# Google only finds an xml file when you search for my LR web gallery



## Mr.jrd (Dec 20, 2011)

Hello out there, 
I have uploaded a web gallery to the web but apparently I have to somehow help google to find it by adding text to the pages. At the moment google only finds an xml file but does not show a front page or any images. My web gallery views perfectly in the top search bar. Can anybody help?


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## erro (Dec 20, 2011)

Submit the link to the gallery to Google?


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## Mr.jrd (Dec 20, 2011)

Hi Robert...Thanks for the reply but I am afraid I am not sure what you mean. I have registered with Google. Is that what you mean. Please let me know!


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## erro (Dec 20, 2011)

Yes, I meant that you give Google the link to your gallery. Google normally crawls the web and finds anything that has a publicly available link to it anyway, but I'm pretty sure you can still ask them to index a specific link. If you already have done that though, then...well... how long ago was it?

What is the link to the gallery?


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## Mr.jrd (Dec 21, 2011)

Hi Robert,
When I uploaded the LR Gallery it was uploaded to my web host exactly as LR suggests. It had no additions, front pages, links or tweaks from me and I sumitted and verified my ownership to Google and other search engines about 5/6 days ago. A google forum response suggested that i would somehow have to provide further links to the gallery, but how to do that without goping to a web builder I have no idea. W hat puzzles me is that i assume that other standardised LR galleries can appear on Google in thair original form?


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## erro (Dec 21, 2011)

What is the link to your gallery?

Is that link clickable anywhere on your site? If so, Google should pick it up automatically. You shouldn't even have to submit the link to Google.

If the link is not available on your site then you don't really have a public link. How is anyone then going to be able to see your gallery? I guess you can submit such a "private/unofficial" link to Google, but I don't know how Google deals with links it cannot find publicly.


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## Mr.jrd (Dec 21, 2011)

Hi Robert, I think that my understanding of this is too little. I assume that a LR gallery template is enough to stand on it's own and be picked up by google. Maybe I have to have a front page that links to the LR gallery. My site address is www.firstlightimages.co. Maybe if you look it might become clearer what the problem is. Would you expect a LR gallery to sit on Google out of the box once it has been verified?


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## Brad Snyder (Dec 21, 2011)

So, what keywords are you searching on? That lead to the xml file?


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## erro (Dec 21, 2011)

OK, so http://www.firstlightimages.co/ taakes us to your front page of your site. There you have a gallery. That's it. No real text to search for. Your logo is graphics as far as I can see and Google can't "read" your graphic image. In fact, you have used a Flash-based gallery as your starting page which basically makes your whole site invisible from Googles point of view. You need to have some text that is searchable.

Also, having the gallery directly at your start page isn't that smart. What if you want to have other content on your page? How will anyone find to it? How will you link to it? Normaly sites have a "neutral" starting page that then links to the different sub-parts of the site, such as galleries and so on. I suggest you create a folder for your gallery and place it there instead. Then create a "normal" start page and create a link to the gallery from there.


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## Mr.jrd (Dec 21, 2011)

Hi Robert and thankyou for taking the time to look at my front page. I thought as much....I understand what you are saying....now I just have to find out how to do it!  I naively assumed that the LR galleries would contain what was needed that would allow search engines to display them.  Thanks again for your help.


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## erro (Dec 21, 2011)

Just create a subfolder on your site (for example http://www.firstlightimages.co/gallery1), and place the gallery there. Then create a new starting page at http://www.firstlightimages.co/ with some kind of welcoming message, a little info about you and your site, and a link to the http://www.firstlightimages.co/gallery1 page. Then add more galleries in new subfolders and link to them from the start page.


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## Mr.jrd (Dec 21, 2011)

Thanks Robert you have been really helpful. I will have a go over Christmas and get back to you (with more questions no doubt.  Merry Christmas.
John


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## erro (Dec 21, 2011)

Good luck. I'll try to answer as best I can.


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## theturninggate (Jan 10, 2012)

There are several third-party solutions to this problem, Lightroom plugins that allow you to create websites. My own plugins at http://theturninggate.net/ are one such solution. You may investigate offerings from other vendors at http://photographers-toolbox.com/ and http://lightroom-blog.com/lrbportfolio/.

I can vouch that my own plugins are very search engine friendly. You'd have to ask around about the alternatives, as I don't have a great deal of experience actually using them. Anyway, with the number of good options available, surely you can find one that suits you.


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## Mr.jrd (Jan 16, 2012)

Hello everyone. Well it's taken a while but the answer was.....change from a flash gallery to an Html one. It worked almost immediately. All the search engines now find my site and it can be searched for successfully with key words. I have bought some of your products Matthew and will use them when I am sure I know how. I know that they will improve the useability of my gallery but at least I have a working web presence now. Thanks everyone!


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