Google Basics:
Google Site Map : http://www.google.com/sitemap.html
:: Standard site map.
Google Terms of Service : http://www.google.com/terms_of_service.html
Privacy Policy : http://www.google.com/privacy.html
Google Help Central : http://www.google.com/help/index.html
:: Covers "How To Search", advance search, feature explanations,
tools & services and contact links.
Google Technology : http://www.google.com/press/overview_tech.html
:: An overview of the technology involved at Google.
Pagerank : http://www.google.com/technology/ :: Pagerank
explained.
Google Toolbar : http://toolbar.google.com/ :: Internet
Explorer add-on that directly accesses Googles search functions,
translation functions and shows the user a graphical approximation
of a pages rank (PR) as determined by Google.
Google Webmaster Information
Webmasters : http://www.google.com/webmasters/ :: Webmasters
index guide.
Dos & Don'ts : http://www.google.com/webmasters/dos.html
:: Stated DOS & Don'ts' on what to do with your site and
what NOT to do.
Facts & Fiction : http://www.google.com/webmasters/facts.html
:: Common Google myths dispelled by Google.
FAQs : http://www.google.com/webmasters/faq.html ::
Basic frequently asked questions, answered.
Google Add/Remove sites/content:
Add Url : http://www.google.com/addurl.html :: Add
your root url here, Google will find your other pages by crawling
(following) your links.
Remove Content : http://www.google.com/remove.html ::
Does Google have certain pages that you DIDN'T want indexed?
This tells you how to remove them.
Spam Report : http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html
:: Generic link to Google's spam form. You can also report
from any SERP - at the bottom of the first page there is a link
"Dissatisfied with your results? Help us improve." When you
click that link (the 'help us improve part') you will be taken
to a custom spam report that tells Google what search you did
to find the spam. If you do use the generic form please be sure
to state what your search was, the offending url(s) and any
other information. Keep it simple and factual, short and to
the point.
Common Questions & Answers:
1) Q: When does Google update?
A: Google has a standard monthly update which generally
occurs at the end of every month. The data for this update is
gathered during the preceding weeks. Google has been known to
delay updates (or process them sooner than expected) when the
mood strikes. Chances are delays are due to new algorithms being
implemented and tested.
2) Q: When will Google spider my site and how can I tell?
A: Googlebot (Google's spider) finds sites by following
links from other sites. The more links to your site they find
the the chance of Googlebot finding you. They also follow links
from their addurl form, but prefer to find links to you instead.
You can check to see if/when Googlebot has visited by reviewing
your site's logs located on your server. When Googlebot visits
you will see a reference to 'googlebot' or 'crawler12.googlebot.com'
or something similar. They announce who they are. For more on
locating and viewing your server logs you need to speak to your
hosting company. Many common website statistics (site stats)
programs will gather this information and present an easy to
read report for you.
3) Q: What is Pagerank?
A: Pagerank is Google's method of ranking web pages.
Google basically counts the number of incoming links to your
web PAGE and (considers various other factors) to determine
the importance of your web page and where it should rank. Keep
in mind that this is only one factor in ranking.
[more info:
http://www7.scu.edu.au/programme/fullpapers/1921/com1921.htm
http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/brin98anatomy.html ]
4) Q: Will Google index my (asp, php, html, xml, etc)
site?
A: Probably. Here is a list of what Google indexes as
of 9/12/02 (from Google.com):
[url : http://www.google.com/corporate/facts.html
and: http://www.google.com/webmasters/facts.html ]
- HyperText Markup Language (html, pdf, asp, jsp, hdml, shtml, xml, cfml)
- Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf)
- Adobe PostScript (ps)
- Lotus 1-2-3 (wk1, wk2, wk3, wk4, wk5, wki, wks, wku)
- Lotus WordPro (lwp)
- MacWrite (mw)
- Microsoft Excel (xls)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (ppt)
- Microsoft Word (doc)
- Microsoft Works (wks, wps, wdb)
- Microsoft Write (wri)
- Rich Text Format (rtf)
- Text (ans, txt)
- Images
- Usenet messages
5) Q: I reported spam I found in Google, why is it still there?
A: Google does not remove spam just because it was reported.
They review the report as soon as they can first to determine
if it really is spam (imagine, what would you do if it was that
easy and your competitor got you removed). If it is particularly
bad they may manually remove the offensive site or page but they
do try and avoid this when ever possible. If it is not then the
site or page will most likely become test material for new filter
tweaks. Google always prefer to adjust their filters and algorithms
to catch spam.
written by Kelly "crash"
Beil 9/02 :: updated 10/02 please do not use without permission.
