Hi Everyone,

I have a website that sells many different types of collectibles. We have mostly paper type items. I've been virtually missing in google for specific items that I search for, that I know are in the site. So I'm not sure, which way to add this content and category, Which way is optimal for searches with these html pages is best, our oscommerce site pages are all supplemental and just our main index page shows up in google, the others all show up in yahoo and msn etc. 

We will be adding different types of collectible sports trading cards to the site. They will be of different manufacturers as well as different sports and years. Should I just make a Sports cards collectibles information page, with alot of content, about manufacturers, types, grading and the like. And then put links on that page to separate subpages like: 1972 Topps Baseball, then make another page for that, a sub page for 1955 Bowman Football and make a sub page for that and so on.

Or would it be better to just make a category for each one, make a category in our menu and site map for 1972 Topps baseball, a separate one for the 1955 Bowman football, another for our 1953 Bowman football. I'm not sure which way would be better.

I'm figuring if I make a sports cards collectibles information page with links, I can make good use of keywords and content. And then with the subpages, have totally separate target related keywords for the specific pages. Then again I can do that if I make each one a separate category instead of a subpage.

Any advice would be great appreciated. Thank you and have a nice day.

Linda

subcategories are ok if there is content in them, so they need to be logical

Other search engine factors may be coming into play however - a complete site map will help, that links to EVERY page on your site - oh, hang on, I see you have two site maps, one linkd from the bottom of the page and the other, in your shopping cart directory that does link to each product...

Plus do you have a google site map?

Hi Matte,

Thanks for the reply. I tried like a son of a gun, and couldn't figure that google site map stuff out at all. I read and read some more, and got so much brain overload, I temporarily gave up.

I figured, we ranked very well in the google serps before the big daddy fiasco, so maybe in 5 more months maybe things will improve for us there, at least thats how long its been bad so far, basically since February. We are suffering the same fate as many others with the google situation that I've seen people venting about on forums across the board.

Either I'll figure the google site map stuff out by then or it'll change for the better on its own, or I'm up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

Thanks,
Linda

Hello Linda,

I too was frustrated when the google sitemaps first came out.

Take a look at this site

Jody

Matte,

I didn't have a google site map until Jody posted that awesome link, I do know !

Thank you Jody !! That site was awesome, it has to be easy if I could figure it out and have it done in less than 15 minutes.

I also have had a froogle feed for about 6 to 9 months now. The php portion of the site which is an oscommerce site was indexed beautifully in google for the first 15 months of its existence, we were coming up in the top 3 in serps for all our items, until February and the Big Daddy rollout. Now any item in the store is near invisible in serps, and everything in the store and basically everything else except the index page show supplemental when you do site:cocomilkcollectibles.com

Thank you both, Matte and Jody, for all the Help !!

Have a nice day,
Linda

linder60 wrote:

The php portion of the site which is an oscommerce site was indexed beautifully in google for the first 15 months of its existence, we were coming up in the top 3 in serps for all our items, until February and the Big Daddy rollout. Now any item in the store is near invisible in serps, and everything in the store and basically everything else except the index page show supplemental when you do site:cocomilkcollectibles.com

Thank you both, Matte and Jody, for all the Help !!

Have a nice day,
Linda

A common problem felt by many.  I personally hope that they get the BigDaddy stuff fixed up - its had its share of problems.