Thread

Hiya,

Just a very very very very quick question here.
Well it will be if I stop adding in those very’s!! 😉

I was just wondering why if I type in to Google something which is found on these forums then it always always (there I go repeating myself again 😉 ) comes up in the search and usually only a few minutes later than the first post in the thread has been placed?

Is this just due to the fact that this site is so well known and loads of people frequent them or is it inbound links or something else?

Just wondering really.

Best wishes,

Mark

I’ve noticed something similar on a very old EE site I manage that also has forums. Within thirty minutes to an hour or so of an entry or a post, Google seems to have it indexed already (Yahoo! and MSN get there, usually in the same fiscal quarter as Google). That said, there have been times when it’s been a day or so, too.

Speaking of Google, what percentage of search engine hits come from Google vs. Yahoo! et al?

I have a concern about this.  Let me give you an example.

Yesterday my boss contacted me and showed me that a link to this forum (actually my site introduction post for the latest EE site I have done) was appearing high up on Google searches. I had mentioned the site name in my post and also posted a direct link to the site. I guess he was warning me about how prominently certain threads on this forum can appear on Google and that I should be professional at all times in what I am posting to the forum.

I continued to do some research and found that a lot of the technical support threads I have started during my recent project (that contan URL’s to the site in question) are also showing up.  You can imagine how a scenario could develop from this.  I do not really want links to my tech support threads, (where I ask many a daft question!) to be showing up on Google.  I have taken measures to remove links or associations with the sites in question in my threads so hopefully Google will not pick these things up anymore.

Does anyone else see the potential problems with posting up links to clients websites in tech support threads? Is there any advice on how to handle this, or is it something I just need to be wary and cautious of in teh future?

Hi Richard,

Well yes that is one problem that can happen and not really anything you can do about it other than not post links directly to a forum or just don’t say anything incriminating against your clients 😉

I’ve noticed some people are quite rude (I know you haven’t been) about their clients on the forums and this really is a bad idea as they will show up in Google and quite often are the first thing that people see when typing in the domain as a search phrase.

Basically just be careful, considerate and professional at all times and I don’t really see there ever being a problem. If a client says to you why are you asking for help on their site then you can just say that it was technical support you were after with the product. As to the planning and execution of the site you can do all of that on your own so hopefully they won’t have a problem with that.

To slightly hover out of the current topic and go back to my original question though I’m just wondering if it is because of links pointing to the ExpressionEngine site that makes the posts in this forum get spidered so quickly or perhaps something else?

Anyone any ideas?

Best wishes,

Mark

Hi Mark and thanks for the reply. Sorry for taking your thread off-topic by the way. Not sure I can give you any answers as to why threads from this forum appear so quickly, but it could well be to do with inbound links, possibly. I was gobsmacked today to find one of my Twitter posts from last night showing up on Google under my name - high up too, although my name isn’t exactly a popular search term of course, but still it was a surprise.

If a client says to you why are you asking for help on their site then you can just say that it was technical support you were after with the product. As to the planning and execution of the site you can do all of that on your own so hopefully they won’t have a problem with that.

It was exactly what you said above that was my main concern to be honest. A client is paying me to implement a site for them. The client assumes I “know what I am doing”, yet they can quite easily get direct links from Google to a support forum that show that perhaps I “don’t actually know what I’m doing” when it comes to implementing their site.

I am not the paranoid type on the whole, but this has given me food for thought!

Perhaps another thing to do would be not only don’t show the links but also have another user log-in for the forums here and not have your name mentioned just go by your user-name or something like that?

I don’t know if this works or not but perhaps by linking to sites in this manner then it doesn’t show up when you search google for Google. That last sentence confused even me!! 😉 Don’t know if that would stop it though?

Best wishes,

Mark

Hi Mark and thanks again for the reply.  Don’t worry, I understand what you mean, and will try doing that with the links or posting TinyURL.com links instead.

Hi Mark and thanks again for the reply.  Don’t worry, I understand what you mean, and will try doing that with the links or posting TinyURL.com links instead.

Hadn’t even thought about Tiny URL. Excellent idea!! 😉

Will keep that one in mind myself for the future!! 😊

Best wishes,

Mark

It was exactly what you said above that was my main concern to be honest. A client is paying me to implement a site for them. The client assumes I “know what I am doing”, yet they can quite easily get direct links from Google to a support forum that show that perhaps I “don’t actually know what I’m doing” when it comes to implementing their site.

I’d think of it as a selling point, angstmann.  It shows that the software you implemented for them has an active community, staffed support that has quickly helped you, and that if there is ever a problem they know that you can get an answer quickly.  Also, if something should happen to your relationship with said client, then they know that there are thousands of other people they can call upon to help them with their issue or take over maintenance and development.

Thanks a lot Derek. I honestly hadn’t thought about it in that way before, but what you said does make good sense!

Any thoughts on my initial question though Derek? 😉

Isn’t it obvious?  Google just loves us.

Isn’t it obvious?  Google just loves us.

And perhaps now a more educated reason? 😉 😊 😉

That’s it.  ExpressionEngine.com has a page rank of 8, and our content has high relevance per page.  Google indexes us very quickly and frequently.

Thanks Derek. Thought it might be that but was just wondering if inbound links played a part in that as well?

Best wishes,

Mark