Using EZ-PageManager For Improved Search Engine Optimization

Introduction

EZ-PageManager is the combination of EZ-SiteMap, Page Options, Meta Tags, and EZ-PageBuilder in one central location where you can go to manage all of the pages on your website. EZ-PageManager focuses mainly on the meta tags, sitemap information, and robot instructions. These settings are used by internet search engines to put your website into their search index, which makes them one of the most important elements of your website. Before you can continue, you need to know what these are and how to use them effectively.

What is the page title?

A title on a web page is basically just a few words that identify the web page. This page title is not one that appears at the top of the page. Instead, users will only see this title in the title-bar of their web browser and above the page description when your site appears on their search results. A simple title should include your website title as well as the current page's title. For search engine optimization, it's always a good idea to include as many keywords in your title as you can.  The words used in the title have, word for word, the greatest impact on your search engine ranking.

What are meta tags?

Meta tags are pieces of information inserted into the code of a web page. This information is not seen by those viewing your web page. Meta information is used to communicate information that a human visitor may not be concerned with. Instead, search engine companies like Google and MSN have computers they call "robots" or "spiders" that browse the internet searching for new websites to include in their search indexes. When a search engine robot finds your website, it reads the meta tags and then uses that information to index your website in such a way that users will be able to find it.

EZ-PageManager helps you work specifically with 3 types of meta tags.

1. Keywords - A series of words or short statements that represent the content of the web page. The keywords will often be used by search engines to index the web site along with the Title and Description.
2. Description - A brief statement about the content of the web page. The description is often presented to the user along with the title as the result of a search.
3. Robot Instructions - Instructions for search engine robots/spiders pertaining to the web page and referenced pages. Valid values for the robot meta tag are:
1. index - Instructs the search engine to include this page in the index.
2. noindex - Instructs the search engine not to index the web page.
   
3. follow - Instructs the search engine to follow links on the page.
   
4. nofollow - Instructs the search engine not to follow links on the page and not to index the linked pages.

• The URL to the web page (this is the address you need in your web browser.)
• The date the page was last modified
• How often the page is updated
• The relative priority of this page to the entire web site.

Sorting and Filtering Which pages you see listed in EZ-PageManager depends on three things: sorting, filtering, and pagination. If you've got a lot of pages (more than 10), you'll need to use these features to choose which pages you want to work with.

Pagination
By default, EZ-PageManager will only display 10 web pages at a time. If you've got more than that, you'll see the following links at both the top and bottom of the page:

1. Full Path (default) - Pages are sorted alphabetically by both the folder and the filename combined.
   
2. Filename - Pages are sorted alphabetically by their filename, regardless of what folder they are in.
3. Title - Pages are sorted alphabetically by their page title.
4. Sitemap Priority - Pages are sorted by their Sitemap Priority in order of greatest priority (1.0) to least priority (0.0).
5. Amount of Keywords - Pages are sorted ascending by the number of keywords that they have.

1. Don't Filter - shows all pages
2. Filename - shows all pages whose filenames match the filename you type in. When you select "filename," a new text box will appear. Type in a filename you want to search for. When you type in a filename, you are searching for exact matches, meaning that if you type in "design", it will not match a file named "webdesign.html". You can, however, use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard character if you don't know the exact filename or want multiple files that match a pattern. For example, each the following searches will match webdesign.html:
1. *design*
2. web*.html
3. web*
4. *.html
5. 
   

3. Folder - shows all pages in a given folder in your account. When selecting folder, a new drop-down menu will appear. From that menu, select the folder you want to work with. Note, however, that it will not show you files in a sub folder of the folder you select.
4. Incomplete Meta Tags - shows all pages which are missing meta tag information. This will help you to focus on pages that you've forgotten to add meta tags for, a very common problem.
   
5. Duplicate Meta Tags - shows all pages that have meta tags identical to the meta tags of another page