Hello, I was wondering if google won't index some of my pages because the subpages have too many characters... Does google have a limit on this?

Check out www.internet-directories.com

I have some subpages with quite a few characters to be descriptive of what they are about.. should I change this?

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks

My site already has a sitemap with google, so that shouldn't be the problem.


-Zack

* laughs *

Dude, you've got a death wish. Listing RLRouse.com as directories not to submit to? Evidently you haven't run across The Rat Pack before. Wait until you do...you're gonna get a lesson in how to argue by throwing logic and common sense out the window and replacing them with intentional misinterpretation and bullying.

Your bigger issue is that you're making the same mistake most rookies and blackhats make: you're looking at the whole promotion thing from precisely the wrong angle. You're worried about link exchanges and PageRank, rather than building a traffic-based resource people will want to visit.

What's your quality criteria? Who selected them and how? What makes a good directory? What makes a directory not worth submitting to at all? And don't answer it with "It'll increase your PR" or "It won't increase your PR" either, because PageRank is one of over 100 factors Google uses to evaluate engines.

I'm not trying to come off hard on you, because you're gonna have a much bigger issue with The Rat Pack that way. But unfortunately, you're going down the garden path on this one.

Interesting, how did you decide which directories people shouldn't post on? Is this information that you've validated yourself or are you just taking someone elses word for it?

i.e. have you checked that there's IP address sharing going on?

I think you've worked hard to provide a good directory resource though. Just make sure you've got yourself covered.

Good luck.

what's IP sharing got to do with anything ???

Chris has a point...

The dedicated IP or shared myth was addressed by Matt Cutts (once again) earlier this week

Link to Matt's Post

Question:

Why in this day and age does google continue to penalize sites that are virtual hosted? With ip addresses becoming harder to get/justify every day why does google discount the relevance of links that don’t come from a unique ip address. Please don’t just deny it, I think the Internet community deserves an explanation.

Craig’s reply (Google Employee):

I can’t just deny it? What are my other choices? Actually, Google handles virtually hosted domains and their links just the same as domains on unique IP addresses. If your ISP does virtual hosting correctly, you’ll never see a difference between the two cases. We do see a small percentage of ISPs every month that misconfigure their virtual hosting, which might account for this persistent misperception–thanks for giving me the chance to dispel a myth!

ADAM Web Design, I make my choices on what makes a good directory by many factors.. if you would like to discuss the reasons more I would be MORE then happy to.. but don't bash my site.. I think its quite childish..

Again, if a directory is on the blacklist and have changed or have improved they will be taken off...

Most of the time, directories are blacklisted because they have many directories on one IP address, which google doesn't like.. and is a waste of time to submit to all of them.

or

because they aren't currently accepting or are VERY slow in accepting listings...

Believe it or not, internet-directories is not the only directory resource that has directories that aren't recommended or warn you about submitting to because it is a waste of your time..

Also, in general.. I would consider a good directory one that has High through Subpages because the main reason why people submit their sites to directories is to IMPROVE PageRank and link popularity.. I am not saying that PR means everything, and I never did.. so I don't know where you come across saying that.. PR is just one of the things needed and desired by Webmasters and I provide a site that helps them find directories where subpages are high pagerank and usually have quick with inclusion..

I hope that clears some things up.. now back to my thread..

All I want to know is if long characters will hurt me with google... it would be awesome if someone could help me.. Thanks.

-Zack

I dont think long name should affect your indexing by google.

Ben,
< link drop removed >

I think google will index it, but your rankings will not be good.

Most of the time, directories are blacklisted because they have many directories on one IP address, which google doesn't like..

Garbage

more likely they are simply a bunch of crap directories (as most of them are). IPs have NOTHING to do with it

Garbage? You are telling me that if you have a link on 4 different directories that are hosted on the same IP address, it would just be as good if all 4 of those directories were on their own dedicated IP addresses?

Please clear this up for me.. Thanks.

