Google Crawling Past HTML Forms

Regular readers of our blog will probably attest to the idea that we are big proponents of the Google search engine. Let's face it, we abide by Google's suggested rules of engagements and our efforts result in quality listings for our clients.

It is rare that we speak negatively of the Google "system" outside of rising Pay Per Click costs and a general lack of competition.

We have a new gripe.

Google Is Crawling Past HTML Forms

A recent post to the Google Webmaster Central Blog tells all about how Google is programming their spider to explore content behind HTML forms. The main reason for this work is to "discover new web pages and URLs that we otherwise couldn't find and index..."

They go on to speak about adhering to good Internet citizenry practices such as following noindex, nofollow, and robots.txt directives. They obviously won't get past a login form but they will quickly bypass a GET form pointing to database results.

This is an SEO nightmare.

Optimized Your Post-Form Pages Much?

If you've done your homework, your database site has a navigational flow to the deep content that you want indexed. Your .php and .asp form results are undoubtedly pure user functionality with little care to metatags and headers.

The forms are just a way for your visitors to get right to the goods, right?

Well, now your non-optimized, form-result pages with non-specific metatags (if they exist) are available to the Googlebot.

Don't build pages for Google!

How many times have you heard that statement? Don't build content for Google. Don't optimize content for Google. Yeah, right.

By definition their search engine looks for, and appropriately ranks, relevant content. The only way that content gets relevant is if someone makes it relevant. They're about to climb through some forms and find a wealth of unoptimized, irrelevant trash.

In their own words, "This experiment is part of Google's broader effort to increase its coverage of the web."

Unfortunately this effort will uncover some real garbage. I have a feeling most of that garbage is titled "Search Results".

Ken Spends Time With Babe Winkelman!

I had the chance of a lifetime this week when prominent Rochester Goose Guide and friend, Dean Tlougan, invited me to hunt with his group in De Smet, SD. Tlougan is the owner of Premier Flight Guide Service out of Rochester, MN.

Tlougan's guides were charged with taking Babe Winkelman to South Dakota to film a program about Snow Geese.

Snow Geese

Snow Geese are heavily over-populated in Canada and they are destroying large areas of the tundra. Spring hunting is encouraged as wildlife biologists attempt to lower the population.

A Rare Chance To Meet A Celebrity

I am an avid hunter and I grew up watching all the hunting and fishing shows on TV. I especially like the format by Babe Winkelman and company.

Winkelman's programs are much more about conservation and enjoying the outdoors with your family versus the classic "kill" shows on cable TV. His wife Kris is often present in his shows, as is his 11-year-old daughter Karlee.

The Winkelmans really seem to be having fun enjoying the outdoors.

Truth In Advertising

The Winkelmans are downright good people. They have fun and genuinely enjoy what they do.

Over 3 days we hunted hard, ate a lot of junk food and we had a lot to fun. We tried hard but we didn't have an affect on the population of snow geese.

Nate and James, our camera crew, filmed a great deal and they hopefully have enough to make a show of our adventure!

Kudos

Great kudos to Dean Tlougan and his staff at Premier Flight for a great weekend.

Thanks to the developers of Reel Wings and Flagman decoys for giving us the opportunity to field test their latest products. Maybe they can send Ken some more products to "test"!!!

And a special note to Kris and Karlee Winkelman. I can't believe they put up with the weather, boredom, and locker-room talk for 3 days. They complained less than Nate the cameraman!

A Web Application Developer Joins First Scribe

My name is John Malone. I’ve just come on board here at First Scribe as a web application developer and I am stoked to be at such a dynamic and energetic company. I will be leading the wave of new web application development for our company.

I received my BS in Computer Science from the University of San Francisco right when the Dot.com bubble burst. It was brutal to watch, but I learned a lot about how the web works, or doesn’t in that case. After a stint with a non-profit publishing company, I joined up with the US Peace Corps. I served almost two years in the beautiful country of Samoa teaching computer studies in various secondary schools. It was a crazy, hot, exhausting experience, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But I can tell you from first had experience that you can in fact get tired of hanging out on the beach.

Once I got off the island, I worked as a web application developer and software engineer on various projects from brochure sites, large scale e-commerce sites, and foreign currency arbitrage. I come to First Scribe from MoCo, Inc where I was a web developer and project manager.

I will be assisting Jason Barney with the numerous development projects in First Scribe’s hopper, always with an eye on creating bigger, better, faster, and leaner web applications. I bring with me intimate knowledge of PHP, Agile Development, Test-Drive Development and the Symfony framework. Now I just hope I can keep up with these guys.