ArticlesIn my last article about Google Sitemaps, I said:
However, I think there will need to be a noticeable payoff to the early adopters for others to follow, and I am not sure it will be that clear. If you do absolutely nothing, Google will probably get your web-site mostly right anyway.
Pondering this overnight, I have a fresh insight.
Have you ever typed a search term into Google and been directed to a blog’s home page, but when you visit there you find that the article being referenced no longer appears on the front page – it has been hidden somewhere in the archives.
More importantly, as a blogger, has this ever happened to one of your potential new visitors? Did they stick around and searched your archive to find the article, or did they just hit Back and find another site?
This is a case of Google getting your web-site only mostly right. Your home page would probably have a higher PageRank than the permalinked page that shows only the article in question.
Google Sitemaps may assist here.
By telling Google that your front page changes daily (or even every single time you visit it), and that your pages have a higher priority and never change, perhaps Google will get the hint, and rank the offer the permalinked page instead.
It took me almost 24 hours to cotton onto this feature. I hope Google let webmasters know of this this benefit in their FAQ.
I’m ready for that Google Sitemap WordPress plugin now! Hurry up guys!
Comment by Alastair on June 5, 2005
Something like this perhaps?
Comment by Julian on September 13, 2005
There is a downside to this system of putting pages as a higher priority than your home page: when someone searches for the name of your blog – which probably appears on all of the pages, it may put your home page (the best hit) below all of your other pages.