Site Rank Dropped! Any suggestions?

16 years ago

Sylvia, are these static sites? In other words, have you been adding content
to them or not?

Sometimes if a site just stays the same over time, its PR drops, though I
have seen sites that haven't changed in years and they're still number 1 in
the SEs.

Quite honestly, I sometimes don't get Google's site rankings.

But know what? The only thing that matters is the traffic that you're getting.

Is it going up or down?

If it's going up, don't worry about PR.

In my opinion, it's overrated anyway.

None of my sites have a PR higher than 4 and that hasn't stopped me
from doing very well with them.

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sylviad

16 years ago

Sadly, my traffic began to drop at the New Year so I guess about 1/3 of it was coming from Google searches. Admitted, most of my traffic never left page 1 which tells me they were just looking for names and emails. My sales have dropped, too, so that I'm only making about 1/2 what I was.

I have added a few things to both sites in the past 2 months, but you are probably right. It hasn't been enough. As you say, some sites never change. I have a third site that I haven't touched for over a year and it's still at 2.

Sylvia

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Shlomi Khutoretsky

16 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

Sadly, my traffic began to drop at the New Year so I guess about 1/3 of it was coming from Google searches. Admitted, most of my traffic never left page 1 which tells me they were just looking for names and emails. My sales have dropped, too, so that I'm only making about 1/2 what I was.

I have added a few things to both sites in the past 2 months, but you are probably right. It hasn't been enough. As you say, some sites never change. I have a third site that I haven't touched for over a year and it's still at 2.

Sylvia

why do you guess?
don't you use statistics to check where your traffic comes from?
i would suggest get Google analytics and know where your traffic coming from, so next time you won't miss the train when it's leaving

shlomi

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sylviad

16 years ago

Yes, I do have Google Analytics.

Only a very small amount was coming from Google keyword searches that related to my site. A lot came from SEs and sites that seemed to be running various software to scour sites for whatever reason, some from article databases. That's about it.

I could never understand why Google Analytics gave me such limited info. The sites it produced were totally unrelated to my themes. On searching those sites, sometimes I found my link but most of the time there didn't seem to be any logical reason why the surfer would find me through them.

All the articles I've submitted go directly to an internal page, so it's easy to see which links come from my articles. As I said, the majority of traffic never leaves my home page.

Sylvia

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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

Yes, I do have Google Analytics.

Only a very small amount was coming from Google keyword searches that related to my site. A lot came from SEs and sites that seemed to be running various software to scour sites for whatever reason, some from article databases. That's about it.

I could never understand why Google Analytics gave me such limited info. The sites it produced were totally unrelated to my themes. On searching those sites, sometimes I found my link but most of the time there didn't seem to be any logical reason why the surfer would find me through them.

All the articles I've submitted go directly to an internal page, so it's easy to see which links come from my articles. As I said, the majority of traffic never leaves my home page.

Sylvia

Sylvia, if you're talking about the two sites in your sig, you may have problems...

When I tried to get the home page for the dog site, the page load timed out. The second link in your sig caught a 404 (page not found).

You may want to sign up with Google's Webmaster Tools site, add the code and see what the spider comes up with.

The various SE spiders and such may be hitting your home page and getting stonewalled. That could account for both the drop in page rank and so many bounces off your home page.

Added:

The URL in your second link is:

"http://familyvacationideas4u (dot) com\/ You have an extra "\". I had to break the URL at the (dot) because the forum software removed the extra backslash.

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sylviad

16 years ago

John,

What browser are you using? Both links come up fine for me.

Sylvia

Added: But no... those are not the sites I'm talking about. I'm talking about http://www.book-titles.ca and http://www.ebook-haven.com . The first is the older and used to be a PR3.

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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

John,

What browser are you using? Both links come up fine for me.

Sylvia

Added: But no... those are not the sites I'm talking about. I'm talking about Ebook Web Site of Panic Attack and Anxiety Cure tips and Ebook Web Site where you can download e-books, read reviews on natural anxiety relief, gold prospecting, family vacation getaway . The first is the older and used to be a PR3.

I'm using Firefox on Windows XP. On the dog link, I get the affiliate info page fine, but when I try to go to the home page the server just grinds - probably just an aberration.

On the other one, it comes up fine when I take out the extra backslash.

Oops, timer just went off on the oven - I'll take a closer look at the book sites later...

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sylviad

16 years ago

Right. You're in B.C., which makes it close to dinnertime. It's 8:30 here in Ontario.

