Article Directory Sitemap

As I mentioned yesterday, I have now added a text file sitemap to my Article Directory. This was harder than anticipated due to all the rewrite rules being in encrypted files, so I basically had to guess them. I've submitted it to Google webmaster tools, so hopefully any errors will show up there.

The pages I've added to the sitemap are Profile pages, Category pages - although, as with the web directory, I think modifications will need to be made for categories with multiple pages - and the Article pages.

EDIT: Okay, after submitting it to Google, one problem has cropped up - too many URLs. It seems you can only have a maximum of 50,000 URLs in one sitemap. I've modified the generator so that it now makes two sitemaps - the original one which holds articles and categories, and a second sitemap that holds profiles.

New sitemaps

I've managed to make a text file sitemap generator, which admittedly currently needs running manually every time I want to update it, at least until I get the permissions sorted out, at which point I'll do it by cron job instead. This has some advantages over the dynamically created ones. For instance, one the file is updated, no further usage is put on the database.

Currently, I've added three to my main site:

DirectoryGold Sitemap: This lists the details and category pages of the web directory, although as yet not the additional pages some categories require.

Flash Games Sitemap: This is a listing of all the game pages of the currently active Flash games on the games portal. I'll probably add the categories to it also, then look into adding other parts.

ScriptsGold Resource Repository Sitemap: This lists all category and details pages for the resource repository.

One area I haven't done yet that needs doing is the Article Directory. Given the different types of pages and complicated mod_rewrite instructions, this will take a bit longer.

Another possibility is to also to use this to create an HTML page with actual live links to the pages also.

Games Portal Games Pages SEO Friendly

I've used mod_rewrite to make the Games Portal Games Pages SEO friendly, so instead of a page URL being something like:
http://games.directorygold.com/arcade.php?mode=game&id=7548&win=self

they're
http://games.directorygold.com/play/7548/Easter_Egg_Match_2

I've looked into using mod_rewrite before, but never been able to work out properly how to do it. In fact, the last time I paid someone to do it for my Resource Repository. This time, using the alterations done to that as a reference and a number of tutorials found online, I was finally able to work it out.

TextLinkBrokers

TextLinkBrokers is a service which allows approved websites to sell links on their site, text link ads or through hosted marketing pages. Now, whilst this can generate a useful source of revenue for webmasters, Google recently threw a hissy fit regarding people selling links without "nofollow" tags on their websites, claiming that it was being used to artificially manipulate the search results.

Personally, I consider that a bit off, since Google manipulates their search results anyway, by putting sponsored links at the top, Okay, many, if not all, internet marketers know that the top links on Google are paid for advertisements, but everyone I know who isn't an internet marketer doesn't. They instead think those links are at the top because they are the best, not because someone paid for their site to be there. Seems like a case of do as I say, not do as I do on Google's part.

So, before using TextLinkBrokers, decide whether or not it will be worth it. The income may be good, but Google may decide to be nasty towards you for doing it. Payment is made by PayPal when your account passes $100.

Indirect Links are Bad

Similar to the concept I mentioned in Reciprocal Linking is Dead, you likely have come across this too. An indirect link is a link that doesn't go to http://www.yoursite.com but instead passes though some other script firs, e.g. http://www.someothersite.com/out.php?yoursite

For the same reasons that reciprocal linking is considered worthless, indirect links are also; namely, they don't improve your search engine rankings. And, for the same reason that reciprocal links still have value, so do these. Indirect links, from somewhere targeted towards your site's niche or market, can still generate useful traffic.

Reciprocal Linking is Dead

If you are at all involved in promoting a site on the internet, especially using links, you will more than likely have come across this claim. The reasoning behind it is simple; search engines no longer count reciprocal links towards your sites' search engine rankings, therefore a reciprocal link will not increase its' ranking, and is thus worthless.

Completely true - up to the worthless bit. Reciprocal links won't boost your search engine rankings, but anyone who claims that makes them worthless is missing the point. The objective when promoting your site is not boosting your rankings, but increasing traffic. Higher rankings do result in increased traffic, but that assumes that the only traffic a link will create is that from the search engine. A good reciprocal link to a non-competing but relevant site has a good chance of creating quality traffic in itself. The traffic may even be of a higher quality than the search engine traffic, because it's more likely that the visitor who clicks on your link is looking specifically for your product or service.

This doesn't mean you should just build reciprocal links with every site that will have you of course. Look for sites relevan to yours, that don't compete with it. For example, a web designer could look for web hosting firms and SEO firms, as a user of one of those services is very likely to use the others too.

Free .edu Link

There's been a theory for some time that links from .edu domains are "worth" more than ones from ordinary .com, .net etc. I'm not sure whether I believe this or not, but if you want one from a .edu domain, here's how to get one.

Go to SETI@Home and download, install and run the BOINC software, then choose SETI@Home as the project you want to use. When you have done at least some processing and earned some credits, you can edit your profile, one field of which is your webpage URL.

On the first page of Google

For some terms at least. This blog has been going for about six weeks now, and, according to the search query data from Google Webmaster Tools (free, and useful, I'd recommend them) it already appears on Google's first page for a number of search queries. I've checked them myself, and yes, it's there.

Now, I haven't yet done a huge amount of site promotion. I've submitted to a few free directories from the Vilesilencer list, but the blog is still too new to get accepted in a lot of places.

I've added the RSS feed to my Yuwie profile, Feedburner and MyYahoo. Mostly, what I think has done it has been adding a new post every day, then pinging it using Pingates. Looking at the search terms for which the blog is ranking well, they all are in the title of one (or more) post titles.