Originally Posted by nkiegrea

ADAM Web Design, I make my choices on what makes a good directory by many factors.. if you would like to discuss the reasons more I would be MORE then happy to.. but don't bash my site.. I think its quite childish..

Again, if a directory is on the blacklist and have changed or have improved they will be taken off...

Most of the time, directories are blacklisted because they have many directories on one IP address, which google doesn't like.. and is a waste of time to submit to all of them.

or

because they aren't currently accepting or are VERY slow in accepting listings...

Believe it or not, internet-directories is not the only directory resource that has directories that aren't recommended or warn you about submitting to because it is a waste of your time..

Also, in general.. I would consider a good directory one that has High through Subpages because the main reason why people submit their sites to directories is to IMPROVE PageRank and link popularity.. I am not saying that PR means everything, and I never did.. so I don't know where you come across saying that.. PR is just one of the things needed and desired by Webmasters and I provide a site that helps them find directories where subpages are high pagerank and usually have quick with inclusion..

I hope that clears some things up.. now back to my thread..

All I want to know is if long characters will hurt me with google... it would be awesome if someone could help me.. Thanks.

-Zack

The answer to your question is "probably, depending on how long." I've seen URLs that I've created as long as 100-125 characters get indexed, but no more. I generally keep it to that if I can simply because I want to make sure if people have to type things in to remember them (and yes, it does happen), they type in as little as possible.

Now, back to my comments since you missed the point of them completely. Let's clear up some stuff right here and right now:

1) If I wanted to bash you, I would have, and believe me you'd know. What I was pointing out was the flaws in your site, namely the completely incorrect focus point.

2) I'm very aware of the number of sites that "rank" directories, and not one of them has managed to get it right.

Here's a list of the top 3 sites in order:

1) Coca-Cola's site.
2) Major League Baseball's site.
3) The WWE website.

What are those based on? How did I come to those conclusions? Well, they're the top 3 sites so you'll just have to accept my word for them.

That, in a nutshell, is the major problem with your site...it's not explicitly clear as to how you're ranking directories. The only apparent criteria is PageRank and search engine ranking increase, which isn't a reason to submit a site to any directory. If you're going to submit, it's better to submit to a site that has a direct traffic benefit as opposed to a perceived indirect traffic benefit.

Now, before you go telling me what the criteria are that you use, understand that the reason I'm asking is because others would as well. Don't tell me, put it on your own site where your users can find it.

If you don't do that, and if you don't consider user experience before search engine ranking, your site will, repeat will, let's say it a third time, will fail.

Adamn.. I understand where you are coming from.. but honestly, I believe that you are being too anal.. I am purely trying to Help webmasters out by providing them a site that lists quality directories for them to submit. The directories need to be indexed, have high pagerank through out subpages, and a pretty good inclusion time. I am just trying to help them out.. I am not trying to play god with these directories and say #1 is a million times better then #3 or #4.. I know that it can be frustrating at time for new webmasters to submit their sites to garbage directories that won't even help them.

Experienced people like you obviously don't need my site and that is fine with me..

Through out the site, I do share why some directories are better then others and why directories are ranked higher then others..

Yes, I guess it is opinion, but I am trying to do a majority opinion and the best that I can.. and I wish that you could respect that. =)

I hope this clears some things up.

-Zack

Originally Posted by nkiegrea

Garbage? You are telling me that if you have a link on 4 different directories that are hosted on the same IP address, it would just be as good if all 4 of those directories were on their own dedicated IP addresses?

Please clear this up for me.. Thanks.

Yes....

You are looking at things from utterly the wrong angle.
Forget toolbar PR, it's useless.
Forget about spreading directories over several IPs.
Most directories are so poor quality it wouldn't matter if they were each spread over a hundred IPs they still wouldn't be given a "second glance" as quality backlinks.
The vast majority contain so much garbage "content" and crap links from the same people who submit to anything that looks like they might be allowed a link and the directory owners quite happily allow masses of low quality internet dross fill their pages, mainly in the hope of packing in as many Adsense block as they can to their pages. Then wonder why they are getting paid peanuts for them.

