| LED Digest 2494: Who Needs XML Sitemaps? |
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================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.GetWebContent.com/LED : the LED's Key Sponsor The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. September 18, 2007 Issue no. 2494 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Is Submitting Sitemaps Necessary? ==-- ~ Michael Martinez "...the better your internal linkage is the less XML sitemaps will be able to help you." ~ Ivan Jimenez "Google does not like site maps." <Moderator Comment> ~ Grant Crowell "The search engines will be quicker to index updates..." --== Can SES, SMX & Pubcon Coexist? ==-- ~ Shari Thurow "A conference is only as good as the individual speakers." --== How Are You Today? Phone Calls ==-- ~ Eva Rosenberg "The caller was an editor at McGraw-Hill, offering me a book contract." ~ Judy Vorfeld "...sometimes such calls are legitimate." ~ Patricia Guess "I treat each like a potential client." --== Separate Sites? ==-- ~ David Spahr "I had too much content on one site and needed to make country specific sites." ~ Michael Linehan "...a 400 page site will rank more highly than a 100 page site." ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Michael Martinez Subject: Sitemap submissions > What is the point in [sitemap] submission efforts > if the search engines get it on their own? ... > Convince me. - Eran Adams, LED Digest 2493 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1905/190/ XML sitemaps are useful for speeding the crawl-and-index process for large, disorganized Web sites. They are also useful for superlarge sites. Generally speaking, the better your internal linkage is the less XML sitemaps will be able to help you. Michael Martinez http://www.michael-martinez.com/ -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Ivan Jimenez Subject: Sitemap submissions No convincing from me Eran. Regardless of what they say (or don't!), Google does not like site maps. Ivan Jimenez http://www.swisslogic.com <Moderator Comment> Ivan - are you saying Google secretly dislikes XML sitemaps? Can you expand please? -adam -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Grant Crowell Subject: Reasons for submitting a site map to the search engines Even with having a site that has been indexed and repeatedly crawled by the search engines, I still recommend creating and maintaining an XML sitemap file on your root directory for several reasons: - The search engines will be quicker to index updates -- including new files and updated files. (Information on how this is done can be found at http://searchengineland.com/070411-080716.php ) - The search engines will be able to more "intelligently" crawl your site. This is done by creating a special XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL, including: when it was last updated, how often the page usually change, and the importance of the page, relative to other URLs in the site. Here's an example of this with my own company's sitemap: http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/sitemap.xml. While submitting your sitemap to the search engines is not a requirement, is a very quick and easy thing to do which can also give you assurance that the search engines are regularly spidering your site and updating their own search index. Just a one time manual submission of your sitemap to the Google Webmaster Tools dashboard gives me a confirmation notice, time of last update, and total URLs submitted. So even if you're perfectly fine with your currently indexing performance in the search engines, a few simple steps is worth the extra benefits of insurance and tracking your data. Grant Crowell, Grantastic Designs http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/blog ========= Begin Sponsor Message ========= Autumn Leaves Must Fall, But Not Your PR Seasons change. How about your site's copy? When was the last time you added or updated your content to make it more end-user useful and search-engine succulent? Customers and search bots want fresh meat. www.GetWebContent.com/LED we deliver the beef. ========== End Sponsor Message ========== -------- new post - new topic --------- From: Shari Thurow Subject: SEM conferences Hi all- Regarding search engine marketing conferences, Lee Odden asked: > Can they all coexist or is will there soon be > SEM education market saturation? - Lee Odden, LED Digest 2493 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1905/190/ I worry about that a little for two reasons: (1) I am a well-established speaker, and (2) I am an attendee. To be perfectly honest, as an attendee, I think you have to quit looking at the marketing hype surrounding these conferences and genuinely look at the speakers. As I've attended many of these events consistently since their inceptions, I figured out which speakers are entertaining but not very informative, and which speakers truly deliver (like Gord Hotchkiss, one of my favorites). My attendance is based on the speaker and his/her knowledge, not on how well the marketing hype is or how well the speaker strokes his/her ego. I understand my opinion is a bit jaded as I am a professional SEO, and I know b.s. when I hear it. I want to press a 'mute' button every time I hear anyone spout (with faux authority) opinions about the user experience. Prove to me that your firm usability tests and implements as a result of this data, and then I'll be interested in your opinion about user experience. As a speaker, I have to be aware about oversaturating myself in the market. Now, with every conference, I always come up with something new to say... always... with every session. I am aware that other speakers are not that conscientious. I also try not to tailor each presentation for each conference. I recently spoke at an event that was purely for contractors, and my examples and tone were different than those I'd use at a high-tech conference. In a