Webmaster Index http://www.webmasterindex.net Directory & Blog for Webmasters Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:52:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Suggest Your Posts and Get FREE Exposure http://www.webmasterindex.net/suggest-your-posts-and-get-free-exposure/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/suggest-your-posts-and-get-free-exposure/#comments Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:52:30 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=781 Get absolutely free exposure by suggesting your post here on Webmaster Index. Simply click here, copy & paste your article, leave your credentials and click submit!

If you just want to send a tip (eg. cool new web design, awesome PHP script, etc), click here and send it off! We’ll review it quickly and if we like it, we’ll post it here (we tend to like a LOT of things).

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/suggest-your-posts-and-get-free-exposure/feed/ 0 PHP Form Example with Server Side Validation http://www.webmasterindex.net/php-form-example-with-server-side-validation/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/php-form-example-with-server-side-validation/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:59:17 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=753 Montana Programmer, shows you a simple and quick method for creating a form page that handles errors and pre-populates fields if there is an error, and a method for processing the form and validating the information.]]> If you program custom PHP applications, you will often times need to work with a form and require certain form fields. A few real world examples would be a contact form, registration form or signup form. This tutorial shows you a simple and quick method for creating a form page that handles errors and pre-populates fields if there is an error, and a method for processing the form and validating the information.

This is not meant to be the ultimate example. I would consider this a beginner/intermediate level tutorial that will teach you how to work with forms and arrays. There are more specific and advanced form validation techniques that we could implement into this script, but that is not the purpose of this article.

Make sure to put all of the files for this tutorial in the same directory on your server. You can download all of the files for this example by clicking here.

The first thing we will need to create is the html form with some PHP variables. This handles displaying the form and any errors that come up when processing the form, along with pre-populating the form with values they have entered if there is an error.

<?php
// index.php
?>
<html>
<head>
    <title>PHP Form Processing Example</title>
</head>
<body>
 
<?=$errorString?>
 
<form action="process.php" method="POST">
Name:*<br /><input type="text" name="Name" value="<?=$Name?>" /><br /><br />
Email:*<br /><input type="text" name="Email" value="<?=$Email?>" /><br /><br />
URL:*<br /><input type="text" name="URL" value="<?=$URL?>" /><br /><br />
Company:<br /><input type="text" name="Company" value="<?=$Company?>" />
<br /><br />
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit Form" />
</form>
 
</body>
</html>

I like to keep the processing and the html form as separate as possible so that it is easier to update.

The next file is where the majority of the PHP code is located. This would be an excellent file to go through if you want to get more familiar with arrays. The comments in the PHP code should help explain what each piece of the code does. The first two arrays at the top of the file are configuration arrays.

Below is the PHP processing page for the above form. You will want to make sure the form action value points to this file.

<?php
// process.php
 
/*
 *  Specify the field names that are in the form. This is meant
 *  for security so that someone can't send whatever they want
 *  to the form.
 */
$allowedFields = array(
    'Name',
    'Email',
    'URL',
    'Company',
);
 
// Specify the field names that you want to require...
$requiredFields = array(
    'Name',
    'Email',
    'URL',
);
 
// Loop through the $_POST array, which comes from the form...
$errors = array();
foreach($_POST AS $key => $value)
{
    // first need to make sure this is an allowed field
    if(in_array($key, $allowedFields))
    {
        $$key = $value;
 
        // is this a required field?
        if(in_array($key, $requiredFields) && $value == '')
        {
            $errors[] = "The field $key is required.";
        }
    }
}
 
// were there any errors?
if(count($errors) > 0)
{
    $errorString = '<p>There was an error processing the form.</p>';
    $errorString .= '<ul>';
    foreach($errors as $error)
    {
        $errorString .= "<li>$error</li>";
    }
    $errorString .= '</ul>';
 
    // display the previous form
    include 'index.php';
}
else
{
    // At this point you can send out an email or do whatever you want
    // with the data...
 
    // each allowed form field name is now a php variable that you can access
 
    // display the thank you page
    header("Location: thanks.html");
}

And finally, you need the thank you page. In this example, I just use a basic html file.

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>Thanks!</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Thank you for sending the form!</p>
</body>
</html>

Click on the PHP Form Sample link to download a zip file of all of the files.

