All entries for November 2007
November 27, 2007
How web–authoring technology can get in the way.
Writing about web page http://www.wmccm.co.uk/WMCCM/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=1&tabid=4203
The CCM team are recruiting transitional companles according to the EC postcode lottery. I helped a company on a small trading estate and noted more firms with the same postcode.
I followed up three, all with websites, some showing considerable investment but all three failed to work as a business tool. Their websites were positively search engine hostile with combinations of the usual culprits, below:- Flash landing pages.
- Frames.
- Complex database generated pages with many parameters.
- Confusion of domain names and masking.
One of my project students last year evaluated simple checklists for websites and used 5 or more functional checks. All three of these websites failed my simpler 2 step test (see Web Poster ).
- Copy a unique extract of text from the site, add quotes & search.
This can include their brand. - If the words can be found check for links to the rest of the site.
When the words CAN be found and the pages act as a site then you can improve the titles, write better copy and build good links. All this is a waste of effort if hidden by the technology.
Robert McGonigle
27 Nov 2007 11:09
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Tags: Seo Webpage Authoring Website Technology
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November 20, 2007
An Extra Forward Slash foils the Googlebot
Writing about web page http://www.grpbuildingproducts.co.uk
LR Products have migrated from solely serving the automotive and truck cabs business to mainly serving the building trade and renovators with GRP Chimneys, brick effect cladding, stone and brick effect arches window canopies, dormers etc. Moving from the mass identical to individually colour matched products they have rebranded to GRP Building Products.
Their web hosts redirected their old domain www.lrproducts.co.uk to the new domain www.grpbuildingproducts.co.uk but unfortunately added two forward slashes after the .co.uk. So these linked to www.grpbuildingproducts.co.uk// (note Blogbuilder fixes the problem!)
www.grpbuildingproducts.co.uk//products.html
www.grpbuildingproducts.co.uk//finishes.html
When you click on these most browsers take you to the correct page just like the real links below:
www.grpbuildingproducts.co.uk/
www.grpbuildingproducts.co.uk/products.html
www.grpbuildingproducts.co.uk/finishes.html
I suspected that this was not helping the Search Bots and found confirmation here from Webmaster World: Google dropping urls because of an extra forward slash
GRP Building Products Ltd’s hosting company are removing the extra slash. Good adherance to standards will always help the search bots. Yes these could get around the problem but all the extra parsing and code that they add increases their already considerable carbon footprint. Simple, fast, easy to navigate sites are also greener.
Robert McGonigle
20 Nov 2007 10:54
| Tags: Carbon Footprint Googlebot Search Search Engines
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November 15, 2007
The CCM Blog is set up for the whole Team
Writing about web page http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/wmccm
I have just set up this new Blog for the team. Adding everyone as administrators/authors was easy. Thanks again to the BlogBuilder team.
I sent out the link as I was setting it up and Jay Bal beat me to the first post! A paralell world made serial by the blog-roll.
Robert McGonigle
15 Nov 2007 15:46
| Tags: BlogBuilder New Blog
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November 04, 2007
So many Google Widgets you have to search!
Writing about web page http://stjames.whitley.googlepages.com/childrens-activities
I have been having fun with widgets in Google’s Page Creator.
These can place themselves somewhere other than where you wanted but it is easy to tidy them up in HTML.
The simple swimming fish behind a picture has generated the most reaction with fish swimming in the sky in the Children’s Activities Page . If this bothers you move your mouse from side to side in the water but what’s wrong with flying fish.
The problem is that there are so many widgets that browsing might never reveal that perfect tool. Even searching for weather brings up dozens of US sites. I had to search for BBC weather to get the useful Coventry 3 day forecast on the Hall Bookings Page where the folk banqueting were Warwick SU’s own LARPS.
Oh and these widgets also work here at http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk ! I have added that BBC Coventry 3-day forecast on the left.
Robert McGonigle
04 Nov 2007 17:28
| Tags: Google Page Creator Google Widgets Googlepages
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November 02, 2007
Using Blogs & Feed Readers to allow easily changable content on Webpages.
Writing about web page http://StJames.Whitley.googlepages.com/
Helping SMEs I frequently find websites that are stale and out-of-date. The problem is that these businesses lack the skills and resources to update their web presence.
I have been experimenting with the use of blogs as ‘news pages’ for websites. One example at my local church puts the news stories as posts on Blogger, www.stjames-whitley.co.uk uses Google Reader and displays the headlines on the website . This might seem to be unnecessary as the actual site is created using Google Page Creator which does not need web expertise. Page Creator does allow more complex code so this approach frees the design.
I have also experimented with a complete copy of this Blog on WMCCM’s ASP.NET site
On this page the Google Reader Javascript that works on most Blogs and sites is rejected. I did create a punchout link and combined the punchout within an IFRAME to encapsulate this whole Blog.
Robert McGonigle
02 Nov 2007 21:03
| Tags: Feed Reader Google Reader Punchout
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November 01, 2007
Problems with duplicate content or canonicalization.
Writing about web page http://www.tsfcoventry.co.uk
I am helping a very local company over at Brunsall Road, Canley, Coventry. TSF (Coventry) Ltd, trading as Howard Thorne Steel & Fabrications produce structural steels, fabrications and material handling equipment. The TSF (Coventry) website needed only minor changes but Google had found their prototype website on their developers domain. The Blog of Google’s Matt Cutts gave a good explanation of the problems the search engines have with pages with more than one alias or canonicalization.
TSF were introduced to WMCCM by Dirk Schaefer of Techmark over at the Science Park as a part of a growing partnership.
Robert McGonigle
01 Nov 2007 16:43
| Tags: Canonicalization
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