Question: Can you tell me how I can submit to Google and Anzwer Australia / New Zealand? I rank number 4 in the World search but don’t even show in Australian searches. Is it because I have .com and not .com.au?
Shari’s Answer:
Google does have a submission form available for Australia / New Zealand sites. The URL for that is:
http://www.google.com.au/addurl.html
But it really doesn’t matter whether or not you submit your site to this Add URL form or the U.S.-based Add URL form. Google works the same way for all English-speaking sites. Eventually, your site will be added to the .com.au version of Google. It will take a little time, that’s all.
Since quality link development is very important for being listed well in Google, I always begin my submission campaigns with the major directories. Reason? Because it is the fastest way to get high quality, legitimate link popularity to a site.
Because your site is based out of Australia / New Zealand, I would make sure that it is listed in the appropriate regional categories in Yahoo, LookSmart, and Open Directory. Other New Zealand sites I recommend submitting to:
http://www.searchnz.co.nz/
http://xtramsn.co.nz/home/
http://www.accessnz.co.nz/
http://www.whatsonnz.com/
If you want to check the number of links to your site on Google, enter the following information into the search box, using the fictional company name tranquiliteasorganic.com:
link:www.tranquiliteasorganic.com
(Note: You can also perform this search from Google’s Advanced Search Page.)
When I performed this search on Google for the reader’s URL, I found no links to the site, which means our reader has some serious link building to do. Which got me to thinking, do web site owners make their sites link worthy, or do they build brochure sites, which are essentially giant ads?
I think that is a big problem with sites being found on Google, not just in the U.S. but worldwide.
To make your site link worthy, you should be able to answer the following questions very easily. How can I benefit from visiting your site without having to spend any money?
For example, if you have a commerce site, do you provide clear product descriptions and prices so that visitors can comparison shop? Does your site provide special sales or discounts? Better yet, does your site provide regular sales and discounts so that visitors are more likely to return?
Are there any tips or guidelines that you can give for purchasing your product? For example, I’m a big Adobe user. If I am purchasing Photoshop, the software store could offer me some Photoshop tips, and maybe recommend some cool Photoshop plug-ins. (I have to admit, I’m a sucker for Photoshop plug-ins.)
Guest books, banner ads, and paid advertising (such as Google AdWords and Overture) do not count when measuring link popularity. A general guideline to remember? If it’s an ad, it doesn’t count as a link.
Another item all sites should have is a Links & Resources section. If a web site owner undergoes a link development campaign, you cannot expect other sites to link to your site unless youare willing to link to them. A good Links & Resources section gives a strong indication that you are willing to link to other credible web sites.
Which leads to me to a caveat about Google. You have no control over which sites link to your site; however, you do have complete control over which sites you link to. Therefore, be very careful not to link to sites that participate in spam practices (keyword stuffing, invisible text and links, free-for-all link farms, etc.) Google can and does penalize sites for linking to spam sites.
So go ahead and build more quality links to your site. Your Australian / New Zealand site will appear in Google.com.au. Just give it time.
Shari Thurow is Marketing Director at Grantastic Designs, Inc., a full-service search engine marketing, web and graphic design firm. This article is excerpted from her book, Search Engine Visibility (http://www.searchenginesbook.com) published in January 2003 by New Riders Publishing Co. Shari can be reached at shari@grantasticdesigns.com.
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