Give Spiders a Tasty Treat!

by Karon Thackston

Mechanical spiders have to eat. In fact, they usually have bigger
appetites than the real-life spiders you squish under your shoe. What
spiders am I talking about? The automated programs sent out by search
engines to review and index websites. These "spiders" (sometimes
called "bots") are looking for a reason to list your site within the
database of their particular search engine. It's hard work roaming
around the 'Net nonstop, and these little guys need some nourishment
from time to time. In fact, when spiders find some hearty "spider
food" (a.k.a. a site map with some meat to it) they sit down to stay a
while. That's a good thing!

You've probably seen many site maps. The standard ones look like the
example below with each phrase being linked to the page of the same
(or similar) name.

=====================
Home
About Us
Shipping Rates
Products
>> Small Appliances
------- Microwave Ovens
------- Can Openers
>> Dinnerware
------- Platters
------- Serving Bowls
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
=====================

Site maps are deemed "spider food" because they provide the perfect
place in which to crawl your site. Because a site map has links to
every page of your site (and those link names or page descriptions
often include keywords), it is extremely easy for the search engine
spider to access each publicly accessible area with no obstacles, and
relate it to a given subject matter. (For example, a page labeled
"microwave ovens" is most likely about microwave ovens.)

Some site owners think that's enough. They think a page with
keyword-rich titles and links is plenty for a hungry little spider to
munch on. Not hardly! That's not a meal... it's just a light snack.

Give Spiders A Tasty Treat

If you really want to fill the spiders' bellies, you'll want to
provide them with a "descriptive site map" (as I like to call them).
Descriptive site maps go beyond a simple list of links to your pages.
These special versions of the traditional maps also include a short,
keyword-rich description of each page. The text only needs to be a
sentence or two in length. An example is below. (The links would
remain the same as in the previous example.)

=====================
HOME - Home page for XYZ Depot, a home accessories outlet.
ABOUT US - Account of how XYZ Depot became the world's largest home
accessories outlet.
SHIPPING RATES - Shipping rates and delivery times.
PRODUCTS - Complete listing of home accessories offered.
>> SMALL APPLIANCES - Exciting selection of small appliances to save
you time in the kitchen.
------- MICROWAVE OVENS - Top-of-the-line microwave ovens from brands
you trust.
=====================

Descriptive site maps work well in attracting and satisfying spiders
because they include naturally occurring keywords. They also place
keywords in the vicinity of a link that points to the associated page.
Add these advantages to those that already exist including:

* having links in the body copy of the page
* overcoming complex navigation such as DHTML or Java
* lending quick access to pages located several layers deep within the
site
* assisting with usability for visitors (especially disabled visitors)
* and others

and you have prepared a huge feast for the search engine spiders that
is almost guaranteed to entice those hungry little critters to crawl
through every available page of your site.

Does every site need a site map? It certainly wouldn't hurt. Sites
with less than 20 pages or sites where most or all the pages have
links directly from the home page generally don't "need" a site map,
per se. However, practically every site can reap the benefits of a
site map.

If you're creating a site map for your site, don't stop with just the
basics. With a little added effort, you'll have a four-course meal to
serve the spiders that will keep them happy and satisfied, and
ultimately help provide you with exceptional rankings.

Karon Thackston
Marketing Word, Inc.
Copywriting Course

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