Wonder how many search engines pick up *contents* of TFL

[Oleg Volk]

Just found this search leading to my own site
http://www.altavista.com/cgi-bin/query?pg=q&q=First+aquitted+murder+in+America+usinfg+self-defense+as+strategy&crid=51696&stype=dptext&search.x=27&search.y=12

Got me thinking...with so many diverse topics discussed on TFL, how many search engines pick up individual topics or even just the general keywords...or it the site dynamic and not indexable?

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Oleg "cornered rat" Volk (JPFO,NRA)

http://dd-b.net/RKBA

[sven]

BTT

I recently learned that search engines index results using many bits of information...

Check out this Whitepaper on Search Engine Positioning (http://www.popart.com/whitepapers/search-engine-positioning.pdf) - by Pop Art LLC (http://www.popart.com)

I doubt TFL is very indexable in its current state and current search engine technology.

Things that could change this (assuming you wanted this):

1) Have BB add META tags specific to the content of the thread being discussed to the HTML... adding the subject line and maybe first paragraph would be a good start, for example.

2) Next, change the path in the URL to contain useful information. For example, if TFL threads were displayed not as they are currently:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30724


but instead ALSO included the current subject line and maybe the author's handle:


http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30724&author=Oleg_Volk&&Wonder_how_many_search_engines_pick_up_*contents*_of_TFL


..then these threads would index better, or 'more deeply' on Google. Maybe.

Also, you could:

3) Make it a habit to link to TFL from outside sites. I just snuck a TFL link into Hakan's Custom Grips (http://www.imageseek.com/hakan) website. ;)

The list goes on and on. And search engines continue to get more and more cunning. The above linked whitepaper states:

Inktomi offers a free submission method, but penalizes the submission until its spider finds the site on its own. However, a fee-based submission is not penalized.

Anything for a buck.

[dZ]

it looks like google only cruises the html and stays out of the PHP & SQL:
http://www.google.com/search?q=gun+site:thefiringline.com&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&as_qdr=all&start=10&sa=N

[sven]

We could post 'cached' versions of threads to HTML, perhaps, to get around this?

Perhaps the problem is that few people link to TFL from outside sources, and the engines penalize for a lack of link density?

If mainstream media articles linked to TFL or threads therein, might change everything in this regard.

Maybe we don't want people to find us unless they spend time looking. =)