Something else which keeps cropping up as I go about my business and my travels, is the notion of “themed web sites”. In the current edition of my book, I took a look at where the notion may have started and the amount of confusion which still appears to be quite prevalent in the industry about this idea. It’s a notion (idea) that I never bought into.If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, the idea goes like this: to get a better rank at a search engine for your “blue widgets web site” you should only have pages about blue widgets, the entire site should be about blue widgets and the search engine will classify your site as a blue widget site… yada…

I really want to close the door on this one (forever!) so, in the next edition, I’ve asked senior technical staff at the major search engines to comment. You’ll be surprised at how candid they are about this notion. And more surprised to discover how a themed web site, could, possibly, even harm your potential rank. So, just to whet your appetite for the forthcoming third edition, and taking the example given above, once again, here’s the official word from Google, courtesy of software engineer Daniel Dulitz:

“I think people sometimes mean different things by “themes.” The statement above — that somehow your blue widget site would be “weaker” if it contained apage about Tigers - is completely wrong. No search engine would want to do that; having a page on Tigers doesn’t affect your ability to be a resource for blue widgets. We’d miss good blue widget pages if we excluded the sites that also talk about Tigers.

However, there is a difference between “having a little bit of content about blue widgets” and “having in-depth content about blue widgets.” Clearly we prefer in-depth (more useful) content. That’s not so much a preference for themes asa preference for depth.

“Utility” and “depth” really should be measured by a site’s users.”

So, the message is simple: you don’t need to “theme” your entire site around “blue widgets” and then do a separate site for “green widgets”. Just know what you’re talking about and be the best blue widgets resource and the best green widgets resource online. This way, people involved in the widget industry will point (i.e. link) to your fabulous information rich pages about widgets. And not only that… if you know your stuff about Tigers - Tiger people will point to that - even if it is on a widget site!

The third edition of Search Engine Marketing: The essential best practice guideis due at the end of June. If you purchase the current edition now (still choc full of sound info) you’ll automatically qualify for a free courtesy upgrade to the third edition in June.