My Web Design Source

mood: rejuvenated

As search engines have gotten better at discovering web content in many forms, manually submitting to them has become less of a focus. But content and distribution platforms continue to expand, and as they do so, the need for manual search engine submission remains an important, if changing, option.

Of course, Google is still the king of search engines (some would even say the whole game, but I’m not one of them), and making sure that the search king sees all the attributes of an ecommerce website is important. To that end, it's a good idea for ecommerce web masters and website owners to understand—and hopefully take advantage of—the changes Google recently made to its content submission webpage.

Google already offered many submission options, some more easy to understand than others—the specific purpose of each tool wasn’t always clear. Now Google has decided to reorganize those submission interfaces. Not only does this make it easier to understand these submission processes, for many it may also bring to light Google submission services that were previously undiscovered.

A review of what the updated Google site submission page offers now may be helpful. As represented by the graphic above, the new organization offers four entry options into Google; web, local, media, and items for sale. Let’s review each of them:

Web—This contains two of the basic tools every ecommerce site should be using to “increase your visibility by submitting and optimizing your website for Google search." These are "Add Your URL," which is the most basic submission tools, and Webmaster Tools, which is itself a set of extremely useful tools, including traffic and search optimization aids. I occasionally get new clients who are not aware of Google Webmaster Tools, and on day one, I focus on getting them to sign up and start using it. You won’t feel like you wasted time.

Local—If your ecommerce site has brick-and-mortar entities associated with it, the Local Business Center and Mapplet will be helpful in submitting information for local results in Google. Results in Google maps are more important than ever with the advent of blended search results (results that include, among other things, map results).

Read Full News

Resources for

My Web Design Source