Q and A: Why is Google only indexing my home page?

Dear Kalena...

I published a site a few months ago. The site is http://www.maxwell3.com. I used the Add URL page to add my site to the Google index. Google picked it up a few weeks later.

Unfortunately, it appears that only the homepage is being indexed and I can't seem to determine why. I even created a SiteMap that holds information about the pages in the system and registered it at Google w/o any problems. It's like Google just decided to only use the default page.

The site map is located at http://www.maxwell3com/maxwell3_sitemap.xml

I would love 2 cents of advice. I was last scanned by the googlebot last month and it comes thru about once a week.

Sam

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Sam

I've had a look at the site and the first thing that struck me was that it hasn't been cached by Google. This indicates a problem of some kind, or perhaps somewhere in the code or Robots.txt file you have specifically blocked Googlebot from indexing the site?

I noticed you used MS Visual Basic to build the site - have you made sure the code validates with W3.org? My Google Toolbar is showing a PageRank of zero out of 10, which is not unusual for a new site, but the non-caching issue bothers me.

Also, I can't get your XML sitemap to load at the address you provided above. Make sure the URL is correct and then submit your sitemap to Google Sitemaps.

---------------------------

[If you found this post helpful, you might benefit from downloading our free Search Engine Optimization lesson]