Zack, did you read my post? have you read what Google has been trying to tell you for years? Google doesn't pay attention to IP addresses when it comes to SERP, they do look at DNS registration to decide if ownership has changed and then they look for an unknown number of changes after that. But they don't care about your IP address, what if you change IP addresses, does Google punish you, no, because your site is the same site - it's either helpful or it isn't

Originally Posted by mgarde

Zack, did you read my post? have you read what Google has been trying to tell you for years? Google doesn't pay attention to IP addresses when it comes to SERP, they do look at DNS registration to decide if ownership has changed and then they look for an unknown number of changes after that. But they don't care about your IP address, what if you change IP addresses, does Google punish you, no, because your site is the same site - it's either helpful or it isn't

"They were commenting on the misconception that having multiple sites hosted on the same IP address will in some way affect the PageRanks of those sites." off of the blog that you commented about earlier..

I see this saying that it doesn't effect PageRank, not about how it effects good backlinks..

Would you say that if site A has homepage of PR5 and two other pages with PR5 and link is site wide.. Google would consider that Three Backlinks at PR5?

My understanding is that it doesn't, thus my reason for saying if 3 PageRank directories are sharing the same IP address google would treat that the same..

What do you think? Maybe I am wrong and looking at this wrong. The blog question that Matt answers doesn't seem to be the same issue here.

Let me know. Thanks.

-Zack

Originally Posted by nkiegrea

Would you say that if site A has homepage of PR5 and two other pages with PR5 and link is site wide.. Google would consider that Three Backlinks at PR5?

My understanding is that it doesn't, thus my reason for saying if 3 PageRank directories are sharing the same IP address Google would treat that the same..

I disagree because Google has said different, they state that sites are separate, and if you have 1 or 1000 sites on a single IP address each one has to fight for visitors. A shared IP doesn't punish or help. Imagine if one site on a single IP with 4 other sites has a PR of 8 and great content, should it help the other 4 sites, no, so why should a link from a separate site not help? Each site is judged on its own merits.

If they were treated equal could you imaging what the rent that could be charged if wikipedia decided to virtual host another site. That would be instant credit that is totally undeserving.

So we return to Google punishing a site for using the same IP address as another. Why would they? The only assumption that can be made by Google from this is that the sites hosted on the same IP have the same owner. But that assumption could be wrong. Maybe the correct answer is a single IP address is the host to every MIT department, using separate domains, producing useful content and high PR. An assumption shouldn't influence anything, if it hurts them people wouldn't get what MIT has to offer, if it helps then people may not get the department that they are looking for.

By definition there are a limited number of right answers to any given question and a bunch of wrong answers. Google would be in more wrong territory then right if they were to make assumptions of you site based off of another site whose only interaction with yours is an IP address. Now if they produce a link then Google has to investigate as to the value of that link.

As far as hosting a bunch of directories on the same site and being punished, that is probably because no one directory offers anything some one can't already find by using Google. Remember Google has also stated that they want to help a person find what they are looking for, not find something that will help them find what they are looking for.

Your thoughts?

Originally Posted by mgarde

I disagree because Google has said different, they state that sites are separate, and if you have 1 or 1000 sites on a single IP address each one has to fight for visitors. A shared IP doesn't punish or help. Imagine if one site on a single IP with 4 other sites has a PR of 8 and great content, should it help the other 4 sites, no, so why should a link from a separate site not help? Each site is judged on its own merits.

If they were treated equal could you imaging what the rent that could be charged if wikipedia decided to virtual host another site. That would be instant credit that is totally undeserving.

So we return to Google punishing a site for using the same IP address as another. Why would they? The only assumption that can be made by Google from this is that the sites hosted on the same IP have the same owner. But that assumption could be wrong. Maybe the correct answer is a single IP address is the host to every MIT department, using separate domains, producing useful content and high PR. An assumption shouldn't influence anything, if it hurts them people wouldn't get what MIT has to offer, if it helps then people may not get the department that they are looking for.