If you have any code you want to add to improve what I’ve done, please share it with us in the comments.

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/php-form-example-with-server-side-validation/feed/ 8 Make Your Wordpress Blog SEO Friendly Without Any Plugins http://www.webmasterindex.net/make-your-wordpress-blog-seo-friendly-without-any-plugins/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/make-your-wordpress-blog-seo-friendly-without-any-plugins/#comments Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:15:37 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=688 Update: Too much caffeine can make you think too fast and make plenty of errors. All errors have been fixed for this guide – thanks to those who pointed it out!
If for some reason you can’t use any SEO plugins (All-In-One SEO, SEO Title Tags) due to some complications with the way your blog is set up (eg. Webmaster Index), you can still make your blog SEO friendly with some manual loop hacks. In this guide, I’ll cover ways to easily include the title tags, keywords meta tags and description meta tags based on the type of page that’s being displayed. (I know the keywords tag isn’t all that necessary, so that step is optional)

It’s All In Your Head….er

Open up your template’s header.php and get ready to get your hands dirty (as a precaution, I recommend you make a quick backup before you proceed).

Let’s get started with modding the title tags. Look for this fairly near the top:

<title><?php wp_title(); ?> <?php bloginfo('name'); ?></title>

Now you’ll probably want to first change your blog’s homepage title tag. Use the following code as an example:

<title><?php if (is_home()) : 
// This can instead be is_front_page(); if you're using a static page 
?>
My Front Page Keyword | <?php bloginfo('name');?> | Other Keyword
 
<?php elseif (is_page('4') : // Example: If the page ID = 4 then use this title: ?>
Another Keyword, Keyword | About <?php bloginfo('name'); ?>
<?php elseif (is_page('5') : // Example: If the page ID = 5 then use this title: ?>
Another Keyword, Keyword | Contact <?php bloginfo('name'); ?>
<?php elseif (is_category('Web Design') : // Example: If category is titled Web Design: ?>
Web Design Posts & Articles | <?php bloginfo('name'); ?>
 
<?php else {  // For everything else, including posts:
wp_title(' | ','true','right'); bloginfo('name'); 
} ?>
</title>

You will want to change that around and edit it to match your needs. BUT, if the is_home() or is_front_page() don’t work because maybe your static front page creates multiple pages that makes Wordpress think it’s just one page (like our webmaster directory) – you can get really picky and change the first line above to:

<title><?php if($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] == "/"): ?>
My Front Page Keyword | <?php bloginfo('name') ?> | Second Keyword
// That basically displays the title tag if the server shoots back "www.yourdomain.com/" URI.
// rest of the code
</title>

Custom Fields For Meta Descriptions / Keywords

For your posts / pages, we will be calling to check if you’ve set up a custom field for meta data. So as you create posts and pages, create new custom fields and name them something like: meta_description and meta_keywords. As for your home page, you can use the similar title tag example above but with meta tags instead, use the example below. Go back to editing your header.php and find the area where meta tags are created, if they aren’t there just insert the code below the title tags:

</title>
<meta name="description" content="<?php if (is_post() || is_page()) {
get_post_meta ($post->ID,'meta_description',true); } 
 
elseif (is_home()) : ?>
Mydomain.com provides useful tutorials and the likes, and blah keyword here blah.. Blah Blah.
<?php endif; ?>">
 
<meta name="keyword" content="<?php if (is_post() || is_page()) {
get_post_meta ($post->ID,'meta_keywords',true); } 
 
elseif (is_home()) : ?>
keyword1, keyword2, keyword3, keyword 4
<?php endif; ?>">

Now you’re all set to enjoy plugin-free SEO friendly title tags and meta data. Even though SEO plugins are much easier and convenient to use, not all blogs (like Webmaster Index) can run smoothly with them. Be sure to read up on how to write a robots.txt file and link building tips to get more SEO friendliness on your blog.

