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How to get your Resource Thread noticed by Google Searches.
(by someone who has no technical knowledge of how Google works whatsoever but has managed to pop up on a Google search or two)
Have you ever wondered how to make your resources thread more noticeable to Google searches? And why does it matter? Is it just self-seeking and vain to want your materials to pop up in a Google search? I don't think so. Have you ever thought about all of the people out there who will never post on a forum who want resources? Folks who do not speak our language, or are shy, or just don’t feel comfortable… and there are plenty of folks who are looking for stuff just like what you made! But how can they find it? How can they benefit from your hard work and talent? Hmmmm?????
Well, there actually are a few things you can do to accomplish this, and they are very simple and can be done easily. First of all, you have to actually think about it. =] People don't think about Google searches when they are posting their resources. They work really hard getting their resources made and getting their work posted. Then later when their threads don't get the attention they deserve, or they might hope they would get, they don't realize they simply didn't take that extra few moments to give their thread a chance. So have I gotten your attention yet? Do you want to know how to do it? Will you save the world from ignorance of your incredible materials?
An important thing to realize is that Google does not know a picture of the President of the United States from a chibi sprite of Ralph. Maybe there are deep intelligence algorithms out there somewhere, but trust me, most of the time a Google search on "Rpg Maker VX Ace" followed by more search terms will find ANY image on a page with those terms. This means that if you are discussing hamburgers in RPG Maker games and you post a picture of your Aunt Sally, someone is gonna search for "RPG Maker VX Ace Hamburger" and see your Aunt Sally! Google search is not looking at images, it is looking for words close to images. So if you make the world's most incredible thread full of the world's most incredible images and you do not use words to describe what you posted you will not show up on Google searches.
You will notice that on Granny's blog she constantly uses words to describe every single post. Now on a blog you can tag things and you don't have to say quite so much,*** but on a forum you need to say everything to catch Google. You need to say that your materials are for RPG Maker VX Ace. You need to say they are portraits. You need to say they are sprites. You need to say they are icons. You need to say they are modern interior decor, or pixel style exterior nature tiles. "Use your words." Whatever they are you need to say it. And trust me, if you made a hundred icons, you need to type out the name of every single icon. Some guy out there is searching for an icon of a pickle. What will he type into Google? He will type in "RPG Maker VX/ Ace icon pickle." If no one puts "pickle" and "icon" with their image, he will get picture after picture of iconsets and have no hope of finding one poor little 24x24 pickle. He needs to find all those words right near your images. It doesn't have to be exactly next to your images, but it needs to be in the same post.
So most folks label sections on large resource threads. For example they will have a portrait section and a sprite section. That's great! What's bad is to stick one sprite, one animated object and one floor tile in a "miscellaneous" section. Just put one or two words by each image file. For example, "male sprite" or even "modern male sprite." "Floor tile" or even "rustic wooden floor tile." "Flickering lamp" – you get it. If you don't label it, Google won't find it.
And I have had good success with this method. So go out there are strut your digital stuff. Just don't call it stuff.
***You can tag things here, too. Nice idea, huh? Give it a shot. Smart tags like "sprite" and "portrait" and stuff. =]
(by someone who has no technical knowledge of how Google works whatsoever but has managed to pop up on a Google search or two)
Have you ever wondered how to make your resources thread more noticeable to Google searches? And why does it matter? Is it just self-seeking and vain to want your materials to pop up in a Google search? I don't think so. Have you ever thought about all of the people out there who will never post on a forum who want resources? Folks who do not speak our language, or are shy, or just don’t feel comfortable… and there are plenty of folks who are looking for stuff just like what you made! But how can they find it? How can they benefit from your hard work and talent? Hmmmm?????
Well, there actually are a few things you can do to accomplish this, and they are very simple and can be done easily. First of all, you have to actually think about it. =] People don't think about Google searches when they are posting their resources. They work really hard getting their resources made and getting their work posted. Then later when their threads don't get the attention they deserve, or they might hope they would get, they don't realize they simply didn't take that extra few moments to give their thread a chance. So have I gotten your attention yet? Do you want to know how to do it? Will you save the world from ignorance of your incredible materials?
An important thing to realize is that Google does not know a picture of the President of the United States from a chibi sprite of Ralph. Maybe there are deep intelligence algorithms out there somewhere, but trust me, most of the time a Google search on "Rpg Maker VX Ace" followed by more search terms will find ANY image on a page with those terms. This means that if you are discussing hamburgers in RPG Maker games and you post a picture of your Aunt Sally, someone is gonna search for "RPG Maker VX Ace Hamburger" and see your Aunt Sally! Google search is not looking at images, it is looking for words close to images. So if you make the world's most incredible thread full of the world's most incredible images and you do not use words to describe what you posted you will not show up on Google searches.
You will notice that on Granny's blog she constantly uses words to describe every single post. Now on a blog you can tag things and you don't have to say quite so much,*** but on a forum you need to say everything to catch Google. You need to say that your materials are for RPG Maker VX Ace. You need to say they are portraits. You need to say they are sprites. You need to say they are icons. You need to say they are modern interior decor, or pixel style exterior nature tiles. "Use your words." Whatever they are you need to say it. And trust me, if you made a hundred icons, you need to type out the name of every single icon. Some guy out there is searching for an icon of a pickle. What will he type into Google? He will type in "RPG Maker VX/ Ace icon pickle." If no one puts "pickle" and "icon" with their image, he will get picture after picture of iconsets and have no hope of finding one poor little 24x24 pickle. He needs to find all those words right near your images. It doesn't have to be exactly next to your images, but it needs to be in the same post.
So most folks label sections on large resource threads. For example they will have a portrait section and a sprite section. That's great! What's bad is to stick one sprite, one animated object and one floor tile in a "miscellaneous" section. Just put one or two words by each image file. For example, "male sprite" or even "modern male sprite." "Floor tile" or even "rustic wooden floor tile." "Flickering lamp" – you get it. If you don't label it, Google won't find it.
And I have had good success with this method. So go out there are strut your digital stuff. Just don't call it stuff.
***You can tag things here, too. Nice idea, huh? Give it a shot. Smart tags like "sprite" and "portrait" and stuff. =]
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