Searching for my website - part 2

mickd113 · #1 05-20-2008, 01:43 PM

Sorry folks, me again with problems searching for my website.

I did what I was advised in my previous thread, and submitted a ticket for a one off free insertion into the search engine database. However, pending that insertion, I did another search for "michael davison consulting".

2 results were found, one was a link to this forum and the other is below. Clicking "Index of" takes me to my home page, but that's not exactly what I was hoping to see, and I don't think it would attract anyone to my site.

"
index of /
Index of /. cgi-bin/. Apache/2.2.8 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.8 OpenSSL/0.9.8b mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635 Server at ...
michaeldavisonconsulting.com/ - 1k - Cached - Similar pages "

Can anyone please explain this for me. Thanks, Mick

mickd113 · #2 05-20-2008, 01:45 PM

Oops - sorry, wrong forum.

Moderator, please feel free to move this to the right forum if you can

Collectors-info · #3 05-20-2008, 01:54 PM

Hi, it can take up to 48 hours for the VH team to summit the site (But usually quicker) & a few weeks before seeing results. This is also very much depending on how your site was put together to be SE friendly.

mickd113 · #4 05-20-2008, 03:20 PM

Thanks again Chris, I appreciate that it takes a while for the VH team to submit my info, but what did you think about the result of my search as it is? Will this become clearer when my info is submitted?

LadyEye · #5 05-20-2008, 04:01 PM

Hi .. your thread has been moved ..

The next time the search engines visit your site, and the next time they make a listing change, things will change for you .. looks as though they happened to crawl and list you while you were preparing ..

any posts on this forum tend to show up in the listings though, which can be a good thing .. no worries .. eventually they will go away as well once more of your own pages of your website are listed.

mickd113 · #6 05-21-2008, 08:59 AM

Thanks LadyEye - I eagerly await those hits on my site

Mick

zuriatman · #7 05-21-2008, 10:29 AM

Hi,

To expedite search by bots, place your Url
as your signature at the bottom of your threads
similar to what I have done with my post.

You can do this from your "User cp" at the top of this forum.

mickd113 · #8 05-22-2008, 10:41 AM

Thanks for the advice Zuriatman

Unfortunately, a google search for my site in "UK pages only" doesn't show up - just when I search "all of the web". Time for another ticket to VH I think.

Mick

www.michaeldavisonconsulting.com

Collectors-info · #9 05-22-2008, 11:45 AM

Why put a ticket into VH without checking your pages 1st. You have a site on a US server & will always take a little longer to propagate to the other directories around the world.
But this time period will happen with any site anywhere in the world if using a .com.
But! SE's must know which country you are based in 1st.
You don't have any reference on your page to say that you are a UK business. "Nottingham" is not enough as there are at least 9 towns/city's in the USA with this name & possibly a lot more around the world.
You have many pages without any key words & descriptions to help the SE’s know where you are.
So really, until you tell the SE’s where you are from, they can’t send the visitors to your site.

mickd113 · #10 05-22-2008, 08:07 PM

Good points Chris.
Like I said in my very first thread, I am more than happy to read the threads, the problem is that there are so many of them it's hard to know where to look, and searches of key words still bring up dozens of threads to sift through.
I guess like a stereotypical man, I don't read instructions thoroughly.
I didn't really pick .com out of choice. Unfortunately, .co.uk required 2 years registration and I wasn't sure that's what I wanted to do with my first foray into this lark.
I will get the hang of this, especially if people like you continue to be patient with web site virgins like me.
I will amend my index page to include UK in it and I'll be patient while the search engines find me. With absolutely no knowledge of web sites, I thought that as soon as I posted my website, it was available to be searched for and found.
Thanks for your help. Mick

Marincky · #11 05-22-2008, 08:36 PM

Mick,

Google won't pick your site up whilst you don't have one? you don't appear to have an index page yet.

