Comments on: museum collections http://electronicmuseum.org.uk thoughts on museums, the social web, innovation Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:32:41 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: mikelowndes http://electronicmuseum.org.uk/about-me/experiments/museum-collections/#comment-41 mikelowndes Sat, 12 May 2007 19:55:58 +0000 http://electronicmuseum.wordpress.com/experiments/museum-collections/#comment-41 http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40318&ctx=sibling To quote from this: 'By submitting a Sitemap file, you can take control of the first part of the crawling/indexing processes: our discovery of the pages.' appears to suggest that sitemaps do as we assume. But further down: 'This program does not replace our normal methods of crawling the web. Google still searches and indexes your sites the same way it has done in the past whether or not you use this program [..]. We cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when or if your URLs will be crawled or added to our index. ' Notice the IF? In other words, adding a Site Map does not guarantee indexing. The Site Map is not a bypass. If for some reason the usual Google algorhythm can't find your page, tough. cheers Mike http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=40318&ctx=sibling

To quote from this: ‘By submitting a Sitemap file, you can take control of the first part of the crawling/indexing processes: our discovery of the pages.’ appears to suggest that sitemaps do as we assume.

But further down: ‘This program does not replace our normal methods of crawling the web. Google still searches and indexes your sites the same way it has done in the past whether or not you use this program [..]. We cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when or if your URLs will be crawled or added to our index. ‘

Notice the IF? In other words, adding a Site Map does not guarantee indexing. The Site Map is not a bypass. If for some reason the usual Google algorhythm can’t find your page, tough.

cheers
Mike

]]> By: Mike http://electronicmuseum.org.uk/about-me/experiments/museum-collections/#comment-32 Mike Wed, 09 May 2007 22:26:55 +0000 http://electronicmuseum.wordpress.com/experiments/museum-collections/#comment-32 Mike - my understanding was that this was exactly what GSM did. What did your experiments show that implied otherwise? Mike – my understanding was that this was exactly what GSM did. What did your experiments show that implied otherwise?

]]> By: mikelowndes http://electronicmuseum.org.uk/about-me/experiments/museum-collections/#comment-31 mikelowndes Wed, 09 May 2007 21:13:03 +0000 http://electronicmuseum.wordpress.com/experiments/museum-collections/#comment-31 Question to self . Just what IS the point of Google Site Maps if Google does not use them to index content its algorhythm would normally ignore (for whatever reason)? I ask this because many Museum sites (and certainly my previous employer!) have interesting and useful content that's not indexed (or at least indexed well). Google would say - 'well here's what you need to do to make it visible, go do it...'. But poor stressed out Musem staff just don't have the time/energy. I was hoping the Site Map idea would be a solution to this issue, but sadly not as my experiments with Mike's Co-Op search proved. Any Google folks listening - the sector would ike to talk to you! Mike Question to self . Just what IS the point of Google Site Maps if Google does not use them to index content its algorhythm would normally ignore (for whatever reason)?

I ask this because many Museum sites (and certainly my previous employer!) have interesting and useful content that’s not indexed (or at least indexed well). Google would say – ‘well here’s what you need to do to make it visible, go do it…’. But poor stressed out Musem staff just don’t have the time/energy. I was hoping the Site Map idea would be a solution to this issue, but sadly not as my experiments with Mike’s Co-Op search proved. Any Google folks listening – the sector would ike to talk to you!

Mike

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