Ok. You have confused me. My affiliate page doesn't have a link to get to my home page. What did you do? Just remove the affiliate page portion of the link? I did that and still got the home page fine. Guess I'd better put a proper link on that page to the home page.

Other people have mentioned problems using FireFox to view my sites. Funny that I've never had this problem before that I know of. Could it be related to the host I'm using?

Sylvia

PS: When you just run your mouse over the link in my sig, does the URL look right?
.

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TedMarlett 16 years ago

Hi Sylvia,

When I go to your dog site I get the affiliates tool kit. When I tried your vacationer site I could not connect.

I could get on the book titles site, but the page length (in blue) went on forever.

I could get on the ebook haven site and at the bottom the sign-in box is covering a lot of the written text on the bottom of the page and looks like gibberish.

edit: I am using firefox (latest version).
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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

Right. You're in B.C., which makes it close to dinnertime. It's 8:30 here in Ontario.

Ok. You have confused me. My affiliate page doesn't have a link to get to my home page. What did you do? Just remove the affiliate page portion of the link? I did that and still got the home page fine. Guess I'd better put a proper link on that page to the home page.

Other people have mentioned problems using FireFox to view my sites. Funny that I've never had this problem before that I know of. Could it be related to the host I'm using?

Sylvia

PS: When you just run your mouse over the link in my sig, does the URL look right?
.

Exactly. If you remove the page name, leaving just the domain, you should get to the home page or whatever index page you are using. What I get is "server loading" until things time out.

And when I run my mouse over the second link, the last characters are ". c o m \ /" [no extra spaces] which appears to create a bad link. When I take out the \ between the "m" and the "/", it works fine.

I took a quick peek at the other two pages, and with the latest FF, the layout is all messed up. According to Andy Jenkins at Stompernet, pages that don't validate sometimes have trouble with spiders. If that's true, they could be missing part of your content and knocking down your quality scores. Just a guess...

Added: Just went back and checked again, and

Code:

http://www.healthydognutritionsecrets.com/

now works fine. Not sure what happened before...

Thanks
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sylviad

16 years ago

Thanks for all your help, John. It is much appreciated.

Removing the page name should take you back to my main page, which it does for me with IE7.

This is so bizarre!

When I roll over my sig links, they appear perfectly fine - no wrong /\ or anything and clicking takes me directly to the sites without hesitation.

I just spent some time at another forum and they're having the same problem with my sites not appearing, showing server loading, and other oddities.

Do you think it's possible that the problem is coming from my host and not from my actual pages? In another thread, I had a problem with my domain name through Midphase and I was advised to get out of that relationship because it's a problem. Maybe this is what they meant?

Any idea how to fix my pages so they do work in Firefox? I use FrontPage and IE7 to create and view them. And yes, I did check them in Firefox once on advice of a Warrior and was able to see the same error they saw.

It's still odd, however, that my sig link on rollover looks fine to me and not to you. That would have nothing to do with me, since it's all on the Forum's end.

When we changed to the new Forum, I did have to go in and reset my links, but maybe I'll go back and have another peek just to make sure. It doesn't make sense, though, since they do work for me.

I'm Baffled!

:confused:

Sylvia

PS: Ok. I just checked my links for my sig and they are fine. Is this odd, or what?! Maybe something weird is going wrong with Firefox.

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Exactly. If you remove the page name, leaving just the domain, you should get to the home page or whatever index page you are using. What I get is "server loading" until things time out.

And when I run my mouse over the second link, the last characters are ". c o m /" [no extra spaces] which appears to create a bad link. When I take out the between the "m" and the "/", it works fine.

I took a quick peek at the other two pages, and with the latest FF, the layout is all messed up. According to Andy Jenkins at Stompernet, pages that don't validate sometimes have trouble with spiders. If that's true, they could be missing part of your content and knocking down your quality scores. Just a guess...

Added: Just went back and checked again, and

Code:

http://www.healthydognutritionsecrets.com/

now works fine. Not sure what happened before...

Thanks
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Barbara Eyre 16 years ago

That is weird about your travel site in your site. I see the \ in FF, but not in IE - just checked in both.

*hums the twilight zone theme* Internet gremlins.

Not sure how your hosting company can be affecting what you see in your browser compared to what other sees ... as your hosting company has no control over your computer and browsers - you would see what the rest of the public sees.

I'm sure you have, but try clearing your cookies, cache, and temp internet files and see if you are still seeing your websites fine or are seeing the errors other sees?

As for your signature link, perhaps Allen might have an idea. :confused:
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Kevin Lam

16 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

This is so bizarre!

