An HTML sitemap page provides visitors with a high-level overview of the Website’s content. It is also a good page for crawler. The Sitemap entries need not include every URL on a large Website. Merely linking to sections should be sufficient.
Categories on SEO Theory
Advanced SEO and Algorithm Analysis – SEO Theory details the latest developments in the SEO industry & provides a deep analysis on Advanced SEO, Algorithm Analysis & how to optimize for Google.
Announcements – Usually short posts that focus on changes to the Website.
Competitive Analysis – Posts about competitive analysis principles, methodologies, and tools.
Content Theory – Articles that explain basic content theory, introduce new concepts dealing with content structure and management, or which just examine simple content production methods and principles.
Game Theory – These articles look at search engine optimization from one of the most theoretical perspectives, attempting to reduce the intricacies of the searchable web ecosystem to game theory concepts.
General – Posts about anything that won’t fit elsewhere.
Intermediate SEO – Posts discussing intermediate SEO techniques and situations. Analysis and suggestions may not help people who are new to search engine optimization. No warranties or guarantees are implied.
Link Building – Posts with link building suggestions, analysis, and commentary.
Link Theory – The theory of link design, link implementation, and link management discussed in detail.
Reputation Management – Posts about online reputation management, search engine reputation management, and related topics.
Search Engine Optimization – Post about search engine optimization. These posts should be more about the application of SEO theory than the theoretical ideas.
Search Market Share – Monthly reports on search market share based on publicly available data from metrics services such as Compete, Quantcast, etc.
Semantic Search – Articles about semantic search, semantic search engines, and how you can or should optimize for the semantic search environment.
SEO Case Studies – Unsolicited anonymous site reviews providing in-depth analysis and suggestions the site owners — if they find the reviews — are welcome to consider and use. SEO case studies offer specific examples of analysis and review. No warranties or guarantees are implied.
SEO Jokes – Humorous articles that poke gentle fun at the search engine optimization industry. “There once was an SEO from Nantucket….”
SEO Metrics – Articles about search engine optimization metrics, search market share, and how to measure success or performance in organic search marketing.
SEO Myths – Posts about mistaken ideas, unprovable concepts, and other myths that some, many, or most search engine optimizers may believe to be true.
SEO Theory – Posts about SEO Theory in general.
Supplemental Pages – Analysis and information about the Google Supplemental Index, Google Supplemental Pages, and how to move Web content from the Google Supplemental Index into the Main Web Index.
Special Pages on SEO Theory
A Guide to Major Search Engines
Bad SEO Practices that should be avoided.
Elsewhere on the Web (articles Michael Martinez has published on other Websites).
How Does SEO Work? A simple explanation of how SEO provides an effective return on investment, and for what it should be used.
How Long Does It Take SEO to Work? A lengthy answer to one of search engine optimization’s most complicated questions.
How the Google Panda Algorithm Works collects all of Google’s own disclosures about the Panda algorithm and explains in layman’s terms how the algorithm separates the Web into “high quality” and “low quality” Websites.
Linking Policy Do you want a link from SEO Theory? This policy explains where we link and why, and why most people will never receive the links they ask for.
SEO Glossary of Terms and Concepts is a continually updated dictionary of terms and phrases used by the search engine optimization community. The following articles elaborate on some of the more important concepts of interest to the community.
Major Google Algorithms Explained
SEO Standards – A Proposal Explains what SEO standards should be and suggests some minimum standards that the community could adopt. Adopting standards does not mean everyone would have to take certification tests or get licenses. Standards would define a “bottom line” for what is acceptable and what should be expected of any SEO service provider (either as an in-house employee or as an external vendor). SEO standards would make it much easier for consumers of SEO services (employers and consulting clients) to set reasonable expectations and to understand what search engine optimization really accomplishes. Standards would reduce the impact of the widespread chicanery and charlatanism that discredits the industry today (2018).
What are SEO Standards? This article provides more detail about what standards are and why the SEO industry needs them.
SEO Theory Monthly Archives This is a guide to all the months for which publicly available posts exist. The archive shows visitors a casual overview of the extent and depth of the site and also helps crawlers.
Subdomain SEO Value explains what value (if any) using subdomains has in search engine optimization.
What is SEO Theory? explains the meaning of the phrase.
Other Important Pages
Recently Revised Articles lists 12 of the most recently updated articles on SEO Theory. Page 2 of the archive lists another 12. Page 3 of the archive lists up to another 12.
Misspellings is a page to help people who mistype query terms into the site search tool.
About SEO Theory and Michael Martinez
2006-2016 SEO Theory Archive – Most of the content published between 2006 and 2016 was moved to this subdomain archive.
Old Archive – These articles are very old, less popular, and/or no longer automatically shared on social media. They may still provide useful or interesting information but due to low demand they are being archived here.