Extended info text in main page

[Steven Barkess]

Hi

I have a lot of text in the extended info section of my store which is not getting indexed by Google. I am playing with a design that includes the long text in the main product table.

What I am hoping I can do is add another column and the content reflects the extended info text. I already use the long and short descriptions elsewhere so I cannot change that (without changing every product).

It is thus possible to add the column and use extended info text, so that in the main product table to you have

short desc | long desc | extended desc

Thanks

Steven

[NormanRouxel]

There's a post somewhere on making the extended info page search engine friendly. See http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=5145

Also you can try adding NETQUOTEVAR:INFOTEXT into your product template ( just after NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTDESCRIPTION ) and see if that does what you want.

If you put it like

<noscript>NETQUOTEVAR:INFOTEXT</noscript>

it won't show (but will be there taking up bandwidth) but search engines will see it.

[Steven Barkess]

Hi Norman

Thanks for the ideas.

I cannot do the first one becasue I use your patch to include the add to cart in the pop up. I think it is important that it stays there as it is more condusive to buy.

Second idea. I already put the label name of the record in the description, ie !!<<noscript>>!! BREAKBEAT KAOS !!<</noscript>>!!. Based on what you said above, can I just put in NETQUOTEVAR:INFOTEXT or should I copy the enite pop up description into the hidden text.

Thanks

Steven

[NormanRouxel]

The NETQUOTEVAR won't be expanded if you paste it into the Description. Instead amend the Product Template to have

<noscript>NETQUOTEVAR:INFOTEXT</noscript>

just after NETQUTEVAR:PRODUCTDESCRIPTION

[Steven Barkess]

Hi Norman

I may be getting into a muddle here.

I have tried adding it in and it shows up (in a current column as I have not created a new one yet). As a short term thing, can I add the text to a current column but hide it. The search engines can read but it wont show up. Below is some of the code for my table. I tried to add in !!<<noscript>>!!NETQUOTEVAR:INFOTEXT!!<</noscript>>!! after NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTDESCRIPTION but the extended info text still shows up.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Steven


<tr bordercolor="#a1a5a9" bgcolor="#ffffcc">
<td width="50">NETQUOTEVAR:TEMPLATEBEGINXML
<a name="NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTANCHOR">NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREF</a></td>
<td width="114">NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTNAME</td>
<td width="110">NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTDESCRIPTION</td>
<td width="47">CUSTOMVAR:RECORD_LABEL</td>

[NormanRouxel]

Remove the leading and trailing !!< and >!!. They're only needed to embed HTML into the description field.

E.g.

<noscript>NETQUOTEVAR:INFOTEXT!!</noscript>

is all you need.

[Steven Barkess]

Hi

Sorry, I am being a muppet. I have done the below, but the extended info text is visable in my product table. I want it to be there so the search engines can read it, but hide it from customers because it makes the page look terrible.

<tr bordercolor="#a1a5a9" bgcolor="#ffffcc">
<td width="50">NETQUOTEVAR:TEMPLATEBEGINXML
<a name="NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTANCHOR">NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTREF</a></td>
<td width="114">NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTNAME</td>
<td width="110">NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTDESCRIPTION<noscript>NETQUOTEVAR:INFOTEXT</noscript></td>
<td width="47">CUSTOMVAR:RECORD_LABEL</td>

Sorry, I will get this in the end!!!

Steven

[Mike Hughes]

Putting content on your pages that the search engines can read but that aren't visible to your visitors is a sure fire way to get your site banned by the search engines.

It's called spamming and here's what Google has to say:

Trying to deceive (spam) our web crawler by means of hidden text, deceptive cloaking or doorway pages compromises the quality of our results and degrades the search experience for everyone. We think that's a bad thing.

If your Google search returns a result that you suspect is spam, please let us know using this form. We investigate each report of deceptive practices thoroughly and take appropriate action when abuse is uncovered. At minimum, we will use the data from each spam report to improve our site ranking and filtering algorithms. The result of this should be visible over time as the quality of our searches gets even better. In especially egregious cases, we will remove spammers from our index immediately, so they do not show up in search results at all. Other steps will be taken as necessary.

