Icelabz Sitemap Generator

Just wondering if anyone is using / has used Icelabz Sitemap Generator on their site and if so, did you notice a difference in search engines and would you recommend it?

Also, does anyone know of any other IP.Board sitemap products (free or commercial)?

Alan CIT said:

Just wondering if anyone is using / has used Icelabz Sitemap Generator on their site and if so, did you notice a difference in search engines

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Yes of course!

and would you recommend it?

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Yes, I will strongly recommend to use a site-map generator also on IPB

Also, does anyone know of any other IP.Board site-map products (free or commercial)?

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stoo2000 have done an alternative site-map generator which is free.

It's not so flexible as the Minerva seo (but stoo is working on an advance version).

Produce just one site-map everyday and ping to Google only at 11,45 pm.

But it is free, and stoo2000 is quite active on IPS board (an important bonus).

The icelabz one is the one we have up in the competition.. we also have second licence to give away in a mini comp coming soon

Dr. Jekyll said:

Yes of course!

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What difference did you notice?


I generally don't use sitemaps for search engines. I try to build navigation properly, and have never had a problem getting indexed. Simply submitting a sitemap to search engines still doesn't guarantee they'll come index your site, or those pages. Getting back links remains one of the only ways to get your site indexed (besides an inclusion request).

If you have the proper navigation methods in place after you get the back links, the sitemap becomes redundant.

DavidMcHenry said:

What difference did you notice?

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...an huge increase in spiders traffic

I generally don't use site-maps for search engines. I try to build navigation properly, and have never had a problem getting indexed. Simply submitting a site-map to search engines still doesn't guarantee they'll come index your site, or those pages. Getting back links remains one of the only ways to get your site indexed (besides an inclusion request).

If you have the proper navigation methods in place after you get the back links, the site-map becomes redundant.

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Site-map aren't made for seo purpose.

They just show to spiders where to look and how often came back to visit the site

A good indexing can be done only by good contents, actually, using a site-map generator and ping google with poor content can result in a penalty for the site.

I think Dr. Jekyll just proved David's point. Good indexing comes from good Navigation technique. If you don't have good navigation technique, then a fall back is a site map.

Is that fair?

MjrNuT said:

I think Dr. Jekyll just proved David's point. Good indexing comes from good Navigation technique.

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I wouldn't say that.

Good indexing start with good content.

Good navigation doesn't help if your site have poor content.

But, if you have good content, and a good navigation technique, than adding a site-map generator will give a boost to your board.

Dr. Jekyll said:

I wouldn't say that.

Good indexing start with good content.

Good navigation doesn't help if your site have poor content.

But, if you have good content, and a good navigation technique, than adding a site-map generator will give a boost to your board.

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But good content doesn't mean anything with poor navigation or a sitemap.

Build for people first, not spiders.

Dr. Jekyll said:

I wouldn't say that.

Good indexing start with good content.

Good navigation doesn't help if your site have poor content.

But, if you have good content, and a good navigation technique, than adding a site-map generator will give a boost to your board.

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I'm going to steal Barry for a moment --

Barry said:

Sorry if I'm being thick, but that makes no sense to me at all, can you elaborate?

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A spider can distinguish grade of content? (e.g., poor, good, excellent, rubbish)

As far as I knew, I (the reader), determines the grade of the Content. Or are you referring to the "keywords" present that would increase prospects of said Content?

This must be elementary questions and didn't mean to thread jack. So point me to the layperson's dummy manual please.

MjrNuT said:

I'm going to steal Barry for a moment --




A spider can distinguish grade of content? (e.g., poor, good, excellent, rubbish)

As far as I knew, I (the reader), determines the grade of the Content. Or are you referring to the "keywords" present that would increase prospects of said Content?

This must be elementary questions and didn't mean to thread jack. So point me to the layperson's dummy manual please.

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The spider by itself can't determine the quality. What the spider determines is what the page is about, not necessarily if it's accurate or good quality content.

The spider uses things like keyword density (though stuffing keywords is a dead practice), and the page title, as well as heading tags (for organization/sub-sections) of the page.

After that, the next most important factor is the anchor text of incoming links to that page. If you have a page about Blue Whales, and all your incoming links contain the anchor text of "blue whales" then it's assumed you're page is good quality content on blue whales. (why else would anyone link it). Includes internal and external links.

If all your blue whale page links contain "red dolphins" as the anchor, then no matter how good the content is, it won't perform well in search engines.

Personally, there are thousands of way to SEO. I've stuck to my own tactics that have given me the best results over the years personally. I focus on 4 main things, then break down to small ones.

1. Navigation
- Effects bounce rates
- Effects page views
- Effects CTR
- Effects if I'll ever come back to a site
- Conversion rates

2. Page titles
- Effects if the link will be clicked from the SERP
- Informs reader what page is about
- Informs bot what page is about

3. Content related to the page title
- Keeps reader engaged
- Good content that matches titles makes spiders happy
- If content is great, reader more likely to look around

4. Back Links from Reputable, related sites using good anchor tags.
- Higher rankings for terms
- Faster inclusion in indexes
- More authority for your site
- Leads to increased page views, traffic, and possibly revenue

The reason I put value on Navigation is because a lot of times one page of your site will be more popular link wise then others. But while the spider is there they seek out other links (internal and external) so if the spider has a good way around the site, it can find the not so popular material as well.

Page titles rank second, because thats one of the first things a user see's before clicking a link in the results. Naming your Page "OMG BLUE WHALESZZ!!!11!" because it's about "Blue Whales" usually doesn't do so well.

Content is king! Just a 3rd place king is all.

Backlinks are the queen! But I only get them from reputable and related sites. I'll never waste my time with directories, link schemes, or anything that doesn't provide something of value. (a back link ISN'T a backlink!)

Sitemaps to me are just a crutch. I'd rather do things right in all aspects of building a site.

DavidMcHenry said:

...omissis

Sitemaps to me are just a crutch. I'd rather do things right in all aspects of building a site.

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I agree 101%, I do the same, but I don't understand after you have done that not to add also a site-map generator?

Dr. Jekyll said:

I agree 101%, I do the same, but I don't understand after you have done that not to add also a site-map generator?

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It's just overhead to me personally. You have to check to make sure they're working right, make sure they're complete, compiling all the way. Not causing the server to crash if you have a large one getting made etc etc etc.

Then if you submit a screwed up sitemap, forget about it for a few weeks, and it's what someone relies on for getting their site crawled or indexed, the results could be disastrous for them.

Thanks for the good advice all, taking note of it for future reference

DavidMcHenry said:

Build for people first, not spiders.

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I couldn't agree more. Build the content get the human traffic and the rest will come.

Once you have the foundation then you can worry about sitemaps or other SEO aspects.