Entries using Blue theme do not show up in search engines.

Skinning and designing Serendipity (CSS, HTML, Smarty)
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drluv
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Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2015 7:27 pm

Entries using Blue theme do not show up in search engines.

Post by drluv »

I've incorporated the "blue" theme into one of my webpages, http://lentusproducts.com/blog.htm, with a number of entries but they do not show up on the search engines, especially Google. I called them and they tell me that the tracking code is used twice and that is the reason for the entries not showing up. I've searched everywhere but cannot seem to find where this is at in the code or how to fix it. I'm not all that familiar with code but would greatly appreciate any help you might be able to provide.

drluv
Don Chambers
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Re: Entries using Blue theme do not show up in search engine

Post by Don Chambers »

Please do not be offended, but your website needs a LOT of work. Your site uses a lot of iframes.... starting with the banner slideshow. your serendipity installation is also shown within an iframe. This is really something to be avoided at nearly all costs.

The specific blue theme has nothing to do with why your pages are not showing up in google results. I cannot find any google tracking codes on your pages. Whom did you actually speak with?
=Don=
yellowled
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Re: Entries using Blue theme do not show up in search engine

Post by yellowled »

Don Chambers wrote:Your site uses a lot of iframes....
Which is probably the reason why the articles do not show up in Google SERPs.

There is, by the way, no such thing as a Google tracking code. Well, there is – for Google Analytics, but that should not affect whether content shows up in the SERPs, even if referenced twice.

YL
drluv
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Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2015 7:27 pm

Re: Entries using Blue theme do not show up in search engine

Post by drluv »

Not offended at all. I'm really a novice when it comes to webpage design and I know I probably make a lot of mistakes. I didn't realize i-frames caused such a problem but instead considered them an easy way to embed content on pages, i.e., I really wanted to keep the header the same on all of the pages for the site and did not see any other way of doing this. Is there another way of doing this??

As for the tracking codes, it was Google Ad Words who pointed out that the blog page was being tracked twice and I found out that they used Google Tag Assistant to analyze it. The conclusion was (I thought) that it may have some impact on analytics but I'm sure you are right, this probably has nothing to do with the posts not showing up in searches, probably more the use of the i-frame. Anyway, thanks a lot for the insight. If you don't mind giving some advise on how to embed serendipity without using the iframe, it would be much appreciated...
Don Chambers
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Re: Entries using Blue theme do not show up in search engine

Post by Don Chambers »

I have used serendipity for 9 years. In that time, I have assisted many, many people with their serendipity sites. Of those, I have worked with maybe 6-8 truly embedded serendipity installations. I personally find it to be a better use of time to get the root website tweaked as good as possible, then build a serendipity theme that emulates that design, rather than to embed serendipity within the root website's output.

I do remember being a complete novice as you describe yourself... hang in there and keep trying things until you find your solution! :wink:

I personally think you should not worry about your serendipity theme matching your root website appearance right now. Use whichever theme you feel works best for you today (I recommend 2k11), and do not use the embedded option. Then, focus on your root website. Get that right, then circle back to your serendipity installation and tweak it. Your serendipity installation will benefit tremendously from good coding practices, frequent content additions, and the use of a few key plugins. Start at the root site, and work your way into the blog component. That's my 2 cents anyway.
=Don=
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