Live With Ani

SEO 101 - 3 of 13 common SEO Roadblocks

Cookies

Cookies are another way sites preserve state on the Internet. A cookie is a small file stored by the visitor’s browser and read by the site so the site can remember who the visitor is. In general, using cookies for state control works well for site visitors using commercially available browsers; however, this breaks down for the search engine spiders.

Search engine spiders do not accept, store, or transmit cookie information. When a cookie is not stored by the visitor to a site, the following can happen:

• Nothing – the site carries on working. This is great for the search engine spiders, but means that for visitors who decide not to accept cookies, the web site cannot keep state and so things break, such as the shopping cart losing anything placed in it.

• Some web site software will detect if the user can accept cookies, and if they can't, they will use a session ID in the URL to preserve state. This works fine for visitors with cookies turned off; however, the search engines will not index pages with session IDs (see the section on dynamic URLs for details).

The problem persists as most web site owners have cookies turned on and are totally oblivious to the fact that search engines spiders cannot access the site. To test whether you have an issue, disable cookies on your browser and see what the URL looks like. Additionally, spider emulators are available and they should highlight any cookie issues you may have.

Another common problem is when developers require visitors to accept cookies to enter the site. In this case, the spiders cannot enter the site or follow alternative navigation, preventing the site's inclusion.

Thanks to SEMPO institute for this information.

SEO 101 - 2 of 13 common SEO Roadblocks (Session IDs)

Session IDs

Even though the search engines can now index parameters, there is one type of parameter they avoid – session IDs. As you may know, the Web is a stateless environment. This means that each and every request for a page from a web site is treated as a new connection to the site. Basic HTTP/HTML has no built-in knowledge of previous items added to shopping carts, previous successful login attempts, etc. Session IDs are one way a site keeps track of the state of a particular connection. By assigning your browser a session ID, the site can remember what was in your shopping cart, or any other information it may want to store.

A session ID looks like this:

http://www.mysite.com/shoppingcart.asp?ID=C1537D0AECA6606406D7D3A

Though the parameter name can change, it generally has "id" in it, e.g., oscid, phpid, etc. The parameter value is dynamically generated and will vary, but generally consists of over ten characters in the range a-z, A-Z and 0-9.

Why Are Session IDs a Problem?

The search engines are now indexing pages with session IDs; but with the problem of duplicate pages, it can be a detriment to themselves and to the site owner.

Session IDs preserve state. Basic HTTP is stateless, meaning there is no connection between the current page requested and the next one you might request. By preserving state, the web site will know what you did previously, such as add something to the shopping cart. If the state contains sensitive data, such as a credit card number associated with your shopping cart, then any visitor using the URL with that session ID will be able to see your credit card details.

Another problem can be sharing state. All visitors from the search engine will share the same state, so when one adds something to a shopping cart, all users using that session ID will see that item in their cart.

Further problems appear for the spiders when they index the same page with different session IDs – they could end up filling their search index with thousands of copies of the same page with different session IDs. Not only is this wasted disk space for the search engines, it also wastes the site owners’ server resources and bandwidth.

Thanks to SEMPO institute for this information.

Live Search Webmaster Center Frogs coming your way!

So what am I talking about? Get yours at SMX Advance 2008 or Tech Ed 2008! If you are attending either of these two events, come find our Microsoft Live Search Webmaster Center team and get your flying Frog!

and leap into better search results by submitting your sitemap to Live Search Webmaster Center! See you soon!

SEO 101 - 1 of 13 common SEO Roadblocks (Dynamic URLs)

Dynamic URLs

There are two types of URLs: dynamic URLs and static URLs. The difference between the two is the dynamic URLs have parameters passed to them through the web page address that usually cause the page to behave differently depending on the value of the parameters passed.

Dynamic URLs are web page addresses followed by a "?" and then have parameters tacked on the end such as "ProductID=1." Additional parameters can then be added to the web page address by separating with an ampersand. For example:

http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=param1&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

This URL above consist of the following parts:

http: The protocol

search.msn.com: The host you want to access

results.aspx: The script name

?: Separates the script name and host name from the parameters

q=param1: Parameter 1 – q is the request querystring variable and param1 is the value associated with that querystring variable

&: Allows additional parameters to be added

Mkt=en-US:   Parameter 2

&: Another parameter separator

Form=QBRE: Parameter 3

Why Does it Matter?

In the early days of the Internet (circa 1990’s), the search engine spiders had trouble handling parameters. Poor coding or unscrupulous webmasters could provide endless loops for the search engine spiders to be caught in, indexing thousands of near identical pages.

A common problem with dynamic URLs is when the page references itself Incorrectly and adds additional copied parameters. For example, if the original page was:

http://www.mysite.com/search.php?param1=1

Then sometimes poor coding could result in the page referencing itself as:

http://www.mysite.com/search.php?param1=1&param1=1

This is a perfectly valid URL, so the search engines would index it, and then it in turn would reference itself as:

http://www.mysite.com/search.php?param1=1&param1=1&param1=1

And so on. To stop this from filling the search engine index with thousands of duplicate pages, the search engine spiders would ignore URLs containing parameters. This led to most database-driven sites being totally ignored by the search engines.

Today, the search engine spiders have worked out ways to handle parameters on URLs. However, their support is still limited. Google recommends keeping the number of parameters to three or less. The other search engines have similar recommendations. Most practitioners feel uncomfortable when the number of parameters goes to two, and definitely avoid the third parameter unless the workaround is horrendously ugly. In that case, one might accept it and monitor the number of pages indexed.

Thanks to SEMPO institute for this information.

Look for the Get cashback Tag: Get Cash back from Live Search!

And you thought you only bought software from Microsoft, well not you can get cash Back!