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/make-your-wordpress-blog-seo-friendly-without-any-plugins/feed/ 0 Fresh, Beautiful & Free Wordpress Themes for 2010 http://www.webmasterindex.net/fresh-beautiful-free-wordpress-themes-for-2010/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/fresh-beautiful-free-wordpress-themes-for-2010/#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:29:34 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=647 Is it too early to start collecting and displaying new Wordpress themes for 2010? Maybe.. or maybe not. I’ve already found a handful of some fresh and beautiful Wordpress themes made in 2010 so I might as well. I’ve also decided to constantly update this post throughout the year and hope that it will end up being a great resource. My goal is to have to huge list of quality and beautiful free Wordpress themes, so be sure to bookmark this post and check back often.

If you have a new, high-quality Wordpress theme, please send us a tip and we may feature it in this post.

1. Cloude Wordpress Theme

Added: January 14th, 2010
[download] [demo]
cloude-demo

2. Cubenatic Wordpress Theme

Added: January 14th, 2010
[download] [demo]
cubenatic-demo

3. Wazzirator Wordpress Theme

Added: January 14th, 2010
A reskin of the one above.
[download] [demo]
wazzirator-demo

4. iRecipes Wordpress Theme

Added: January 14th, 2010
[download] [demo]
irecipes-demo

5. Daily Note Wordpress Theme

Added: January 14th, 2010
[download] [demo]
dailynote-demo

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/fresh-beautiful-free-wordpress-themes-for-2010/feed/ 2 SEO Tips for Building Backlinks http://www.webmasterindex.net/seo-tips-for-building-backlinks/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/seo-tips-for-building-backlinks/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:32:42 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=550 number of websites because quality will mean more than quantity in the long run. In this article, I'm going to point out several helpful and solid tips that you should keep in mind when building backlinks.]]> It’s undeniable that building backlinks is one of the most important factors in SEO. But you really shouldn’t be pulling your hair over the number of websites because quality will mean more than quantity in the long run. In this article, I’m going to point out several helpful and solid tips that you should keep in mind when building backlinks.

1. Relevancy

Tip: Be sure the link you’re trying to get is relevant to your website.
The relevancy of a backlink has been preached countless times, but that’s because it really is that important. Before you even begin to consider obtaining a backlink from somewhere, you should always make sure it’s relevant to your website. Look at it from Google’s eyes. Their goal is to provide users with the best search results. But if your electronics blog is linked and featured on a gardening website, gardening users will not find yours useful at all – making Google appreciate the link even less.

2. Directories

Tip: Only submit your website to quality directories.
The worthiness of directories is slowly fading away but it still remains a useful way to get backlinks and (sometimes) traffic. Remember, don’t waste your time on crappy directories that are:

  • Made just for money
  • Advertise SEO friendliness or PageRank
  • Banned from Google already

Google appreciates directories that provide a useful resource for the users. A directory that promotes themselves like: “Hey. My directory is PR 4 and SEO friendly so pay up and submit your website here!” is not deemed as a quality directory. Make sure any directory you submit to has these qualities:

  • All submissions are human-edited, NOT auto-approved
  • Has plenty of qualifications and requirements for websites
  • Preferably focuses on one or a few niches related to your field
  • Definitely focuses on the user experience
  • Doesn’t contain website listings that look like:

online casinos, gambling, online poker, make money
http://www.online-casino-gambling.com/
gamble online, poker, make money, virtual chips, virtual casinos
order diet pills that will make you skinny in 2 days
http://www.order-diet-pills-Online.com/
physician certified diet pills online that will guaranteee to make U skinnie in just 2 days guaranteed!!!!!!!!

3. Paid Links

Tip: Don’t buy links specifically for SEO
Ever since Google announced their hatred for paid links, this has been a touchy and confusing subject for a lot of online marketers out there. I want to address this topic to make it clear to some of the newer webmasters. Google will only penalize you if you buy or sell links specifically to boost Search rankings. That means advertisements and paid listings are fine (Yahoo! Directory, BOTW, etc), as long as they don’t advertise something like: “Boost your PR and Search Engine rankings! Buy links today starting at $49.95.”

4. Outsourcing

Tip: Stay clear of services that offer “mass submissions” or the likes.
If you’re going to outsource links, you might as well go the full mile and sign-up with an established and trusted SEO company (look to SEOmoz’s marketplace for some trustworthy companies). Many link development services out there are really just one or two guys using an auto-submitter program. Your eyes should automatically ignore advertisements that promise: “For just $99, submit your website to over 10,000 directories!”

