Google Backlink Tool, Content, Re-Design and Missing Pages Syndrome
Wednesday, February 7th, 2007Matt Cutt’s announced on his blog that Google has now created a Backlink checking tool for webmasters who want to view and know who is linking to a client site. This is welcome and as Matt states it still does not show all the backlinks but in time will more than likely grow. We are quite pleased about this, now it means no more sifting through a dozen or backlink tools to find your results. You can do it from the Google webmaster consul.
We generally have a look through Yahoo and MSN to give us a accurate picture of who is linking. Now that Google is allowing for inspection of websites backlinks it will aid in helping understand more another one of Google’s many ranking factors. Up to recently when checking for backlinks Google only provides a small glimpse of who is linking to your site. There are many theories why Google does this and one could drive themselves mad trying to figure it all out - one such theory is it doesn’t want to give webmasters a working road map on link buying. This makes sense in the bigger scheme of things. So, why the sudden change in direction and the Glasnost approach now? I really don’t know. One thing for sure it is useful to know these backlinks and I believe webmasters/site owners should not rely on it to base their rankings As Matt Cutts points out a few times (just to hammer it home)
“Do not assume just because you see a backlink that it’s carrying weight”
The above statement basically says as well that Google is still employing safeguards in the prevention of having it’s results manipulated.
Content King of all Great Web Pages
Recently we have seen some client’s sites doing really well in search results. We put this down to good content. We have taken to persuading clients to write about their business and it has been a pleasant surprise to see some really good content coming forth, most clients will tell you that they don’t have the propensity or the time to write. With a little gentle persuasion and a list of questions we give them they are starting to write. One client is turning out several pages a week about his business; it’s all good stuff and as he has over 20 years in his line of work and runs one of the largest trade organizations to do with his profession which pretty much makes him an authority on his subject. We have been publishing his papers on various sites and finding it’s not only good link bait but sends back some good links to him from others in his industry. This in our opinion is the way it should be done.
I have found with other clients who are not such prolific writers will make a long list about their industry and the ‘ins and outs’ of how it operates etc. With this we’ll employ a ghost-writer who will take the list and turn it into a readable article and create some good page copy from it.
Re-Design
Seems lately we have a few re-design request, it’s a good thing as it keeps websites fresh and it’s also good for us as clients are returning. One such re-design was the Langtry Manor, in which we did a major code clean-up with the help of Cindy Prosser, and freshened up the design, validated the site and added some stunning images from their Edwardian style hotel. In the next few weeks we will be integrating a blog so their staff can interact better with their customers. The idea was to promote their wedding services at the hotel and give advice for new brides about wedding receptions and ceremonies. Talking about that, it is well worth mentioning that when building a section for weddings in a website - great attention has to go to detail. Not only the graphic images but the page copy as well. For the Langtry’s wedding pages we asked Karon Thackston from Marketing Words to do the page copy, Karon is a real pro at turning out compelling copy with that ever-so-important ‘Call to Action’ Karon was able to immediately appeal to brides and write the words they wanted to hear for their wedding services.
Multi-lingual Websites
Another design visited is the Marden Edwards website. This time we have gone in and are tackling languages, not as easy as one may think. Having to use a mixture of translators and automated tools. One such tool is Google’s Translator tool. For the most part it has been extremely helpful and got us through some difficult patches. At other times it has worked against us and not given a clear translation. It’s still in BETA so I am guessing there is still a fair way to go before it comes out. The languages we put up for the Marden Edwards website are. French - Spanish - German - Russian - we have placed them on sub domains to act as mini-sites in their own right. It’s not the perfect solution and quite frankly there are not many good multi-language webmasters to call on for help. We are going with this solution to test various areas. One such area will be the Arabic version we are building that will be hosted on its own domain in the Middle East, this we expect better results in the long term. With this we will send over with the site 10 to 20 really good articles on machinery that are all unique in content and translate them to Arabic. Building a site in another language is an adventure and has taken us into new areas.
Missing Pages Syndrome
Yes I know I have gone on a bit about this subject and finally it may have been resolved that websites that went missing from the local results in Google pages from the UK are now showing up again. We had lost our root index page for two months. Thanks to Matt who had been keeping tags on this. Let’s hope this is a permanent fix.
