Google doesn’t see my blog.

I did a Google search for your domain and it came up.

I also looked to see if you had a site map on your site and you don’t. Google likes site maps.

For WordPress, check out the Google Site Map plugin.

Thanks a lot, but, where did my domain come up on Google? I tried, and couldn’t find it. Not my own domain, though, but other domains ABOUT my domain.

I certainly can’t see my domain on Google.

I’m going to try out that site map plugin.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=urbantrash.co.za&btnG=Search

Before Ihad the blog on the same domain, I had a static HTML website, and came up as the first result, in Google.

Thats incomplete information – it came up first using what query? Thats the important part of that statement.

https://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Being+proudly+stereotypical&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images

Google sees your blog just fine.

I see what you’re saying, but what I mean is that when I had a static site, searching for “urban trash” gave me a good Google result (1st page). A few months later, after running WP, I don’t even get listed on the first few page results. And I get FAR more hits now, than ever before.

well for starters, and this is a guess, you probably had the words: urban trash” prominantly displayed within that static page. You do not now.

Your page title, for instance, reflects this: <title>Trash Media - Illustration Studio </title>

Unfortunately, youre not alone with the use of those words, and thats sort of the way it goes when it comes to Google.

Your meta info doesnt reflect that keyphrase either. And while Google doesnt look just to that for stuff, it does take it into account if your content follows. If you look at the meta keywords on my own site, and plop them into Google, MINUS my actual domain name which is included within those keywords, you will notice I come up first and second in Google.

You have to realize thats your front page has changing content, so you need to provide something static that includes those keyphrases you want to have Google notice.

Thats one of the purposes of <meta name="keywords" ...

It doesnt help that your probably publishing more images than written content.

But the fact remains, google sees you.

—

I score quite nicely on Google and dont use any sitemap gizmos to accomplish it.

use Arne’s GoogleSitemap plug-in in combination with DagonDesign’s sitemap plug in https://www.dagondesign.com (Aleister is a good guy)and that will help.

Chris

Thanks guys. I understand now. Where can I add in these meta keywords?

fokjulle: you add the meta keywords and description into your header file just below your title tag.

You’d have something like this:

<meta name=”description” content=”Site Description Here” />
<meta name=”keywords” content=”Keywords Here” />

Good luck.

Just an update on this issue.

I still can’t find my site on Google. My url is both urbantrash.co.za and trashmedia.co.za (for those who want to help me a bit).

Normally, if one searches on Google for the name of the domain (without the .co.za or whatever), the results normally show it.

Strangely, my Wikipedia page is about 3rd or 4th from the top, and just about every website linking to or discussing my site (I’m a cartoonist, drawing a daily comic strip) appears, but not my own. Why is this? And how can I fix this?

Google simply doesn’t show my website, and I’ve checked for it over numerous of its page results.

However, Yahoo immediately gives me fantastic results. I simply searched for ‘urban trash’ and ‘trash media’ (as I did with Google).

Yahoo but not Google? What am I doing wrong?

Might I have done something wrong for Google to remove me from their results? Or does have it something to do with my PHP code?

I also use the AutoMeta plugin… I usually have to edit the meta tags it supplies, but it makes it easier to include them.

People compete for keywords and search terms *every day*. Millions (if not billions) of new sites are created *every day*. That’s a lot to compete with. Your site isn’t the *only* thing you should be using for marketing purposes. If it is, it won’t matter *what* you’re using to create your site with, eventually it will fall out of rank. (for the record, Google no longer uses keyword meta tags – they ignore them for the most part. They look for your content, not your tags.)

You need good incoming links from valid and reputable sites, you need to be sure your content is strong and is keyword-rich, and you need to be sure you update regularly and make sure your site’s code is valid.

Those are just a few things you need to do. If ranking is what you’re after, then I would suggest hiring an SEO expert.

Do you have a robot.txt in your site? If so, you might need to remove it.

I would leave the robots.txt file; I’ll assume it’s okay if Yahoo has picked up the site.

My url is both urbantrash.co.za and trashmedia.co.za (for those who want to help me a bit).

That’s a problem. You can *use* both domain names, but one has to point to the other. If you have *one* site, and it can be reached by both domains — without one domain pointing to the other — it’s very likely that at least some search engines will see that as two sites (because they can’t tell otherwise) and may give you problems about it because generally none of them like to see the same sets of pages at multiple domains; it just looks like you copied your site somewhere else. The first clue is your site has dropped out of sight on Google; although it’s still there … it’s just buried.

However, if you make one domain the main one, and redirect the second domain to the first, they’ll be able to distinguish … and visitors will see the change in their browsers’ address bar.

Search the Web for .htaccess and mod_rewrite and redirect and you should be able to come up with something.

I don’t understand this – “Search the Web for .htaccess and mod_rewrite and redirect and you should be able to come up with something.”

Can you explain more in details?

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