5. Blogs

Tip:: Don’t spam blogs with useless comments, reach out instead
Building relationships with bloggers in your niche will yield much better results than randomly commenting on blogs with irrelevant and pointless remarks. Don’t be afraid to send an e-mail to a blogger and politely and professionally inquire about a link partnership or an opportunity to write a guest post on their blog. It never hurts to ask.

6. Competitors

Tip: Look at your competitors’ backlinks and you will surely find some useful opportunities
This won’t gain you the edge you need over your competitors, but it will help in getting you caught up – especially if your website is newer. Look at the top 5 or top 10 results for your most important keyword. Pick out two or three authority websites in your niche, then see if you can also get any of their backlinks. Then repeat these steps with other important keywords. My favorite tool for this kind of research is Link Diagnosis. I encourage you all to check it out as it is the most comprehensive free link analysis tool I’ve toyed with so far.

Questions? Comments? Disagreements? Let me know your opinions.

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/seo-tips-for-building-backlinks/feed/ 3 Show Ads After First Post in Wordpress http://www.webmasterindex.net/show-ads-after-first-post-wordpress/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/show-ads-after-first-post-wordpress/#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:00:09 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=418 Regardless of your knowledge of PHP, one of the greatest thing about Wordpress is having the ability to insert a small snippet of code and have drastic changes to your blog. Anyhow, if you goto our blog’s homepage, you will see a small Google Adsense ad running underneath the latest post. This is a great way to increase CTR and ad exposure by effectively using the little space your users will most likely see.

Steps to Show Ads
Look for the following code in your Main Index Template (index.php):

<?php endwhile; ?>

Insert the following code right above it:

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<?php $show_ads++; if($show_ads==1){ ?>
 
// YOUR AD CODE RIGHT HERE
 
<?php $show_ads=1;}?>

Explanation
This small piece of code simply says to add 1 to the $show_ads variable and if the variable equals 1, then post the ad code. Then it goes on to redefine the $show_ads variable again as 1 so it will always be 2 after the first time around. Be sure you style your ad code to match your theme!

Tips
In an article posted last month, I listed out the top 10 most useful plugins for Wordpress and one of them was an ad rotation plugin. I highly recommend you use Datafeedr Rotating Ads not only for this small hack, but other ad spots in your blog as well.

Learn how to separate trackbacks and comments in Wordpress to further enhance your blog.

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/show-ads-after-first-post-wordpress/feed/ 1 5 Awesome Firefox Plugins Every Webmaster Should Use http://www.webmasterindex.net/5-awesome-firefox-plugins-every-webmaster-should-use/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/5-awesome-firefox-plugins-every-webmaster-should-use/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:34:32 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=501 Now that Mozilla Firefox is the world’s most used browser and has finally beaten the long-standing champion, Internet Explorer, it’ll be interesting to see how far Firefox’s success can go. But in the meantime, you should check out these five Firefox plugins that make every webmaster’s job a hell of a lot easier. And I mean a LOT easier.

Firebug

If you’re into web design, you should have heard of this plugin. If not, you probably should get it. It must be the most convenient and comprehensive HTML, JS and CSS debugging tool out there.

Greasemonkey

Greasemonkey is an insanely popular Firefox addon that runs small JS scripts to alter the way a page is displayed. But it’s not Greasemonkey that I’m pitching to you right now, it’s a small little script that numbers Search results in Google so you don’t have to waste time counting your rankings. Set your Search settings to 100 results and enjoy the brainless queries. Check out the Google Numbered Search Results script. Yahoo! and Bing scripts are also available.

SEO Quake

In its default installation, SEO Quake will easily get you banned temporarily from rapid Google searching. There’re just too many options and settings that are on when you first install it. But with some tinkering (actually a lot), this Firefox plugin offers a wealth of useful SEO data that can save you hours in the long run. The toolbar itself can fetch PR, domain age, backlinks, Alexa rating, keyword density and much more.

Web Developer

The Web Developer plugin is extremely useful for… you guessed it, web developers. If you develop web pages, this is a must have plugin simply due to the variety of tools and features. Every feature this plugin offers is available to you in just two clicks.

