Priority Build It!
Priority Build It! tells the engines that a page is more important than other pages on your site. It does this by using WorldSubmitter to increase "Priority" through your sitemap XML file. Aside from clicking the Priority Build It! button to build your page, there's nothing for you to do. Google and the other engines will "get the message."
Of course, you have to back this up with good content or the engines might think you're manipulating them. The rule, as you might have guessed by now, is as always...
"Keep it real." More on this below. First, though, let's explain how Priority Build It! works and then how to use it.
Priority in Your Sitemap File
Without "going geeky" on you, your site's sitemap file offers the option (invisible to you) of telling the engines how important a page is (the official Sitemaps protocol defines "priority" as "the priority of this URL relative to other URLs on your site"). SBI! sets the default priority scores for your pages like this...
- Home = 1.0
- TIER 2 = 0.9
- TIER 3 = 0.5
So far, so obvious. Your home page is your most important. And your TIER 2s are your critical hub pages. Your TIER 3s, all added up, are important. But naturally each TIER 3, on its own, has a lower "priority."
How Does Priority Build It! Work?
Priority Build It! increases the priority of the page in the engine's eyes by increasing the priority points in the sitemap file. When you do this, you increase the Priority Score by...
- 0.02 if it's a TIER 2 (to 0.92)
- 0.1 if it's a TIER 3 (to 0.6)
You can only use Priority Build It! a maximum of three times for any page. That means you can fine-tune a TIER 3 to a maximum of 0.8 and a TIER 2 to a max of 0.96.
If you change a page such that its tier changes (i.e., you change a TIER 2 to a TIER 3 or a TIER 3 to a TIER 2), SBI! sets the priority score back to the starting value for that TIER (0.9 for TIER 2 and 0.5 for TIER 3). And it re-allows 3 Priority Builds for that page.
When and How Do You Use Priority Build It!?
The answer...
Only when the page is important.
Which pages are "important"? Simple!...
Your money pages! The ones that monetize!
With that said, here are common reasons to use it...
- Fine-tune the "default priority" score. If you feel a TIER 3 is more important than the others, Priority Build It!.
- An important page gets dropped from Google's index (ditto for important pages that don't make it into their index at all within 6 weeks).
Principles of Fine-Tuning Priority
This article only covers "fine-tuning" of priority, in general. Click here for how to handle dropped/"not-yet" pages
Key point... Do not use Priority Build It! to fine-tune less important pages. Use it only for pages that make a difference. Think of it this way...
As stated above, Google looks at the relative importance of priority. When you tell Google that one page has a higher priority, the others automatically have a slightly lower priority.
And if you try to make Google think all your pages are important, you're in for a real surprise! Google won't know which page really is important. By trying to make them all important in Google's eyes, you instead make them all the same!
Bottom line? Keep it real and always support important pages with excellent content.