I'm totally lost?

[deconstruction]

i agree with doubletap getting your site accessable and w3c compliant will make a differance.

i dont think you need to worry too much about it being Transitional , all my sites are this. but you need to make sure the html and the css are error free and well coded (eg make use of divs, h1, tags etc - and use them correctly)

lots of books and sites about which will help if your not sure.

 

[retired_member12]

Compliance

Depending on the package Stender uses, he will usually find a number of helpful functions to assist in this. I agree that he need not set his sights on Strict at the moment, but he could convert the valid HTML 4.01 Transitional to valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional literally by the touch of a button. I use Dreamweaver MX2004, and just such a function is there for him to use.

I know from experience that the code issues will make a difference to the BOT because like a lot of us here, i've been through the same learning curve, and found a site of mine go from unlisted to top position in just 15 days.
Maybe we'll all see this work for Stender on this occasion, lets hope so!

 

[deconstruction]

thanks for that double tap.

i hard code all my web sites becuase thats the only way i know how (and i like it )

but i get asked a lot which apps are good, and becuase i promote the use of w3c i had no idea what to say.

 

[BFTUK]

I would'nt worry about validating your sites with w3.org and if you use affiliate links this can be impossible anyway.

Google cares about validation?

Result: Failed validation, 45 errors
Address: Google

 

[retired_member12]

I would'nt worry about validating your sites with w3.org and if you use affiliate links this can be impossible anyway.

Google cares about validation?

Result: Failed validation, 45 errors
Address: Google

BFTUK, yes i can see where you are coming from, but effectively telling Stender not to bother is probably the least helpful comment you could make! He's desperate to get his site listed & ranked, so let him try it out and view the results for himself, unless you have any other ideas.

 

[BFTUK]

Erm, doubtap, have you read the whole thread? or even checked google for his site?

He's got it indexed now, the problem was identified as a faulty robots text file which was blocking the bots.

Currently ranking 5 on Google for Leyton Orient

leyton orient - Google Search

Validation does nothing for SEO.

 

[stender]

Whoooohooooo! Hi All, I've been on holiday and return to find this thread and my site indexed!!!!

Firstly thanks all for your help.

I am still not 100% sure what the problems was but am pretty sure why it was finally listed. I don't think robots.txt was the problem. I had changed that loads of times.

I'm sure you are all about to prove me wrong but here goes!
I believe that the problem was that my domain was banned or sandboxed either because it was owned previously or because I parked it at sedo (all of my parked sedo domains that were on google no longer are).

I also found this post "Google has developed part of there algorithm to stop people from purchasing expired TLD domains and being able to benefit from the previous owners links and overall reputation." How true that is no one can know but it sounds feasable with my problem.

Anyway I discovered a page under webmaster tools on my google account.
http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/reinclusion?hl=en
and submitted a request explaining what had happened, and hey presto!

Here is an interesting page regarding reinclusion requests just in case anyone else gets stumped like me!
Reinclusion in Google

I have noticed only 2 pages have been indexed though???