FireFTP

FireFTP gives you access to your FTP right within your browser. I know I know, there are similar Java based FTP programs and your cPanel can do FTP too. But what makes this plugin so great is the lack of wait time, the ease-of-use and the functionality compared to other browser-based FTP clients.

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/5-awesome-firefox-plugins-every-webmaster-should-use/feed/ 0 Separate Trackbacks/Pings and Comments in Wordpress http://www.webmasterindex.net/separate-trackbacks-comments-wordpress/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/separate-trackbacks-comments-wordpress/#comments Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:24:21 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=450 When your trackbacks, pings and comments are not separated, it can create a bothersome mess for your readers. I’m going to show you a fairly easy way to separate the trackbacks/pings and comments in Wordpress with a few simple hacks. This method is the exact hack I used for Webmaster Index.

Let Wordpress Know

First off, you want to let Wordpress know you want to separate your comments. Go to your theme’s single.php and scroll down and find the comments_template(); function and make it look like this:

<?php comments_template('',true); ?>

Then edit your comments.php and look for this code:

if ( have_comments() ) : ?>

And below it, add the code below where I’ve commented out with the “// ADD”. Your comments.php will look more or less similar than mine, so just place those strings where they would be in your code.

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if ( have_comments() ) : ?>
// ADD THIS-> <?php if ( ! empty($comments_by_type['comment']) ) : ?>
<div id="comments">
<?php comments_number('No Responses', 'One Response', '% Responses' );?>
</div>
 
<ul class="commentlist" id="singlecomments">	
// ADD 'type=comment'-> <?php wp_list_comments('type=comment'); ?>
 
</ul>
 
// ADD -> <?php endif; ?>

Now right below that, you’re going add the code Wordpress will pull if you have any trackbacks. You can copy and paste this one as your comments.php will not have this:

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<?php if ( ! empty($comments_by_type['pings']) ) : ?>
<div id="comments">Trackbacks & Pings</div> // You should edit this to fit your theme
 
<ul class="commentlist" id="singlecomments">	// This as well
<?php wp_list_comments('type=pings&callback=tpfunc'); ?>
</ul>
<?php endif; ?>

Creating and Styling

The next step it to create a separate function so trackbacks will look different than comments. You can also remove the useless excerpt quote from the trackbacks for this step.

Note: if you do NOT want to change the way trackbacks look, you’re all set. Just make sure you remove &callback=tpfunc from the wp_list_comments() function.

Open your functions.php and add this code somewhere:

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function tpfunc($comment, $args, $depth) {
 
$GLOBALS['comment'] = $comment; ?>
 
   <li <?php comment_class(); ?> id="li-comment-<?php comment_ID() ?>">
     <div id="comment-<?php comment_ID(); ?>">
      <div id="trackback">
<?php printf(__('<cite class="fn">%s</cite>'), get_comment_author_link()) ?>
</div>
</div>
<?php }

Oh and don’t forget. If your function.php breaks, your whole blog dies and you’ll have to go into your FTP / web host to fix it! So don’t just directly copy and paste. Look over it and make sure the syntax and brackets are all correct and closed.

Notice I added a div id=”trackback” style. You should edit your .css and add one as well to make sure the trackbacks look the way you want.

That’s it! Comment below if you’re having trouble or found this useful.

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/separate-trackbacks-comments-wordpress/feed/ 11 Top 6 CSS Web Galleries for Design Inspiration http://www.webmasterindex.net/top-6-css-web-galleries-for-design-inspiration/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/top-6-css-web-galleries-for-design-inspiration/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:47:00 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=388 Everyone that needs to be creative goes through it. It’s called writer’s block, designer’s block, musician’s block, artist’s block, the list can go on and on. Sometimes the best way to get over a block is to simply look at fresh material that other people have already thought of. That doesn’t mean you should copy another person’s work, but you get new concepts and experiment by adding to or twisting it to make it your own. Writers will free write and read books covering unique topics. Musicians will listen to different genres and improvise. Web designers should look at other web designs to gather different tastes and ideas to really be inspired to make something just as jaw-dropping and fresh. Below are some of the top CSS web galleries I’ve picked out. These are not in any order because I really can’t rate any as the best or the worst.

