On the subject of Consolidation it was hoped that we would be able to mutually benefit from the wide Subud content that is already available. This requires that we understand the profiles of each of the websites: What their audience is? What role they play? This is not to say that we can not have overlapping content but that we need a defined space, rather than compete and confuse. The majority of sites each have a role to play and do that well.

One of the areas where we can improve is in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). (Today what Google does is what is most important so the discussion is geared towards them). This is important to us so that when a member or non-member searches for "Subud" or "Subud Spain", they find Subud content as the first results on the search page. We are doing well but we could do even better with a few modifications. Each of our sites are really independent bodies, as far as Search Engines are concerned. When independent sites link to one another they become a powerful chain. There are some sites that will join a "ring" which connect sites artificially but Search Engines can easily recognize these. In our case, we are legitimately one "family" and this will be evident in the fact that all our content will carry similar keywords. This will count very highly for our positioning. The sites that have the keyword "Subud" in the domain name (subud.org, subud.net, subud.co.uk) will score highest with ones that contain the word (subudlife, subudvoice, subud-sica) following. Some Subud sites do not contain the keyword (Muhammad Subuh Foundation, SusilaDharma) and these will be less prominent.

The way we can chain ourselves together is by websites using a common header or footer that contains links to the other websites. These are aids to your visitors and allow them to navigate to and from the variety of content. The big benefit is that Search Engines will place all of these sites high on the search list for the keywords that are present in our pages. A sample header and footer are on this page and these can be added to your html source. You can see them by Viewing Source from the View menu on your browser and you will find the comments <!--HEADER BEGIN--> and <!--HEADER END--> and the same with the footer. You can also take the files header.html and footer.html. The format or colors do not have to be used as shown as long as they comply with the guidelines for the Subud Symbol. By including the credit phrase in the header and footer, you also are covered for use of the name Subud and the Symbol. Subud.org has nicely implemented this and can be contacted for any details about what was done and how.

Another helpful tip is to make sure that the <title> tag is present in your html and contains a title suitable for the page. What this means is that it contains keywords that are found in the text. With Search Engines you will get caught if you try to be "cute" and do something dishonest. What is not dishonest is properly describing your page with the title being aware that they will break your title up into keywords and then search your text for the count of times that they find each word. They expect good keywords and bad ones. A page on a Subud Website might have a title as "Subud Life: Be Active in your Spiritual Life and Worship of God." This would have a good amount of important keywords that would likely have good counts in the text of the page. The secret here is really to be honest since this is formost with Google. If you choose to add a Keyword Meta tag, don't be greedy and pick instead 4 or 5 that truely represent your site and are reasonably represented in the text. If you "hammer" a keyword, in order to get popularity, you will be caught and loose ranking. Subud.org uses the footer and is a highly ranked page. Anyone listed in the links here, is automatically included in the links of Subud.org and will benefit by being there. International, National, Local and Private Subud Sites as well as Enterprises, should be encouraged to send their links to us for inclusion. It is to your benefit.