Close Window

Print

Increasing Page Priority

Want to tell the search engines that one page is more important than other pages at the same level (Tier 2 or Tier 3)?

Do that by increasing the page's priority score in your site's sitemap XML file.

Then, the next time SBI! pings the engines, they'll all know about the page's higher importance.

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 increasing priority works and then how to do 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 page = 1.0
• Tier 2 = 0.9
• Tier 3 = 0.5

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 each Tier 3, on its own, has a lower "priority."

How Does a Priority Increase Work?

You can increase the importance of the page in the engine's eyes by increasing the priority level 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 increase priority a maximum of three times for any page. That means you can fine-tune a Tier 2 to a max of 0.96 and a Tier 3 to a maximum of 0.8.

When Do You Increase Priority?

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...

• Increase the "default priority" score. If you feel a Tier 3 is more important than the others, increase its priority level.

• 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), increase its priority level.

How Do You Increase Priority?

After clicking the Build It! button in BlockBuilder, an overlay window opens.

In that window, you'll see a checkbox next to Increase the priority of this page by one level. Add a check if you want to increase the priority.

To increase the level again, edit the page, click on Build It! again, and then add a check to the checkbox again.

If you upload your pages, click on the Priority Build It! button to increase the priority by one level.

To increase it again, click on the page's file name again in Page Manager, select edit, then click on the Priority Build It! button again.

Principles of Fine-Tuning Priority

This article only covers the "fine-tuning" of priority, in general. Click here for how to handle dropped/"not-yet" pages.

Key point... Do not increase priority levels to fine-tune less important pages. Increase priority 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, Google will not 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.

© and ™ SiteSell Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Close Window