You should really have also opted for .co.uk as mentioned. You say you didn't want to go for 2 years.. where did you shop??? You can pay as little as £6.00 for 2 years. Not really a risky investment?

mickd113 · #12 05-22-2008, 09:04 PM

Thanks for the advice. I amended my index page but used "I" in stead of "i". You happened to look at it before I realised my mistake. I think it's ok now, but I have another problem - no surprise there I hear Chris saying.

If I click on one of my pages it goes straight to it, but if click on home again, it doesn't find it. I think I know what's wrong, I didn't link the home page to the other pages. If I now change the other pages, will simply publishing them from Voda, will they automatically replace the existing pages, or do I need to delete them from the control panel first?
Good fun this isn't it?

Incidentally, when I signed up with Vodahost it stated 2 years for a .co.uk name - saying it's a legal requirement, and it was certainly a lot more than £6.

Marincky · #13 05-22-2008, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickd113

Incidentally, when I signed up with Vodahost it stated 2 years for a .co.uk name - saying it's a legal requirement, and it was certainly a lot more than £6.

It Is a requirement to buy a domain for two years, but it is NOT a legal requirement to purchase your domain name from your hosting company

mickd113 · #14 05-22-2008, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marincky

It Is a requirement to buy a domain for two years, but it is NOT a legal requirement to purchase your domain name from your hosting company

Ok thanks, I'll remember that. Like I said earlier, I'm a real web site virgin

Marincky · #15 05-22-2008, 09:32 PM

You want to know why you are not listed on Google:

TIME is the main aspect here. Give it time, you are in the hands of Google!

However, you can help not only get listed but get a decent place in the internet search engine jungle.

Your meta data from your home page:

<title>Index</title>
<meta name="AUTHOR" content="Michael Davison">
<meta name="KEYWORDS" content="Quality, management, consultant, ISO 9001, FSC, PEFC, Michael, Davison, Consulting, ">
<meta name="DESCRIPTION" content="Michael Davison Consulting. Quality Management Consultant. ISO 9001, FSC, PEFC">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Created by BlueVoda">

You have no page title:

Suggestion:

Fire Risk Assesments | Health and Safety Assesments | Nottingham

Keywords. why put Michael and davison in your keywords? This will be picked up from your site anyway, and no doubt in a few weeks time when I type in Michael davison Consulting you will be top of page one on Google so remove these words, total waste of a very limited part of your meta data.

I do not know your business but maybe for example keywords:

Fire risk assesment, health and safety assesment, ISO 9001 (if thats a widely searched term)

Personally I wouldn't have much more than that. whatever keywords/phrases you use, these words MUST be on the page you are keywording, remember this.

Page description. Nowhere near long enough, you want around 20 more words. Sell yourself to me and all your possible new clients.!!

Remember it's a description of the page, so each page must have a seperate description, same goes for keywords and page titles.

Go back to your site also and remove _blank from your link target options as all your pages open up in new windows. This is extremely annoying to everyone who visits yoru site and you WILL lose potential business because of this.

Then start putting your site around the internet.. it's a massive place so there is a lot of work ahead but start getting your site listed on directories, other search engines, related websites etc. Get talking in forums, start posting and ensure your website is in your signature. not www.... type Health and Safety Assesments in Nottingham and then embedd your link into this phrase... and similar phrases, (alternate them)

Use Google Webmaster Tools and go through everything they offer as help. It really does make a huge difference.

Google also allow you to list locally. sign up for this here (currently down)

This is just 10% of what you can do to get noticed. It's not an easy task!

Best of luck though.

mickd113 · #16 05-22-2008, 09:45 PM

Thanks Marincky, that's a lot of help.
I'll do as you suggest, especially with the _blank issue, but probably tomorrow. My partner is giving me that "don't you think you've been on that thing long enough" look

Marincky · #17 05-22-2008, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickd113

Thanks Marincky, that's a lot of help.
I'll do as you suggest, especially with the _blank issue, but probably tomorrow. My partner is giving me that "don't you think you've been on that thing long enough" look

My partenr gave up saying that ages ago LOL.. but I know what you mean.

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