Am i doing something wrong? - not sure how to get listed

[Garindan]

Hi all, i'm having trouble getting my site indexed, i'm fairly new to all the marketing stuff. I have been reading pages and pages of stuff and i think everythings ok. I have only just started making links back to my site. Any idea on the number of links usually needs? I know thats a really vague question but it's hard to just fill a site with loads of links! How do all those big guns with flash websites and very few links do it?

If i manage to get links on a couple of big sites can i hope to get indexed quite quickly? The owner of the business (a friend) is getting stressed thinking no one can see the site cos its not on google, and although i try to explain to him he doesn't have a clue about the net or pc's really and i'm getting all his stress back on me lol :(

Many thanks in advance for any help.

[tedster]

It normally takes just a link or two -- plus some time to establish trust (and that's like a technical term with Google!)

You mention Flash. The key here is that Google apparently will not trust any content in a Flash file, even though they technically "can" spider it. This is probbly because there's no current algorithmic way to sort out what would be visibile to the end user and what would be hidden from view. Also, a Flash movie does not need to have a page or url structure, so some content would only be revealed over time -- there's no way to send a search result directly to the relevant spot.

In short, a Flash file would be way too fertile an area for spamming and avoiding the guidelines Google wants followed.

So one key to getting a page with Flash content indexed is being sure to provide googlebot with an alternative version of the Flash content. In fact, by doing this you can also be making your page accessible to visually challenged users who are surfing with a page reader like JAWS. That's a good thing!

The basic approach can be relatively simple:

<div id="flashcontent">
A regular HTML version of the Flash content goes here.
It is what spiders and non-Flash user agents of all kind
will look at.
</div>

<script>
This script should detect if the user agent is Flash
enabled. If it is, then the script can use the DOM
to overwrite the content in #flashcontent with your
Flash movie.
</script>

If you do a search on SWFobject, you will discover available free scripts that have already been developed to take care of this task. The best of them will also check that the version of Flash is high enough and suggest an update when they are not. This approach can be 100% valid and avoid some of the complex workarounds such as Flash Satay and the like that have been developed.

One last thing -- it may be tempting to include some extra bits in the html that are not in the Flash content. However, this definitely goes outside Google's guidelines and if they see this in a check of your site, it could result in a major hit for spamming violations.

[Garindan]

Thanks for your reply. Sorry i only mentioned flash when asking how the big boys do it but yeah i suppose they often have html versions. My site is 99% html, i just have a few swf animations.

Gogglebot has visited the site already this month, but it is not indexed. What happens when goglebot visits? Is there a chance it will be indexed now? Or could something stop it being indexed?

Many thanks again :D

[martinibuster]

Links are a determining factor in popularity. For many reasons popularity is not a sign of quality in the offline world, but in the online world it is pretty much everything.

Unless you have a lot of press about your subject (assuming you aren't manipulating excessively-hehe), you won't get immediate satisfaction.

The slow way that sticks and is hard to dislodge, imo, is to provide quality and let a ton of people know about.

[Garindan]

Thanks again. So any ideas on googlebot visitin the site? Can i hope to have it indexed soon? Am i allowed to post a link on here so someone could tell me if i've done something wrong? I know theres no way of just making google index me but i'm really hoping for it to happen soon or the business owner is not going to be pleased :(((

Many thanks in advance as always :)

[tedster]

In my business we call it "managing client expectations." Ever since the sandbox effect reared its head a couple years ago, getting well ranked in Google became a waiting game for many or even most new sites. We inform our clients about this possibility (probability) right up front.

This is not something that happens because the developer messed up, it has been standard operating procedure for Google. They have various filters that dampen the new domain's appearance in the search results until the urls establish what Google sees appropriate signs that they can be trusted.

We've got so many posts around here on the Google sandbox effect, that I wouldn't even know where to point you first. Exactly what that effect is has been a point of debate, and how, exactly, to break free is also a point of debate. What is not a debate is that Google often dampens the appearance of a new domain in their search results -- call by whatever name you wish.

[edited by: tedster at 2:04 am (utc) on Sep. 18, 2006]

[Garindan]

Yeah thanks, i need to try and explain to him but he doesn't get it! I need some proof lol. The worst thing is, until two weeks ago if you put the site in google it would come back something like 'we cant find the site www.example.com, but why dont you just try www.example.com' and it would link to the site anyway. But then from a couple of weeks ago google changed it and now it doesnt even do that and he tried saying it was something i did! Its amazin how many people still dont know how to just use the address bar and always put their addresses in search boxes! argh.

[g1smd]

>> I need some proof <<

Send him this link: [google.com...]