samporras Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 Hey guys. Hope everyone had a happy new year. I had a question about awStats and the external links. As I was looking at it, I noticed that some of my backlinks are missing. I am missing the one from Total Choice Hosting and another business association that I know has a link back to our website. We just recently got another business association to link back to us, and that shows up, but none of my previous backlinks. I changed some of the meta tags on the index page a little bit, but google hasn't picked up the changes. I know it takes time, so i'm not too worried about that. My concern is that when the spiders crawl over my website again, will they not see that I have other backlinks pointing to my site? Will this affect my page rank? Or am I just being paranoid?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEO Posted January 6, 2004 Share Posted January 6, 2004 What site? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samporras Posted January 7, 2004 Author Share Posted January 7, 2004 www.venuechicago.com I was already added to the family about 2 months ago. I am missing a link from the park ridge chamber of commerce and from TCH. I just checked again since the last time I posted and it still only one backlink shows up. (the one I did most recently) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samporras Posted January 7, 2004 Author Share Posted January 7, 2004 One more thing to add.... Is awStats even that accurate? I feel like I am worrying about something that might not even be an issue. I really find it a useful tool, but I am weary to trust it completely. I checked both of the missing backlinks (from TCH and the chamber) and they still exist. I actually went on those sites and saw the links back to my webpage. I am almost positive it is because I changed a couple of things on the index page. Was this my mistake and can I do anything to correct it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEO Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 (edited) Ah, you are looking at awstats. Links from an external page (other web sites except search engines): There has been discussion of 'what' this actually is. It should read 'referrals from external pages (other than search engines)'. This is why you see a 'number of pages', meaning that that many pages were served using that particular link. Now there has been discrepancy with this data (i.e. some have seen referrals where an actual link does not exist). Not sure how to explain that. However, if you want 'real' data regarding backlinks check Google (i.e. place the below bold text in the Google search box): link:http://www.venuechicago.com shows one 'relevant' link, the one from TotalChoice +www.venuechicago.+com shows a total of 36 backlinks to your site It is also worth looking at alltheweb which offers a more complete list of backlinks. Same syntax as above in the alltheweb search box. link:http://www.venuechicago.com Shows no links You need to submit your site to alltheweb. Hope this helps. Edited January 7, 2004 by TCH-Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samporras Posted January 7, 2004 Author Share Posted January 7, 2004 Thank you so much Scott. I don't think that you can imagine how much I appreciate your help. Why don't my other links show up as relevant links on google? They are what I would consider pretty relevant sites. I am registered with a chamber of commerce and a business association both containing many links to other businesses (similar to TCH-family site). I also have a question about alltheweb. They charge per url to submit. Is it worth submitting multiple urls (like an "about" or "service" page?) It is the difference between paying $70 and $140. Just want to justify the charge. Thanks again Scott. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deverill Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 A backlink is considered relevand if the linking page has a Google PageRank above a certain threshold which I think is 3 but am not sure of that. Apparently Google thinks the pages that link to you are not themselves very popular (which is a vastly oversimplified way to consider pagerank.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samporras Posted January 7, 2004 Author Share Posted January 7, 2004 Thanks Jim. I imagined that the page rank played a big part in it. I would just think that those sites would have a higher page rank based on google's algorithms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEO Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 (edited) samporras: You can get a gauge of any page's PR by downloading Google's Toolbar. The toolbar can also easily check the relevant backlinks a site has. 'Relevant' these days is roughly defined by Google as a PageRank of 4 or greater. For AllTheWeb, what is wrong with: Free Submission ServiceSubmitted sites will be scheduled for addition to AlltheWeb.com. We do not add all submitted URLs to our index, and we cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when or if they will appear. For more information, please see the Webmasters FAQ. Use our free submission service to submit your site. Edited January 7, 2004 by TCH-Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samporras Posted January 8, 2004 Author Share Posted January 8, 2004 I submitted it free, I was just worried that my site might not be added to alltheweb. Also, there is a waiting period correct? Having more experience than me with alltheweb, what is the average timeframe for a website to be added? Is it better to pay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEO Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 (edited) Sam: I tend to lean towards the conservative side (fiscally). Thus I would accept the 'time' delay with the free submission. Please do not misunderstand or take any of the below personal, it is advice that I give freely and honestly. Your site is not optimally designed with search engines in mind. Thus, I would not recommend spending money to submit to any search engine / index. It would be similiar to entering a very large race with the goal of finishing in the top 10. However, the car you are driving is a 4 cylinder and does not have a chance to place well. But now you may say "yea but I am number one under 'venue Chicago' so what do you mean I will not place well? This is true but are we sure that 'venue Chicago' is your best keyword phrase? Looking at Overtures Search Term Suggestion Tool, I see that 'chicago venue' is a better phrase, although very light (a suspicious 500 searches in November). You are number 26 with that phrase. A more accurate commercial keyword tool is offered by WordTracker. They too show that 'chicago venue' would be a better phrase but again show light traffic for that phrase. I have explained in our SEO articles that the first step (and most important) when optimizing a site is selecting the best keyword phrases. Very few people spend the time and do the appropriate research required to select these key phrases. This is a must first step. Once you have those phrases, then optimize your site for them. Next would be submitting to the various search engines (paid inclusions as well). So, I guess what I am saying is 'first things first'. What is/are your best keyword phrase(s)? I would also recommend going back to my initial SEO comments regarding your site (especially the comment regarding body text). I do hope this helps. Edited January 8, 2004 by TCH-Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samporras Posted January 8, 2004 Author Share Posted January 8, 2004 Thank you Scott. I definately appreciate you comments and you don't have to worry about me interpreting them the wrong way I am here to learn. As for your suggestion on the body text, the only reason I was hesitant to change it was because I really liked the way the website was set up like a portal. But I do understand what you mean about having all of those stop words on that page. I will definately have to restructure it in order to give it a higher rank. It will just take a little more thinking (and me being less stubborn...hehe). We have a great service and I want to see it succeed. I honestly appreciate your help and if you're ever in Chicago, get in touch with me and I'll see what I can do for you! Sam Rock Sign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEO Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Sam: Good, I am glad you received it the way it was intended When you start 'changing' things and would like input, you know where to come! We will be here waiting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sts Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Say, Scott, we don't need many keywords, right? Because bots use keywords and body text. Let’s say I have: ><html> <head> <title>Santa Homepage</title> <meta name="Keywords" content="Santa, Santa Clause"> </head> <body> Santa Clause lives at the North Pole with Mrs. Claus, his elves who make toys and reindeer named Rudolf who guides Santa's sleigh with the biological aberration of a red, glowing nose capable of penetrating thick fog. If somebody searched for Santa Clause+Rudolf they find me nicely. So I don't need Rudolf in keywords tag. Is that right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEO Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 (edited) If 'rudolf' is important, then include it. You should have all the most relevant phrases. Not too many because each additional phrase will dilute the importance of the others. Thus you need to determine the ideal number for a given site (obviously each site is unique). Succinct is generally best. Edited January 9, 2004 by TCH-Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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