Reality Internet Marketing: XML Sitemap in 4 Steps Ensures Page Indexing in Google Yahoo and MSN Search Engines

Is an XML Sitemap effective in getting your website Page Indexed on Google? Or indexed on any other Search Engines?

Creating and XML-based Sitemap and FTP'ing this XML Sitemap to the lowest directory on your website does alert the Google spider robot to review your website. It is an effective way to get more of your web pages indexed for your website. It is also effective, when you add new pages/content to your website, to:

1) regenerate a new XML Sitemap file, FTP it to your website
2) alert Google Site Maps to look at your site AGAIN NOW.

And now XML Sitemaps have just become even more important!

Google, Yahoo and MSN have announced that by January 2007, they will also standardize on the use of one common XML Sitemap file to index your website! All three mega search engines will now use the same XML Sitemap file to index your website.

So what are the steps in creating and getting the Google XML Sitemap file to your website directory?

These 4 Steps will get your XML sitemap file created and registered with Google:

(1) use a software tool to create the sitemap in Google's designated XML format. You can create a Google Sitemap for FREE (maximum 750 pages per website) at >Sitemap Generator. Be patient with this FREE XML Sitemap file generator. It sometimes reports URL breaks (likely timeouts) when there are none. I found using it off peak hours (late at nite) generates cleaner files.

ADDED BENEFIT: The Sitemap Generator also creates HTML, ROR and Text Sitemap Files, which are used by thousands of other search engines and web crawlers to index your website.

(2) upload the XML file (and HTML, ROR and text files) to your website. You want to FTP the XML sitemap File created in step (1) to the lowest level directory on your website. There are many FREE FTP programs our there. Download the latest version of Filezilla. It is one of the easier FTP programs to use.

(3) Verification - notify Google of the existence of the XML sitemap file. This is done by registering at Google Webmaster Tools. Follow the steps at Google Sitemap to Verify your website by FTP'ing the Google Verification file to your website and then requesting Site Verification. You need only do this verification step once. Under the Webmaster Tools Dashboard you will see a check mark for each of your sites that have been verified.

(4) Submit XML file – once Verification is confirmed by Google Webmaster Tools click on the appropriate listing under the Sitemap heading. Highlight the box next to sitemap.xml and then click on Resubmit Selected button. Your sitemap.xml file will now be submitted to Google for indexing.

From this point forward, whenever you change/add/delete links or add/delete pages on your website you will repeat steps 1, 2 and 4 so that the Google, Yahoo and MSN bots can re-index your website.

While you're at it, create a specific HTML Sitemap Page on your website to be used by other search engines and directories. This will help their BOTS and Web Crawlers migrate through your website. This Sitemap Page also acts as an index for your customers helping them migrate your website. Here is a sample Sitemap Page.

Bottom line: XML Sitemap files are an important ingredient in getting your webpages indexed in Google as well as Yahoo and MSN. It is equally important as the top two SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies, Keywords and Inbound Links. No excuse now. Just Do it.

About the Author:

Carl Chesal is a business and channel development consultant, trainer, internet marketer and professional photographer. He operates BizFare Enterprise Inc, providing business, marketing, and internet marketing consulting services. Bizfare Enterprise also operates a number of secure on-line shopping sites, like Home and Body How To Plans Recipes Hobbies and Collectibles.

Reality Internet Marketing: The skinny on Google PageRank Google Directory and Google Indexing

What is Google PageRank? Google Directory? Google Indexing?
How do you succeed in each of these Google areas?

Google PageRank is a Google algorithm that measures the worth of EACH webpage based on the links or other webpages that reference it. Like the Voter is to the Candidate, consider each external reference (link) to your webpage as a VOTE of Importance for that specific webpage. Democratically, the more votes (links) your webpage receives the better your Google PageRank. But were it that simple. Google also measures the Importance of each Voter's webpage and weighs this in the Vote of Importance calculation. So you see, important webpages bring more importance (greater Vote Value) to your webpage!

Bottom Line: Linking, Links For Trade, Reciprocal Links and getting listed in the thousands of Directories, Blogs, and Ezines all promote Votes of Importance for your webpages. This is an ongoing lifelong endeavor by Webmasters and SEO experts.

Google Directory is where you go to get your entire website included in a Google Catalogue organized by Category or Topic. You would think that getting listed in the Google Directory would be a well defined process just like it is clearly outlined in most of the top directories:
(1) Website URL
(2) Title of Website
(3) Short Description of website and
(4) maybe keywords that best represent your website.

But not so with Google Directory! Google outsourced this critical inclusion to the Google Directory to another Directory Organization called The Open Directory Project or DMOZ. Why does Google entrust such a crucial element of Directory Cataloguing to an outside organization? You are even more perplexed by this Google outsourced function when you discover that The Open Directory Project is a organization of Volunteer Editors! Yes, a host of no-credential individuals somehow freely donate their time to apply strict and ethical editorial rules to each submitted URL. And this wonderful world of volunteers ensures a trusted process resulting in consistent, fair and quality listings in both the DMOZ and Google Directories! Believe It or Not! But my distaste for the whole DMOZ thing will be detailed in another article.


Bottom Line: You must submit to DMOZ – The Open Directory Project and IF, and I MEAN A BIG IF, you get listed in The Open Directory (months but who knows because there is NO Feedback or Status mechanism in place), then Google might also extract your DMOZ listing information and place it into the Google Directory. GOOD LUCK!


Google Webpage Indexing is the more predictable process and can be accomplished by submitting your website URL to Google. To ensure that Google Robots crawl through ALL of your webpages for your website, you must create an XML Sitemap of your entire website and let Google know it exists in your website directory where the Google Robots will use it. This XML Sitemap will get all your webpages Indexed in Google. Google even references a website that will FOR FREE generate XML Sitemaps and HTML, TXT and ROR versions of the Sitemaps as well. And Good News! By January 2007 Yahoo and MSN will also use the Google XML Sitemap file to crawl your website!

Bottom Line: Always submit and re-submit Google XML Sitemaps whenever you add new pages, products, anchor text or links to your website. Search Engine Robot Crawlers love websites that are changing, dynamic and adding new content.

A little more of Google understood.