Sometimes SEO Efforts Are Instantly Rewarded

I Optimized A Friend’s New Mini-Site and 24-Hrs Later …
She Had A Top Ten Ranking In Google For Her Main Keyword Phrase!

You know it sure can be gratifying to see the fruits of my SEO labor almost instantly rewarded. I’m like most everyone else … we want it “now”.  No matter what it is in life. And seeing rankings zoom into the top ten literally overnight is a pretty cool thing.

I’m quite accustomed to seeing dramatic rankings results within a week or two after I perform my search engine optimization “magic” on clients’ sites, but every now and then, I get a nice surprise and find that high rankings have been achieved within a day or two.

So what caused this quick recognition from Google? First, it was proper attention to the basic SEO details: keyword focused quality content; keyword focused Title tags and Description Meta tags; my expertise … AND … I submitted an XML sitemap to Google to get the brand new website spidered immediately.

What is an XML sitemap? Briefly, an XML sitemap is a file that lists the URLs available on a site. The aim is to help site owners notify search engines about the URLs on a website that are available for indexing. The sitemap lets the spiders know what is available on a website. Google paved the way with utilizing this XML protocol, and now Yahoo and Ask also accept XML sitemaps. There are a number of things you have to understand about this subject, and I will be discussing sitemaps in another post. This post is not intended to teach you all the ins and outs.

So, by “manually” loading an XML sitemap into the root directory of my friend’s new mini-site, and then going into her Google Webmaster account to fill out the information that says “yes … a sitemap has been uploaded into this website’s root directory”, I alerted the Google spiders that it was time to come and visit her website.

Now, there is a lot of talk amongst SEO professionals as to the need for, use of or value of submitting an XML sitemap. However, I am of the feeling that at least in the very beginning stage(s) of lauching a new website or blog, that an XML sitemap is of value. Why wouldn’t it be? It instantly alerts Google that you’re ready to be spidered. You don’t have to sit there, wondering when the spiders are going to come crawling your way.

In addition, in instances like what happened within 24-hours to my friend’s site, it PROVES to me the value of submitting a sitemap to Google (or the other search engines that allow the same).

So, if you have a brand new site, I would suggest you submit an XML sitemap to help move things along and to let the spiders know you want them to come and visit for awhile.  Plus you never know, you might be in a position like my friend that you will be able to quickly grab a great ranking position.  (Of course ranking positions depend upon the niche, the competition, and all that other ’stuff’ we have to take into consideration.)

To learn more about Google’s requirements and what you need to do, go to Google’s Webmaster Tools Home Page, login to your account and look for the Sitemap information section. (Sorry but for some reason my Wordpress template is blowing out an https link otherwise I’d have taken you right to the section you need to read.)