What this means to you is you can find out what the prices are at common stores then get extra cash back on top of it and creat an account so you either get cash in your paypal account, sent to your bank or a check in the mail.

So check it out, here's how you:

Get Cash Back from Live Search

You can do it in one of two ways, easy way is to go to: http://search.live.com/cashback/ and search thru the products that have the Cashback ability enabled.Or as you see in the picture to the right below just search for the product you want on http://www.live.com and search for a product, if the company's product you search for has joined the program as a customer you will see the Live Search cashback, tag where you can click to get a screen to compare prices and get cash back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So after you click on the  Live Search cashback, tag you will go to a screen where you can search for the shoe (or whatever product you want, that offers this service which will grow as we go) then once you click on the Compare Prices button you will see the screen showing comparative prices and how much cash you will get back if you order thru Live Search cashback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can then use your Windows Live ID to log in and setup your account and get your cash! COOL huh?

 

Check out more relevant articles at:

Microsoft To Launch Cash-Back Search Engine

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft Surface, really cool and well a bit expensive, but not anymore...

It's totally cool when you can use a cardboard box, some paper and a camera and for $50 you have your own Surface!

Check out the

Surface for poor people

post!

Do you really Love Mac and think it's better than a PC?

Okay, I know you would think I am saying this because I work for Microsoft. But, (I use but, because it negates the statement before it) I put together my first PC when I was 14 with money I earned from babysitting. Since I have always had a PC, I used a Mac in high school when I had no choice, but as soon as the PC came to my High school and since then I have been on a PC.

For those people walking around thinking Mac is soo much better than a PC, here is an article for you!

Why do Macs need so much fixing? posted by Ed Bott.

"To which I say, give me a freakin’ break. I’ve made an entire career out of helping people become more productive with Windows, which includes explaining how things work, how to customize system settings and features, and, yes, how to fix problems. And here’s a news flash: I have peers on the Apple side of the universe who make their living exactly the same way. In fact, maybe the real question should be, Why does the Mac OS need so much fixing? Consider the evidence:

MacFixIt.com is an enormously popular website that offers up a veritable gold mine of solutions to help people fix problems with the Mac OS. (It doesn’t always “just work”?) Ironically, it’s a CNET property. Yes, that’s right, the same company that owns ZDNet." read the full Macs need so much fixing article here...

Who coined the term software bug? (there is a bug in our software)

A pioneer in data processing, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper (shown in the photo below) received credit for creating the first compiler in 1952. Hopper helped to develop two computer languages and to make computers attractive to businesses. One of the most prominent women in the computer industry, Hopper died in 1992.

In 1946, when Hopper was released from active duty, she joined the Harvard Faculty at the Computation Laboratory where she continued her work on the Mark II and Mark III. Operators traced an error in the Mark II to a moth trapped in a relay, coining the term bug. This bug was carefully removed and taped to the log book September 9th 1945 [sic]. Stemming from the first bug, today we call errors or glitch's [sic] in a program a bug. ^[4]

Who Knew the first bug was an actual bug, and a moth no less.

The world's youngest professor is a Girl!

Girl's rule, YAH!!!

The world's youngest professor is a Girl and she is from Iran! Her name is Alia Sabur (born February 22, 1989 in New York City, New York)

Sabur became known after being accepted into graduate school at the age of 14. She had left public school in 4th grade, was admitted to State University of New York at Stony Brook at the age of 10 and graduated summa cum laude at 14. She also received a black belt in Tae Kwon Do at the age of 9.^{[citation needed]}

After Stony Brook, Sabur attended Drexel University where she received her M.S. in 2006 and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science and Engineering. In 2007 she took a temporary position at Southern University in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.^[2]

On 19 February 2008, the Guinness Book of World Records named Alia the World's Youngest Professor, a designation held by Colin Maclaurin since 1717, when he was appointed professor of mathematics at 19 years and 7 months of age.

You see there is tons of room and need for women in technology! I am so very passionate about this topic, that is why we started the series of books with Wiley titled "IT Girl's Guide to," to have books specifically targeted and written to help women grow in the technical fields. The technology industry would so very much benefit from a woman's perspective and thinking and women will benefit greatly by applying technology to ease the most common tasks and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues.

Check out my book and pre-order your copy today: The second in the IT Girl's Guide to series titled: The IT Girl's Guide to Becoming an Excel Diva!

Where did the LiveWithAni chick go?

It's always important to spend time with family event if the work life seems like it just can't allow it. I am very thankful to work on a team where everyone works hard and we all make sure to pay attention to important things such as family and playing hard too. If I work hard, I gotta play hard and make time for family, otherwise I'll be pretty dull.

So I have been in Denver, CO visiting my family. And while there I have been writing the "dedication and thank yo section of my book." This has by far been the hardest part to write since I have spent the most time writing and re-writing it. I started with 2 pages of thank you, then went to 3 then 5 and finally I have it down to 1.5 pages and I think I am happy.

This part was also the most fun since I had to reach out to people to make sure they were going to feel comfortable about me including their name in the book. So I connected with people I had not spoken with like my 6th grade ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher and a family friend I had not connected with for the last 3 years.

I think the "Thank you" section is finally done, thank God! and the layout work still continues. I thought I was done when I sent all the chapters in for layout, but I was Wrong! I am now working with the layout editor who pings me about little things thru the chapters that have to do with layout like fonts, and case sensitive words and some mistakes that have been left behind from the three rounds of editing I have gone thru so far. I have to say without all the great help Wiley publishers provides, writing a book would have been a daunting task.

So now I have one more iteration of edits to go thru, except now I have to turn things around in 24-48 hours. And I thought I would have time for sleep. HA!