Lots of Links on the index, is this bad?

[Lindsay]

I have about 20 pages of content targeted for keywords for very specific niches which fit within my site's scope. These pages have been 2 levels deep from the index for about 6 weeks and haven't been crawled at all- even though my site was "deep crawled" last week. (basically, it got every other page)

I'd really like these pages indexed and given page rank in the upcoming update (if indeed the next update does bring page rank) So I linked the most signifigant keyword in the title to a space on the homepage. You can see it here http://www.collargirl.com just under the contact form.

My question is, is the way I linked these pages OK, or will Google see the clump of links as spam? My intention is only to keep the links up long enough to get them indexed, but am I setting myself up for failure in other areas?

[jocelyn]

[QUOTE=Lindsay]You can see it here http://www.collargirl.com just under the contact form.[/QUOTE]
Under contact there is DONE and CHECK OUT... I don't find what you are pointing to.

If you made a sitemap and point enough links to it, it will get your pages indexed also without having to put everything on your homepage.

[Lindsay]

Thanks!

Under the contact form, not the contact link. :)

I know I need to make a sitemap- but I only have about 80 pages on the site so I haven't really felt like it's a HUGE issue at this point. Also, I'm a little shy of making any big changes right now- I've finally got my SERPs into a rank that's sending me some real traffic and I'm terrified any changes will make me lose my upward movement.

[creative666]

You mean under the submit and reset buttons?

Poor attempt at hiding links with light pink text on white background. I doubt it will get picked up by the search engines though, but it looks a bit tacky IMO. Work on good content for the home page and then link deeper into the site.

Adding a sitemap will not harm your rankings, if anything it will boost your rankings. The point of a sitemap is to represent all of the pages on a site to a search engine and user so they can be easily accessed. It does not matter if you have 80 pages or 8000 pages.

[Lindsay]

[QUOTE=creative666]Poor attempt at hiding links with light pink text on white background. [/QUOTE]


Who said I was trying to hide them?

I guess I don't believe that a site map will have immediate benefits in getting these pages listed in the upcoming update because a site map would have to be just as deep as these pages that aren't getting indexed actually were.

These pages were:
>home
>>one level
>>>example pages

And a sitemap would also be:
>home
>>sitemap
>>>pages I want google to see.

So if example pages aren't being indexed by google now, why would they magically do so if listed in a sitemap? The page I had these content-rich pages linked to before (and still do, in addition to having them on the homepage) is linked on every page of my site, so that's not the issue.

I agree a sitemap is important, I just don't believe it's a magic bandaid for getting these pages in, and in quickly.

[creative666]

I have seen quick jumps in all pages being indexed when a site map is introduced to a clients site several times. IMO they work and they work well.

I said hidden links, because they are very hard to see - I mean jocelyn could not see them at all. So it looks like they have been put there not for the use of users but search engines.

[jocelyn]

[QUOTE=creative666]I mean jocelyn could not see them at all. So it looks like they have been put there not for the use of users but search engines.[/QUOTE]
Contact form is exactly what I looked for. Now I see it's at the bottom of the Comments or Questions? box...

Well yeah... I missed them, they were so blur, played with my contrast, and now I seen them, they are hard to read and I know my mom would never be able to read them for sure. Not quite the best if you try to get links, looks like you try to hide stuff...

The sitemap is good to not have to link all pages from your home, if you link to your sitemap from all your pages, eventually it will be strong enough to get the links on it crawled. If you don't mind linking to all your pages on home, just do that then. Before I could link all pages from home, but now, no way. So this is why I made a sitemap from the start, so when I need it later, it's there and ready.

[seo guy]

I cannot read the links at all so if I were your competition I would fill in a spam report, just a heads up. Those links should be visible if they are going to be there. As for will it hurt you to have them there? No and yes it will help for spidering but I am with everyone else, a sitemap containling these links will ensure that they are only 2 clicks from the home page and get spidered right away, its not about PR distribution a sitewide link to a sitemap page will be fine.

Also please review the forum policy on links in signatures we only allow maximum 2 text links in your sig, you currently have 3 you will need to remove one.
Thanks and good luck