nutshell? Listen to the search experts whom you know and respect. A conference is only as good as the individual speakers. Sincerely, Shari Thurow, Founder and SEO Director Omni Marketing Interactive -------- new post - new topic --------- From: Eva Rosenberg Subject: Phone Calls - Be Careful! Dear Adam and all, Lorelle's and Grant's experience with off-putting phone calls reminds me of a rather humbling experience. There was a message on my answering machine from someone at McGraw-Hill. Listening to the message, it wasn't clear what she really wanted. At first, I thought she wanted to convince me to buy some tax books. Being busy, as usual, I wasn't going to call her back. But the next day, something just kind of tugged at me, so I re-played the message and listened again. It still wasn't clear. But I decided, what the heck, I'll call her. She was not from the sales department. The caller was an editor at McGraw-Hill, offering me a book contract. Be nice to your callers. At least long enough to ensure they are not selling you yet another phone service. Once you're sure they're solicitors for something you don't want, say "Sorry, no thanks." And hang up. Here's hoping you get a great call today! Once upon a time, your Humble Guide, Eva Rosenberg, EA www.taxmama.com www.taxquips.com -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Judy Vorfeld Subject: Phone calls I agree with Grant Crowell that sometimes such calls are legitimate. My standard response after someone asks how I'm doing is to say, "How can I help you?" I can bring things into focus much more quickly. Judy Vorfeld www.ossweb.com -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Patricia Guess Subject: Phone Calls Hi, I agree with the response from John Brumage on the phone call concern. I never know who is calling by looking at caller ID since I have VOIP. But, I treat each like a potential client. So even if they ask the "fake" question, a simple "friendly" reply like "Fine, and how can I assist you today?" should suffice. I know I've called some of my clients or potential clients with this greeting and haven't received any pushback. Relieve yourself of the stress of trying to predict what is going to happen. And really, is it sooooo bad that someone asks "How you are doing?" .... :-) Patricia Guess JPGuess.com -------- new post - new topic --------- From: David Spahr Subject: Single vs Multiple Sites > I'm wondering if the benefits of keeping the store > on the existing domain... outweigh the benefits of > setting up the store with its own domain? - Dan Eskelson, LED Digest 2492 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1904/190/ In my case I had too much content on one site and needed to make country specific sites. It should be noted that these are one word domain names that are the same as the original domain name, stereoviews.com. Making a British customer look through a gigantic site with just a small bit of British related subject matter wasn't working well (my reasoning anyway). Making Europeans look there, same thing. Since the one word domains became available, I jumped on them. Making the new sites spurred me on to add significant additional content to them and create a more logical way to categorize them. All the sites are interconnected and share the same links page. It seems to have worked out OK and although my sites have done some considerable shifting around lately in Google, my positioning has been very good. On yahoo all of my sites are on page one for the search "stereoviews" #1,2,3,4,8,and 9. MSN is good too. I have to say that the searches for stereoviews seem to be becoming less relevant on Google and MSN with some fairly puzzling sites ranking high. This is a question of what kind of site, what domains are available, how you hook them together, and other factors that may be site specific. David Spahr http://stereoviews.com -------- new post - same topic --------- From: Michael Linehan Subject: Separate sites > Each new site will be on an old domain with a different > focus from the main site. They will all link to the main site, > gazebo-victoria.com. - Martin Vernon, LED Digest 2493 How distinct will they be and what is their purpose? Are they necessary for this business? Are they separate businesses? Or are they just doorway sites? It's a difficult question to answer, without having some idea on these points. > I am wondering what the weaknesses > are with this strategy. Possible negatives include: - Spreading content over multiple sites that could be concentrated in one, greatly boosting its rank. All else being equal, a four-hundred page site will rank more highly than a one-hundred page site. - Duplicate content issues? - Brand confusion. - Marketing confusion? (Where am I? How does this relate to the other site? What's the central point here?) - Unnecessary and inefficient work - spending a lot of time on satellite sites that don't actually matter. Another important question is, what do you think are the positives? I.e. why are considering this? If these are just supportive, satellite or doorway sites, almost anything that can be done with such sites is much better done in one, integrated central site. Michael Linehan, Marketing Alchemy www.marketing-alchemy.com ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by: GetWebContent.com The Web's Most Experienced SEO Content Providers. Free no-obligation proposal: http://GetWebContent.com/LED SEOToolSet.com Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification Join the certified SEO directory: www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ The Archives: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/126/189/ Subscribe: http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/52/187/ Unsubscribe, Change Email, or Hold / Resume Delivery: http://www.led-digest.com/content/category/4/17/201/ (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. 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