By definition there are a limited number of right answers to any given question and a bunch of wrong answers. Google would be in more wrong territory then right if they were to make assumptions of you site based off of another site whose only interaction with yours is an IP address. Now if they produce a link then Google has to investigate as to the value of that link.

As far as hosting a bunch of directories on the same site and being punished, that is probably because no one directory offers anything some one can't already find by using Google. Remember Google has also stated that they want to help a person find what they are looking for, not find something that will help them find what they are looking for.

Your thoughts?

Well looking at your first paragraph.. I agree that Google doesn't penalize them.. yes, that would be unfair. Their PageRank would be determined by their seperate content and accomplishments ( backlinks, etc) , but what I am talking about is lets say you have two directories with PR 5 on homepage and they are on the same IP address and you are lucky enough to get your link on both of their homepages in return for a small fee. I am saying that my understanding is since they are on the same IP address, Google doesn't penalise them, but doesn't consider those two sites as actually two different backlinks because they are on the same IP address. Sort of like how if I have a site with a homepage with PR5 and a subpage with PR 5 as well.. I don't think that Google considers that two Seperate backlinks because its on the same URL...

I was never talking about Punishment as you seem to use that word a lot..

I am talking about how google looks at backlinks.

I have an example: I have site A.. which is a directory .. and then Site B, which is just a regular site. My directory is Fully indexed and uncluttered, and if you go to it and pick a Randomsite that is included in my directory, and search Link:www.Randomsite.com in google, you would most likely see my directory (site A) being a back link in google for Randomsite.

Since its my directory, I added site B in it to get some extra traffic, but if you do a Link:www.siteB.com in google, Site A does NOT come up as a backlink..

What do you think? I hope that makes sense.. could be a little confusing.

Let me know.

Regards,

Zack

Originally Posted by nkiegrea

What do you think? I hope that makes sense.. could be a little confusing.

I follow you, but still disagree. First Google's link: search never produce all the actual known links. How they determine the ones they do show is unknown to me. Could it be possible that they don't value your own link as much as a link from the results that do show up?

As far as links go, they are individually specific and weighed. Imagine this, your company gets a blurb in the New York Times, who include a link, and the short article appears on the homepage. On the same day GE announces their earnings report, a link also appears on the New York Times homepage. As of that day you both get a link from the NY Times, but GE has gotten thousands of links from them before. Does Google count them as one or as thousands? Under your theory the New York times thinks as highly of your site as they do GE because as a whole they only count once.

We know that if the Times mentions one site, thousands of times throughout it then it must be weighed more then if they mention them once. So why would this be different with IP addresses?, why would when Site A and Site B link to Site 1 would Site A and Site B be considered one?

If Site (NY)Times links to Site (1) five times and Site (2) five-hundred times then Site (2) reaps the benefits.

So why when IP Address (1), hosting two sites (A) & (B) links to Site (1) five times and Site (2) five-hundred times would Site (2) not reap the benefits?

Google doesn't penalise them, but doesn't consider those two sites as actually two different backlinks because they are on the same IP address.

Isn't that a form of penalty, if I play baseball and beat the the same team 10 times does it only count as 1 because we played in the same stadium?, no 10 separate games were played. To not count something that has no reason not to be counted is in my mind a form of penalizing the party that would benefit from it being counted.

I don't think that Google considers that two Seperate backlinks because its on the same URL

Google counts all links to a page, regardless of who's page it is on, the weight of that is obviously going to change by who is casting the vote. If I link from one page to another on the same site and describe the second page as a "duck image" regardless of what appears on that page Google will accept that it is possible a picture of a duck appears on that page. Just as true as any outside site, a description of the link is a possible description of the landing page.

Just a Note: when I say benefits or punishment I mean when it comes to a link specifically, not any of the other factors Google uses.