CSS Princess

CSS Princess, if you haven’t guessed yet, promotes female web designers. Though I am not a female, I must say that I do find the gallery to be very inspirational. Lots of neat, cool and… I suppose “pretty” designs are showcased here.

css-princess

CSS Drive

The design and organization on this website is a little hectic, but they do showcase a lot of cool websites. One of the neat features CSS Drive offers is when you hover over a website it shows you the different colors included in the CSS, making this is ideal to get color theme ideas too.

css-drive

CSS Leak

CSS Leak is a community-powered CSS gallery and news website. They have, to date, 1602 websites in their gallery. Users can sort by top rating, top hits, top popularity and color.

css-leak

Unmatched Style

Unmatched Style does things a little bit differently. They run podcasts analyzing websites and interviews some of the top web designers. I just wish there was a way to sort through all 180+ pages in the gallery.

unmatched

Creamy CSS

This website has a lot of neat and awesome websites. Gallery categories don’t make much sense though, so you’re better off searching through the tag cloud.

creamy-css

CSS Elite

CSS Elite features a clean, well-categorized and rated gallery. They also pull news from external websites to serve as a resource for you. Lots of social activity is seen on CSS Elite.

css-elite

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/top-6-css-web-galleries-for-design-inspiration/feed/ 2 Parameter Settings in Google Webmasters – Are You Using Them? http://www.webmasterindex.net/parameter-settings-in-google-webmasters-are-you-using-them/ http://www.webmasterindex.net/parameter-settings-in-google-webmasters-are-you-using-them/#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:10:19 +0000 Ross Joo http://www.webmasterindex.net/?p=378 how to write a robots.txt file and mentioned in the end that you should only disallow parameters for the MSNbots. I'll explain it further here.]]> With the recent addition of the parameter section in Google Webmasters, Google prefers that you use their feature instead of blocking them in your robots.txt file. Last week I wrote an article on how to write a robots.txt file and mentioned in the end that you should only disallow parameters for the MSNbots. I’ll explain it further here.

What the hell are these parameters you’re talking about?
I’m talking about the extra parameters your website may be creating. URLs with extra “?” at the end of them where if you removed them it would be the exact same page (these are called canonical URLs). Here are some examples:

  • www.mysite.com/index.php?ref_id=123
  • www.mysite.com/product?id=jeans&session=123
  • www.mysite.com/?utm_source=

How do I use this new feature?
Log into your Google Webmasters account and goto Site configuration > Settings and you’ll see Parameter handling at the bottom. Google will give you a list of parameters they found, but you can also add your own. It’s not ideal to block every parameter listed since you should make sure it’s actually something you want Googlebot to ignore. Make sure you enter the parameters with no ? or = in them as Google will find those automatically.

What do I ignore and what do I don’t ignore?
As always, ignore pages that have absolutely no value to your readers. I’m talking about duplicate content, useless dynamic pages, or pages with no value that have parameters. But there are certain pages that you will not want to ignore. Notice in one of the examples above (www.mysite.com/product?id=jeans&session=123) I only bolded the “session” part. Why? Because “product?id=jeans” is probably a page you want Google to crawl and index. But the whole string, “product?id=jeans&session=123″ is probably the exact same page.

Now that I’ve done that, what changes does my robots.txt need?
Take any and all parameters you set as ignore in Google Webmasters and make sure only msnbot ignores them.


User-agent: msnbot/2.0b
User-agent: msnbot/1.1

# Examples
Disallow: /?ref_id=*
Disallow: /product?id=jeans&*

You might be asking, why only msnbot? What about Yahoo? The reason I didn’t include Yahoo! is because Yahoo! Site Explorer offers similar features to Google’s: Dynamic URLs and Delete URLs. While these work not as great as Google, they basically (almost) do the same thing. If you don’t want to do the extra work, you can simply add Yahoo’s bot with MSN’s.


User-agent: Slurp
User-agent: msnbot/2.0b
User-agent: msnbot/1.1

Any questions, comments, or suggestions? Feel free to comment or share the word!

]]> http://www.webmasterindex.net/parameter-settings-in-google-webmasters-are-you-using-them/feed/ 3