Googlebot! So where's my site?

[Rational Beaver]

So the much vaunted googlebot hit my site today. To sooth my impatient mind, could I get some estimates as to when my site might appear on an actual SERP?

Relatedly, what's the best way to check the keywords that I'm listed under?

Your comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

[robinev]

Originally Posted by Rational Beaver

what's the best way to check the keywords that I'm listed under

Google doesn't index or know anything about "keywords" as such. They just know words. Their index will include each and every word that appears on your web page (excluding a few common terms). Some of those words will be given extra weight when the SE returns results, but that extra importance derives from structural elements of the indexed page and not from anything special about the word being indexed.

What those structural elements might be is a subject of most of the discussions on these pages.

If it's a word that you think users will be using in their search strings, then you might consider it a "keyword", but it's still just another word to a search engine.

[flood6]

It has been my experience that after a page is spidered by google you can expect to see it in the SERPs about 3 to 7 days later.

You will most likely not rank well for difficult keywords or phrases initially. You'll need to asses where you are and figure out what you need to fix to improve your serps.

Give it a few days and try searching for a 4 or 5 word direct quote from your site. Pick a phrase that is most likely unique yo your site, put it in quotes and search google.

Also, if you have the Google Toolbar installed, you can just right-click and select "Cached Snapshot of Page". If you see your site, you're in the index.

I hope that answered your question. Good luck!

[Rational Beaver]

Thanks for your responses, I found them very helpful.

I'm not really sure what my idea of Google's system was. Apparently I had been blinded by all the keyword talk surrounding search engine results...thanks for the clarification.

The Cached Snapshot thing hadn't ever occured to me either. That's a nice little tool. I have both the Google and Alexa toolbars and there's just a bunch of junk on the right-click menu that I mostly ignore. Guess I should test those things out.

I assume that the spidered-to-indexed delay you mention for Google (3-7 days) is pretty standard for other search engines as well? I have recently been spidered by Alexa and Ask Jeeves.

[flood6]

Originally Posted by Rational Beaver

I assume that the spidered-to-indexed delay you mention for Google (3-7 days) is pretty standard for other search engines as well? I have recently been spidered by Alexa and Ask Jeeves.

I haven't done too much with Alexa or Ask lately, but as of a few months ago they were taking longer than Google to update their indexed version; I couldn't even give a guess as to what it was/is, I just remember it being longer.

Another great feature of the right-click google tooblar menu is the "Backward Links" check. This will show you an aparently random "sample" of the pages that link to that page. Don't put too much stock in this function except to see some of the pages that link to another. You can also expect to see a roughly proportionate number there; if it shows you as having 1 backward link, it is safe to assume you need to work on getting more inbound links. If it shows your home page as having 10,000 backward links, it is save to assume you are doing pretty good in the inbound link department.

[Rational Beaver]

Yeah, the backwards links tool is quite usefull, and I always forget that it's there. I always just search for link:www.whatever.com. I could save some time if I remembered stuff in the right-click menu aside from Open in New Window which is my personal favorite.

That brings up something off topic. I've heard differing opinions about this issue. Some people like links that open up new windows and others seem to think they're spawn of the devil. I guess some people don't have big monitors or fast connections...but when I'm reading an article that includes links that reference other topics I like to be able to open them as I read them, gave them a glance and put them in the background while I continue reading. What's your take?