Search friendly drop down menus: Myth or Possibility?

One of my Search Engine College students has written an excellent post titled Can Drop Down Menus be Search Friendly as well as User Friendly?

In it, Lameesh talks about the benefits of nested navigation menus, but the drawbacks of using JavaScript for these, because of their search engine incompatibility. Instead, Lameesh suggests creating a horizontal drop down menu using HTML and CSS with all the nav items created as text links . Nice workaround!

Q and A: What are your favorite WordPress plugins?

QuestionDear Kalena…

What are your favorite WordPress plugins, especially those used for SEO?

Anne

Hi Anne

I use a lot of plugins for WordPress, but the four I can’t live without would have to be:

To learn more about these, view my video answer below:

Q and A: What is an XML Sitemap and why do I need one?

QuestionHi Kalena

I am not sure what a XML sitemap is. I have gone to websites that will automatically generate a site map and the code they create is not understandable to me and they can only index the first 500 pages.

There are pages on my site that are important to be indexed and others that don’t matter. I have no idea how to create a XML sitemap that only lists the pages I want indexed. How can I do this? Can you clarify what a XML sitemap is and if I can have only my important pages indexed on it?

Beverly

Hi Beverly

Thanks for the caffeine donation, I’ll be sure to use it tomorrow when I visit Starbucks.

A sitemap is simply a way for search engines and visitors to find all the pages on your site more easily. XML is simply a popular format for the delivery of the sitemap. To quote Sitemaps.org:

Sitemaps are an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.

I personally use XML Sitemaps to build all sitemaps for my own sites and my client’s sites. I paid for the stand alone version so I can create sitemaps for sites with over 500 pages. At under USD 20, I believe the price is pretty reasonable and their support is pretty good so it might be worth the investment for you. Apart from that, the instructions for using their web version are quite clear – perhaps you need to have a closer look? These sitemap FAQs shoud also help.

You can either create a full sitemap of your entire site and edit out any pages you don’t want indexed later, or instruct the generator to avoid certain files or sub-directories before running. Once you’ve created and downloaded the XML sitemap file for your site, simply upload it to your web server and follow the instructions to ensure it is indexed by search engines. If you’ve created a Google Webmaster Tools account, you can login and enter your sitemap URL directly into the control panel.

Like this post? Prove it! Please press the big feed button at the top left. Thanks.

Search Industry Job of the Week: Marketing Assistant Intern

Job Title: Marketing Assistant Intern
Job Reference #: Unknown
Position Type: Part-time, Employee or Internship
Name of employer: Vertive
Location: Austin, Texas
Date Posted: 20 March 2008
Position description:

Are you interested in a career in online marketing? Do you have a flair for Internet marketing and the desire to be part of a team that produces Websites that work? This position offers the opportunity to intern at a leading performance marketing company and gain a more complete understanding of the growing online marketing industry.

Summary

Vertive is seeking a passionate, results-oriented Marketing Intern to assist in creating pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns. The job also will entail analyzing sales and expense data. This position could transition into a part-time role after the summer or a full-time role after graduation.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

  • Assist in the creation set-up and uploading PPC campaigns to various search engines.
  • Monitor, test, revise, and update placements as necessary.
  • Create and update daily, weekly, and monthly sales and traffic reports.
  • Keyword research including cataloging and indexing target keyword phrases.

Qualifications and Experience

  • Candidates should have or be working toward a Bachelor’s degree in Business, English, Journalism, Advertising, or Communications or an MBA.
  • Experience at an Internet-related or marketing company is a plus.
  • Ability to prioritize tasks in a fast-paced environment.
  • An eagerness to meet and exceed objectives and take on more responsibility.
  • Comfortable working with team members at all levels, including senior management.

To Apply

To apply send your resume and detailed work history to and include “Marketing Assistant Intern” in the subject line.

Compensation & Benefits

  • Competitive compensation and benefits commensurate with experience. Benefits for part-time employees include:
  • Snacks and drinks.
  • Weekly lunch in the office.
  • A great culture with continuous learning and opportunities for career advancement.

Note:

All positions are located at their office in Austin, Texas.
Vertive does not accept unsolicited resumes from agencies.
Vertive is a tobacco-free workplace.
Background checks are conducted on all new hires to include education and licenses, as well as criminal, financial, and work history.
Please be prepared to provide samples to illustrate your relevant experience upon request.
They are unable to respond individually to each person interested in their company, or answer inquiries regarding the status of a particular resume. If they are interested in talking to you further they will contact you. Please, no phone calls about this job.

Salary range: Unknown
Closing date: Unknown
More info from: [www.vertive.com]
Contact: Send resumes to jobs[at]vertive.com

For more search industry job vacancies visit Search Engine College Jobs Board.

Backlog of Blog Questions

Hey gang

Just wanted to say thanks for the recent influx of blog questions and caffeine donations. Sorry for the delay in answering these, I have quite a backlog of questions built up since SMX Sydney and I’m slowly wading through them. If you have submitted a question to me in the past 2 months and are yet to see an answer, please be patient, I WILL answer you.

If you submitted a question to me over 2 months ago without a response, please ping me here and I’ll do my best to move it to the top of the pile. Keep in mind that if you’ve asked me a series of questions or a highly technical question, it does take me some research time, so a caffeine injection would be appreciated as a fair trade.

thanks
Kalena