Hi, Version 1 of my site had about 300 pages indexed by google. I released a new version with over 3000 pages as my product range increased. I've submitted a google sitemap everyday since, and instead of google recognizing the new pages, they've done the complete opposite. Much to my horror using the site: operator reports that I have on 36 pages in their index! Google clearly state in published documentation that submitting a sitemap will help them index your site better. So WTF is 36 doing in a site: results query? It's at least 3 months since I started submitting a daily sitemap. None of this seems to have affected my SERP placement much, I've taken a few knocks over xmas but it's hardly worth worrying about. Any help or advice would be great. Thanks Sane
I take it you're only submitting the site map once you update pages on your site or add new pages to your site? If you're constantly submitting the same pages that haven't been updated to Google then you might be in trouble.
Ive read a few horror stories on this very forum about people losing lots of indexed pages after submitting a sitemap, im not sure why but for some sites at least it seems to have the opposite effect of what is hoped for.
I think you do not have to worry about it I had 300 pages of my site indexed in a forthnight but now it has dropped to only 51! After I checked my indexed pages at different Dc's at http://link.ezer.com Where I saw that more than 400 of pages my site was in Google's index! This problem comes quite often as Google fails to update their Dc's
I figured out the problem. If I query this siteerfectdrugrx.com I get over 2000 pages in the results. I found the 'Preferred domain' setting in Google Sitemaps and changed my preferred domain to WWW.perfect... Google say it may take a while for the changes to appear in the SERPS. DSB, I submit a sitemap everday, no matter what, and I haven't updated any pages since the new release of the site. It hasn't had a negative affect on my position in the SERPs, so I'm not too concerned about that for now. Sane
how did that smiley get in there? I was trying to say I queried using the site operator and perfectdrugrx.com without the WWW.
Just keep working on SEO, and your site will be slowly come back. My site disappeared from page 13 two weeks ago after stopping SEO for 2 weeks, and now it's back to page 14 again.
Some of these problems come about with the updating of Google DC. It corrects over time. If you have broken links, the sitemap tool may not report your pages accurately.