If I were you I'd think twice before trying this. it's definitely NOT recommended.

Mike

[Steven Barkess]

Hi olderscot

Thanks for the reply.

In my case, the content is there, it is just in the pop up box that Google will not index. Do you think that what I am doing is really classed as spam, I am certainly not trying to be deciptive by showing things that does not exist.

My site has about 3 pages indexed by Google, although I have around 500 products in store, none of which are indexed. I argue that the content is relavant and as a result, customers that are searching for a product that I have, should see that I have it, even if the page that they find does not link directly to it.

This could be a grey area so I would appreciate your thoughts. If Google is black and white then I agree, not recommended, but if there are any other shades of it, I do think that it is relevant and not spam.

Thanks

Steven

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Steven,

This isn't really a grey area. If it's there for the search engines but not for the visitor then it's spam and they'll ban your site if they catch you. They don't tell you they're going to do it and there's no warning. The site just gets removed from the index.

Sadly, the argument that it's somewhere else on the site doesn't really hold up. Google rates on the page content very highly and making content that doesn't appear there look like it is there is definitely spam. If they allowed this, we'd all fill our home pages with invisible content from the rest of the site and rank wonderfully well but you won't find many people doing it.

There is a chance that they won't catch you as it all depends on whether their algorithms detect the method of spamming that you're using. But all it takes is a competitor to complain or someone else to use the same method and they'll build it into their algorithm and your site is gone.

I don't think anyone would recommend using this kind of technique unless you're happy to abandon the site later on and move to a new domain.

Mike

PS. The link Norman gives you above does show you how to make your pop-up links followable by Google. That should solve your problem without resorting to spam.

[Steven Barkess]

Thanks Mike

Based on this, I wont go down that route then, and will revert back to the original plan of changing the whole page so that the extended info text does appear in the product table. Bit of a pain since all my pages are fixed widths (800px) and the only way to really display it comfortable is to use 100% of screen.

If you want to comment on it, I have done a mock up at http://www.btinternet.com/~stevenbarkess/1.htm.

Thanks again

Steven

[Mike Hughes]

Hi Steven,

the mock up doesn't look to me bad to me and should do well in the search engines with all that content.

You might want to make it easy for customers to find something they're looking for. I think Jan has a product that allows you to create duplicate pages with the products sorted differently on each.

So you could have one page sorted by Artist and another one sorted by Title. That way customers will be able to quickly scroll down to what they want and the content shouldn't overwhelm them.

Mike

[Steven Barkess]

Hi Mike

The redesign is coming along nicely.

Question. My table now contains NETQUOTEVAR:INFOTEXT and in the main looks fine. But, I use the following code to show track samples:

!!<&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="FDJ606A.mp3"><img src=speaker.gif alt="Listen" width=20 height=25 border="0" align="absmiddle"> First Side</a> >!!

!!<&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="FDJ606B.mp3"><img src=speaker.gif alt="Listen" width=20 height=25 border="0" align="absmiddle"> Flip Side</a> >!!

This displays as

First Side
Flip Side

I have asked elsewhere how to show this as First Side Flip Side (on one row), but I am also wondering if is possible to not show it at all. I appreciate it is part of the info text and that it why it is there, it is just taking up a fair amount of space, and given that it is in the extened info section, it does not need to be there.

Is there a way of showing infotext up to for example !!<&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="FDJ

I think I may be asking too much there, but if you think there is a way, I would be most grateful.

Thanks

Steven

[Nadeem]

Hi there

One of the user answered your thread to try out. Here is the thread: http://community.actinic.com/showpos...9&postcount=10

Kind Regards

[Steven Barkess]

Hi Nadeem

Yes, saw that post. I will try that one out, but I am still interested in seeing if I can show all the infotext excluding the track samples.

Thanks

Steven