How often does google update?

[Lemon Blossom]

I have google on my site daily, they visit between 3 - 4 times a day and view different pages.  So how come the Cache is dated 12th Feb.  Is there anyway of getting this updated or do I just have to wait for google to update?

Thanks in advance.

[Rainee Bows]

If you are registered with google webmaster tools im pretty certain id my memory serves me correctly that you can force a recache , i would however be more inlined to wait and let it update itself, when i rebuilt rainbow studios i was having the same issues  but it soom sorted itself out and is now climbing rankings very well


Rain
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[Lemon Blossom]

In which case I shall leave well alone.

Thank you.

[Rainee Bows]

apologies for the atrocious spelling in that answer

Just out of interest how do you find Cs cart to work with ? Its not a platform ive come across ..... am wondering if you have the ability to SEO freindly your urls ?? that would help SEO wise


Rain
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[Lemon Blossom]

Just out of interest how do you find Cs cart to work with ? Its not a platform ive come across ..... am wondering if you have the ability to SEO freindly your urls ?? that would help SEO wise

I love the administration side of Cs Cart, it is really easy to use, and I can add all the additional infomation I need for my products.  However, when it comes to making it look pretty it is an up hill struggle at the moment, every little bit of code seems to have an affect on something completely random.  I don't know much about HTML, so am leaving most of this sort of stuff to a man who does, but everytime I do a little something I do know how to do the whole thing goes mad  .

I recently saw an article that mentioned SEO freindly urls, and it is certainly something I am going to look into, as it would also help me to know what my visitors are looking at rather than having to click on the link each time to see the page.

All tips are much appreciated. 

Many thanks

Lemon Blossom

[evil_grrrl666]

Further to the webmaster tools thing. Everyone who has their own website should really sign up for it and add a sitemap.

And what I've found is that the type of site makes a huge difference for how quickly google updates it. For example google loves blogs, so if you want a particular page on your site updated quickly, perhaps it would help to link to it from a blog (even if you don't want to / know how to set up one on your own site, you can get a free one at wordpress.com and the like, they get indexed very quickly by google) . Other than that it's a matter of time ...

[Lemon Blossom]

OK, so I looked at FURL's - look at me using the techy terms... I didn't understand how to do this.  So spoke to my web guy who is going to do them tomorrow for me... Page No 1 here I come... Slowly, but I am on my way.   

[drew]

Just to add a little bit here about the Google webmaster tools, for anyone who has a website, but dosen't have webmaster tools yet.....

Webmaster stats will tell you which keywords on your site are showing up more than others. Very imnportant if you want to get to page 1. I logged into webmaster and saw 'bookmark' was a highly ranked keyword for my site. I don't sell bookmarks. Looking into it, I have Social Bookmark Tabs and the alt text on the image read 'bookmark with.....'. this was then changed, and now 'bookmark' isn't a keyword for the site.

Webmaster also lets you know what posistion your site appeared in a search, even if the user dosen't click through. So you get to know which search terms are good for your site and which aren't.

And if you open a Google account to get the webmaster stuff, install Analytics as well. Brilliant piece of software.

[paulc010]

In total agreement regarding Webmaster Tools and Analytics - Webmaster Tools is the boring brother of Analytics but each provides invaluable information about your site. WT is great for dealing with the real "basic" on-page SEO and Analytics gives you insights into how your customers are interacting, and your overall "performance".

On friendly urls.... it always scares me a little bit when people talk calmly about "enabling" them. I think they should come with a warning like those diet foods do - you know the one that says "As part of a calorie controlled diet". Thing is they can really help SEO when implemented to reinforce your other SEO actvities, but getting the structure wrong the first time (which is the only time they are "painless" to implement) can be a complete pain in the bottom.

I suggest caution and careful planning 

Paul

[JhnStcks]

On friendly URLs.... it always scares me a little bit when people talk calmly about "enabling" them. I think they should come with a warning like those diet foods do - you know the one that says "As part of a calorie controlled diet". Thing is they can really help SEO when implemented to reinforce your other SEO activities, but getting the structure wrong the first time (which is the only time they are "painless" to implement) can be a complete pain in the bottom.

I was told a few weeks ago that at one point google started downgrading 'friendly' URLs for about 6 months.  A friend of mine who is an internet marketer has stopped using 'friendly' URLs on his blog sites because of this, and has said that his SERPs haven't noticeably changed.

[paulc010]

It wouldn't surprise me. I would imagine they're after the "spam" ones - I used the example of a well know PC parts reseller that had URIs that were about 20 words long in the past to debunk they myth that these were implemented to help humans. I've since checked back and noticed that they have now fixed it

One-dimensional, long URIs may well just be seen as a form of keyword spamming - they don't help "real" people as they end up being far too long for anyone to ever have a hope of remembering; so the only logical conclusion a search engine like Google would make is that they are there purely there for their "SEO" value.

On the other hand, using the URI to create a real human friendly structure to urls - which would otherwise be a single page with parameters - can be seen as a real benefit and credit given for it (usually the "credit" is in the form of nice, friendly "Site Links").

An additional problem with poorly implemented "friendly" urls is the possibility of presenting the same page under an infinite number of different URIs. A "Duplicate Content Penalty" is a myth as far as I'm concerned, but there is a real danger of any "credit" for the page being spread across the duplicates, meaning that you're not getting the full benefit where it counts. Declaring a "canonical" version of the URI can help.

Paul

[JhnStcks]

I think duplicate content across two different websites could well be penalized, but having the same page duplicated on your own site, i doubt that, that would be penalized.

For example when prestashop first started, products that were in 2 different categories would have 2 different urls, and if the product was in the home category (featured products) it would have a url from the root and the other would be from the category.

[Rainee Bows]

On friendly URLs.... it always scares me a little bit when people talk calmly about "enabling" them. I think they should come with a warning like those diet foods do - you know the one that says "As part of a calorie controlled diet". Thing is they can really help SEO when implemented to reinforce your other SEO activities, but getting the structure wrong the first time (which is the only time they are "painless" to implement) can be a complete pain in the bottom.

I was told a few weeks ago that at one point google started downgrading 'friendly' URLs for about 6 months.  A friend of mine who is an internet marketer has stopped using 'friendly' URLs on his blog sites because of this, and has said that his SERPs haven't noticeably changed.

Ahhh the same as google downgrading the meta tags ?? I wonder how many people took that as read and are now kicking themselves ..........

Rain
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[paulc010]

John, I think "penalties" is about semantics really. People talk about getting a "penalty" for duplicate content, but the reality is actually you don't get as much "credit", rather than having something "taken away". It is more that you're likely wasting your time for very little, if any gain; or not "optimising" your benefits.

Paul