Google Indexing - Very Confused

markvredeveld · #1 (**permalink**) 12-20-2003, 01:34 AM

Can a database prevent a site from being indexed?

I first started registering my site in mid November http://www.condorentals.com I got impatient waiting to be indexed, so I downloaded the Googlebar, went to every page of my site and asked for a cache of the page, hoping that would send a message to Google to come and cache my pages. The next day my pages were in the Googlebar cache...But my pages are not found anywhere in the general search unless I put "Quotation marks" around my page title keywords. I do OK in exact search but I am nowhere in general search? Does this mean I am still not indexed in the main search index? Why do I rank with exact quotes but not general searches? Could the "database search for vacation destinations" on my home page(which is stored on another site) be something that would cause Google to decide not to index my site in the general search? Does that database mark me as an affiliate site and therefore puts me in a category where Google won't put me in their searchable index? Or do I just need more patience?

Signed, Worried and Confused!

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cbp · #2 (**permalink**) 12-20-2003, 01:53 AM

quick response:

You are in the Google index. Using the toolbar in the way you describe will not make any difference. There is no "toolbar cache" - if your site is cached, it is in the Google index.

I suspect you do not come up for searches as you rank low - I can only find 4 links to your site, 3 of which could be close to being 'link farms' - they have no PR to pass onto you.

A database can only affect you getting indexed if there are a lot of dynamic parameters in the URL -

I do not think you are showing up for searchs in quotation marks is that you GENERALLY need the words searching for to be in title, description, H tags, anchor text etc if the PR of the site is low (at least you did pre florida)

I think you just need a lot more quality incoming links to rank better and show up for searches.

CBP

cyanide · #3 (**permalink**) 12-20-2003, 05:30 AM

Well, the simple answer is no, just 'cause you have a database doesn't mean you won't be found on google.
As cbp pointed out, if you have alot of parameters in the url string, then that would hurt you. If you have less than 3, then you should be good to go.

You have only been waiting 1 month ! That's not enough time for Google to crawl your site. It does have your homepage, though.
Be patient. Don't go crazy... next thing you know, you'll be submitting your site to link farms. - no good.

You have alot of static pages, so that's good.

I'm going to do a little commenting on your database and site structure.
While you're waiting for the flood of visitors to come rushing to your site, you should concentrate on visitor retention, otherwise you'll be posting here in a couple of months asking why you have thousands of visitors, but no-one's buyin' !

Well, first I was confused. Are both sites yours, or are you an affiliate of this other site?
And actually the search query does have too many variables. Google will not crawl it.

Each of your destination pages has one long paragraph. No one's going to read it. You should break it up into sections. And maybe add a couple extra pictures. The search function on these pages yields alot of 0 results. This is going to frustrate people, and they will leave.

The search function was a little curious. You have Canada, but when I do a search, the only city that comes up is Whistler, BC. That would be like me putting up a Canadian directory, having US, but really it's only New York. -non-sensical

It's great that you want to get listed on the engines, but if you don't make it easy for visitors, they will leave in droves.

cyanide · #4 (**permalink**) 12-20-2003, 05:42 AM

By the way,

Having that search tool bar auto-install on my browser isn't going to win you any points !

really stupid !!

ronniethedodger · #5 (**permalink**) 12-20-2003, 02:41 PM

I am seeing Google reporting that you have 89 pages that are indexed right now. Although, I can only get 60 of these pages to be listed. Paste this into a Google search -- allinurl:www.condorentals.com -- if you leave off the www. you will not get true results.

Google is only reporting one backlink to your site, and as far as I can see it is not a bad one. Other search engines have good links as well. So I am not sure what the others were saying about link farms. The links I am seeing are from other legitimate condo rental sites. But as they did point out -- work on some more quality links, you can never go wrong by doing so.

You have a good DMOZ listing which is always nice to have. This is a very good start.

My only question is why you are limiting yourself to just Florida though ??? With a base domain name that is very nice in my opinion and not limitive in nature, you should expand upon that more. I noticed other destinations off of your Home Page other than Florida, but yet you only have one directory that I can see.