so a link from them will not buy you much. NPN on the other hand is at around 16,500 - much much higher.
Guy
Posted by Richard Wong on September 11, 2006 at 3:39 PM
I'm ranked about 130,000 in alexa, but I think a link from NANPA probably carries more weight than from me because they are more relevant to you and probably have more backlinks from better sources. The purpose is for google to know which sites are more relevant and considered authority figures in the category. They refer to it as PR rank.
Posted by Josh Anderson on September 12, 2006 at 11:33 AM
Bill, your site is looking pretty good.
BTW, I clicked on the Quayside link and then clicked on the featured Artists and couldn't find your name. Maybe I just overlooked it b/c there were a lot of names on there.
Posted by Bill Chambers on September 12, 2006 at 1:49 PM
Hi Josh,
Being a co-op, Quayside is probably not the most efficient place in the world when it comes to web maintenance. They have my stuff, but just haven't gotten around to updating the website yet. Hopefully soon.
Posted by Martin Beebee on September 12, 2006 at 9:53 PM
Buried somewhere in Google's (and others’) search algorithm is the idea that if lots of sites link to yours it must be important. If lots of similar sites (i.e., nature photography) link to yours, it must be more important. If lots of already important sites (e.g., NANPA) link to yours, you must be really really important. The more important you are, the higher on the list you go. That’s just one tiny little piece of your ranking, of course, but they add up.
The only two relevant meta tags are “title” and “description.” All of the others (e.g., “keywords”) are ignored by the major search engines. Include them if you want, but there’s really no point.
By-the-way: you can also submit your site to search engines directly. Go to their site and look for "webmaster tools" or "suggest a site" or something similar. This just helps their searchbots index your site sooner.
Discussion
8 repliesAlso, how does one go about getting their site linked to other sites? Is there a particular protocol or link etiquette involved?
Thanks.
I believe it's the number of other sites that link to your domain (not specific pages).
Guy
As far as linking with other websites it is usually common etiquette to contact the site owner and ask if you might link to their site in return for a corresponding link on their's.
Depending on who it is I'd shoot them an email and ask. Some of the bigger sites might expect something more than just a reciprocal link, but hey, you never know 'till you try.
BTW, nice opening page. I'm at work or I'd surf the rest.
Cheers,
Alex
I suggest you Google HTML meta and start reading.
Here are my meta tags: (I had to take out the leading and following angle brackets to get them to display here.)
meta name="robots" content="index,follow"
meta name="description" content="David Schwaegler Photography provides stock images, digital images, nature photography by a professional photographer specializing in scientifically identified prairie, desert, and mountain flora and fauna."
meta name="keywords" content="stock images, stock library, digital images, wildlife, nature, photographer, photos, birds, butterfly, prairie, desert, mountains, flora, flowers, fauna, wildflowers"
meta name="copyright" content=" © David Schwaegler. All Rights reserved"
Having other sites link to your site is the best way to get indexed by search engines. I've never submitted any pages, yet over 80% of visitors to my site get there via a search engine. BTW, a robot is just a search engine's web crawler.
Because you have a www link on all your new NPN posts, you already have a link to your site, so I predict search engines will find you. However, some search engines will rank you based on the number and ranking of other sites that link to yours. If the gallery where you are displaying your prints has a site ask for a link to you from there. Also consider local chamber of commerce and photography organizations such as NANPA. Getting links from other low ranking sites (such as other photogs) isn't that helpful. What you really need are links from "important" sites.
This is a complicated topic, but I hope this will get you started.
Guy
BTW, I clicked on the Quayside link and then clicked on the featured Artists and couldn't find your name. Maybe I just overlooked it b/c there were a lot of names on there.
Being a co-op, Quayside is probably not the most efficient place in the world when it comes to web maintenance. They have my stuff, but just haven't gotten around to updating the website yet. Hopefully soon.
The only two relevant meta tags are “title” and “description.” All of the others (e.g., “keywords”) are ignored by the major search engines. Include them if you want, but there’s really no point.
By-the-way: you can also submit your site to search engines directly. Go to their site and look for "webmaster tools" or "suggest a site" or something similar. This just helps their searchbots index your site sooner.
Martin