How many pages are indexed from your website?

When making a quick evaluation of a website from an SEO point of view, one of the first things I like to do is see how well the site is indexed.  Type into your search engine search box

site: your site name

e.g. :

site:www.websanity.co.uk

This is trying to see if the site has been noticed by Google, Yahoo & Bing and how well it has been indexed (how many of the actual pages on the website does Google know about?) Having too few or too many pages indexed are indications of problems with the pages (yes too many can be a problem, but that is more of an advanced Search Engine Optimisation issue). 

In fact just this week this simple test on a website revealed a wealth of content that was not being indexed because it was inaccessible to the search engines, and a very simple change to the website has made tens of extra keyword rich pages indexable - providing a big boost to Search Engine rankings at minimal cost.

So, although it's a very simple test, it is always worth running to make sure everything is OK with your site indexing and to highlight any potential issues.


(Advanced note: it is possible to use Google Analytics to provide data on how MANY of those indexed pages are actually receiving traffic - a very interesting piece of information and probably a better metric for people trying to set up Key Performance Indicators for their websites).


Help and advice on Seach Engine Optimisation in Cambridge, Huntingdon or Peterborough from WebSanity Internet Marketing.