Using the SiteMap for SEO Purposes in ASP.NET 3.5 and C#
Introduction
Especially since the introduction of Web 2.0, a new emphasis has been made on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for our web pages. Google, amongst others, have managed to organize the world's data so well, that it is becoming more and more important to adhere to such organization techniques to gain the traffic your web site deserves.
In this article we will look at one of the ways we can use the SiteMap in ASP.NET to organize our Web Page more efficiently, and also make it easier for us to update. We will be creating a SiteMap file, which is written in XML, to define our meta Title, Description, Keywords tags as well as page Headers for each of our Web Pages depending upon their location.
What we will learn in this article:
- How to utilize an ASP.NET SiteMap to harness the power of SEO
- How to make it easier for us to maintain a multi-page Web Site using a SiteMap
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Getting Started
The major search engines rank a page against serach results based upon many factors. Having matching terms in your meta tags will rank your page higher, particularly in Title, Description and Keywords. However, when maintaining larger sites, this can be difficult to keep organized and a hefty chore to maintain and update. However, we will show how we can make it a little easier using the SiteMap.
To begin, start a new Web Site project in Visual Studio.NET - in this example, we will be using 2008, but 2005 will work just fine.
Once open, right-click your project in the Solution Explorer and choose Add New Item.. SiteMap. Leave the name as Web.sitemap and click Ok. You should have something like this:
<siteMapNode url="" title="" description="" />
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This is where we start off. But first, let's create some pages to work with. First, let's add a MasterPage: right-click your project and choose Add New Item.. MasterPage. Leave the name as MasterPage.master and then delete the Default.aspx that was added when you created the project.
Now we can add a new Web Form, making sure we check the box to select a Master Page:
[Click to view full-size]
Next, choose the MasterPage we just created:
[Click to view full-size]
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Our next step is to design our MasterPage. For the purpose of this tutorial, we will simply add a Literal control as a placeholder for the page header:
<strong><asp:Literal ID="lit_PageHeader" runat="server" /></strong>
<div>
</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
</form>
We will also add three more Web Forms to our Project, namely Page1.aspx, Page2.aspx and Page3.aspx and we will identify them in the body, and link to all other pages, like so:
<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="ContentPlaceHolder1" Runat="Server">
<asp:HyperLink ID="HyperLink1" runat="server" NavigateUrl="~/Page2.aspx" Text="Page 2" /> |
<asp:HyperLink ID="HyperLink2" runat="server" NavigateUrl="~/Page3.aspx" Text="Page 3" />
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We make sure that we check MasterPage for each of our Web Forms.
The Literal control in our MasterPage is going to display the page header that we specify for each page in the SiteMap. Let's go ahead and begin our SiteMap. It will have somewhat of a hierarchical structure like so:
<siteMapNode url="~/Page2.aspx" title="This is the TITLE of Page 2" PageHeader="Welcome to Page 2" description="This is the META Description of Page 2." keywords="keywords, of, the, meta, tag, of, page, two" />
<siteMapNode url="~/Page3.aspx" title="This is the TITLE of Page 3" PageHeader="Welcome to Page 3" description="This is the META Description of Page 3." keywords="keywords, of, the, meta, tag, of, page, three" />
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Notice our attributes for each page in our project. We will be using title for the Meta Title tag, PageHeader for our Literal control, description for the Meta description tag, and keywords for the Meta keywords tag.
To implement this, we will add code-behind to the Master Page:
{
{
if (SiteMap.CurrentNode != null)
{
if (SiteMap.CurrentNode["keywords"] != null)
{
meta.Name = "keywords";
meta.Content = SiteMap.CurrentNode["keywords"];
Page.Header.Controls.AddAt(1,meta);
if (SiteMap.CurrentNode.Description != null)
{
meta.Name = "Description";
meta.Content = SiteMap.CurrentNode.Description.ToString();
Page.Header.Controls.AddAt(2,meta);
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Now when we run Default.aspx we should be presented with the following in the Title Bar:
And we should also be presented with the Page Header from the Web.sitemap:
Also note that the META tags in the source are populated:
<meta name="Description" content="This is the META Description tag od the Default Page." />
What we have Learned
We have learned that we can use the SiteMap to easily managed and update our Meta tags for each of our pages within our site.
Attachments
Leave a Comment
#1 Danny117
Posted By: Danny117 | 1.29.2009 at 6:05 PM
I didn't know I could just add attributes to the sitemap and the sitemap.currentnode I'm going to use this one way or another.
#2 Shafaqat
Posted By: Shafaqat | 1.29.2009 at 10:35 PM
Nice article man, but i am confused that, is URL Rewriting something different?
#3 Norbert
Posted By: Norbert | 1.30.2009 at 4:31 AM
The way you mixed ads through your article is down right awful. It puts me off. I don't think I'm going to visit this site often. I don't think this will make many other people make a return visit --> bye,bye ad profits.
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Posted By: Johan | 1.30.2009 at 10:40 AM
Have to agree on the awful ads in the text! Really puts me off coming back to this blog!
#5 rtpHarry
Posted By: rtpHarry | 1.30.2009 at 7:27 PM
Hey did you access the data in two different ways just to illustrate a point or was there a reason to use on over the other? I am talking about:
meta.Content = SiteMap.CurrentNode["keywords"];
meta.Content = SiteMap.CurrentNode.Description.ToString();
Also I have to agree that the way the adverts are blended in to the copy doesnt work for me. You should apply some sort of visual style for it. I know this way around you are getting people to read your adverts but it is creating a negative association with the product as its annoying to have to switch gears when you are learning something new. Just keep them nearby and let peoples curiosity draw them to your ad partners websites!
#6 Alfes
Posted By: Alfes | 2.04.2009 at 10:45 AM
Easy step by step tutorial to understand sitemap.
www.asp.net/.../video-192.aspx
I also do appreciate your effort to dynamically add the meta tag and title to every page. I like it.
Please do not put ads in the description.
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Completely agree with other posters, great article but terrible ad placement. Please put ads in a side box or something.
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Even when optimizing websites built on asp.net sometimes it may be be as search engine friendly
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Posted By: Rate Your Doctor | 10.02.2009 at 10:39 AM
Even when optimizing websites built on asp.net sometimes it may be be as search engine friendly
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And what should we do if we have two sitemap providers in our web.config? How can I change provider to make the meta title and meta description work with the apropiate provider?
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