How can you ensure your site is indexed with a sitemap and a robots.txt file?

To be sure to be indexed, your site needs a sitemap and a robots.txt file.

Sitemaps and robots.txt files are part of the HTML code of your website. The sitemap is a list of all the pages on your site, which tells Google and other search engines where to find each page. The robots.txt files tell search engines what they can find on your site and what parts they should stay away from (for example, if you have an employee area).

• • Creating a sitemap: To create a sitemap file, use an online service such as [XML-Sitemaps] (https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/) or [Google Webmaster Tools] (https://www.google.com/webmasters/). If you are not using an online tool, simply save an .xml file containing all the URLs for each page in alphabetical order, with no punctuation or special characters in the file name, and upload it to your server using FTP software (such as FileZilla) or Google’s website tool ([Google Search Console](https://console.developers.google .com/)).

• • Creating Robots .txt files: If you create new pages or make changes to existing pages, create a new robots .txt file for each one. This will help you avoid indexing problems by blocking specific areas of your site that should not be indexed by search engines (like images).

Is it important that your URL reflects the main topic of the page and relevant keywords?

Make sure your URL reflects the main topic of the page and the relevant keywords.

It’s important to make sure your URL is relevant to the content of the page, but it’s also important not to overdo it. For example, if you link to a page about “cleaning out your closet” with an unrelated keyword, such as “closet organizers”, you will be penalized.

In general, try not to include more than three or four keywords in your URL. If you want to include more, use hyphens instead of spaces between words (for example http://www.yoursite.com/your-keyword-here). This allows Google to understand the content of each link and not confuse them!

How can you research relevant keywords with a keyword analysis tool?

Use a keyword analysis tool to research what your organic audience is looking for.

The first thing to do is to use the Google Keyword Planner tool. It will let you know how many people are searching for the keyword and how competitive it is. To access the tool, go to https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner and type in your keyword(s). If you want to be more specific, choose a region like “United States” or “Canada” or select a language like “English – United States” or “English – Canada”.

After entering your keyword(s), click on “Get Ideas” under “How do I use this data?”. Then scroll down the page until you see “Top Searches”, then “Competition” and finally “Avg Monthly Searches”.

Why do you need backlinks from other sites to build authority for Google to consider ranking you?

You need backlinks from other sites to build authority for Google to consider ranking you in search results.

For Google to consider ranking you in search results, you need backlinks from other sites to build your authority. You can get them by :

• • writing a blog post that is featured on another site and/or shared on social media.

• • becoming an affiliate of another product (be sure to only recommend products you believe in, otherwise you risk losing credibility).

• • Writing an article that is picked up by a high authority publication (>100,000 visitors per month).

Which sites should you get reviews of your business on to improve your visibility?

Get reviews of your business on Yelp, TripAdvisor, Facebook, and Google Maps so people see them when they search for you.

When people search for your business, they will now see reviews from other customers.

• • Yelp

• • TripAdvisor

• • Facebook (if you have a business page)

• • Google Maps (if you have declared your business)