When I roll over my sig links, they appear perfectly fine - no wrong / or anything and clicking takes me directly to the sites without hesitation.

I just spent some time at another forum and they're having the same problem with my sites not appearing, showing server loading, and other oddities.

Although your signature is fine, go ahead and delete that portion and re-type it anyway. If it's something weird with FF, it should do that to ALL of our signature links.

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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Exactly. If you remove the page name, leaving just the domain, you should get to the home page or whatever index page you are using. What I get is "server loading" until things time out.

And when I run my mouse over the second link, the last characters are ". c o m /" [no extra spaces] which appears to create a bad link. When I take out the between the "m" and the "/", it works fine.

I took a quick peek at the other two pages, and with the latest FF, the layout is all messed up. According to Andy Jenkins at Stompernet, pages that don't validate sometimes have trouble with spiders. If that's true, they could be missing part of your content and knocking down your quality scores. Just a guess...

Added: Just went back and checked again, and

Code:

http://www.healthydognutritionsecrets.com/

now works fine. Not sure what happened before...

Another oddity...

When Sylvia quoted my message, the forum software eliminated the extra backslash in the quote.

Thanks

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Tuzic Banned 16 years ago

hi,

it might be the traffic that has stopped thats why pr has dropped, its a possibility.
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- sylviad 16 years ago
  
  Whew! I think I fixed the sig links. I did see that error in the travel link in Firefox and it looks and works fine now. Also, if I delete the extension on the dog nutrition affiliate page to get to the main page, it works fine.
  
  Just one question.
  
  I'm not that familiar with Firefox and was messin' with some of the settings, including the font size. My travel page font is now really small. Is this just because of my new setting (which is actually 12 point - it was huge at 18 although it looked like 12 on the page). Or is it small for you Firefox users too? What setting do you have for your page font size?
  
  Thanks.
  
  Sylvia
  
  Thanks
  
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shawnhog

Banned 16 years ago

[DELETED]

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Angela V. Edwards

16 years ago

Originally Posted by shawnhog

Get backlinks from authority sites asap.

First of all, don't panic about your Page Rank at this time. Google has been doing some "testing" lately and a lot of people have been noticing fluctuations in their PR. Second, if you want to get a whole lot of backlinks from Authority sites, let me know. I can tell you exactly how to do that.

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birdfood

16 years ago

Originally Posted by Angela V. Edwards

First of all, don't panic about your Page Rank at this time. Google has been doing some "testing" lately and a lot of people have been noticing fluctuations in their PR. Second, if you want to get a whole lot of backlinks from Authority sites, let me know. I can tell you exactly how to do that.

Hi Angela, I'd also like to know if your offer is open to anyone else.

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Angela V. Edwards 16 years ago

Originally Posted by birdfood

Hi Angela, I'd also like to know if your offer is open to anyone else.

Absolutely. It's open to everyone. Just send me a PM if you're interested.
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Ron Killian

16 years ago

I know my sig got messed up when the board went through the big change, probably what happened to Sylvia's sig.

Without updating much, sites can die pretty quick. Spiders stop coming as there is never nothing new to spider. You might have lost some good back links, you use to have?

As shawn said, get some links..

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Vince Runza Online

16 years ago

The simplest thing to do is create some one-way backlinks to your sites. A few blog posts, a Squidoo lens or Hub page, perhaps an ezinearticles.com review article that all point to your pages could do the trick.

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Kevin Lam

16 years ago

Sylvia,

I wouldn't worry about it too much. My FairAdsNetwork.com site started at zero, went to PR4 in about 6 months, dropped to PR3... then PR2... all the way down to 0 after another 6 months. Then one day, it just suddenly jumped back up to PR4. I wasn't doing anything different.

The ONLY content that changes on my pages is a small section of text that's probably maybe 20 words. That's all that has changed every 7-10 days for the past 4-6 months. Still PR4. It's just Google and their algorithms. If you haven't done anything bad, I'm sure your PR will be back up again.

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derekwong28

16 years ago

I wouldn't worry at all unless your traffic has dropped as well. I have a site that went from PR7 to PR4 without losing its SERPs or traffic in between. I do not update content and nor do I promote the site or get backlinks.

-Derek

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Michael Francis

16 years ago

I have been seeing the devaluation om pr on many of my sites over the last 2 updates. Don't worry about it as long as you are getting the traffic...

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sylviad 16 years ago

Thanks for the "not to worry" encouragement. And I wouldn't if my sales stayed as they were or improved, but unfortunately they have dropped by about half, so there's plenty of reason to worry.

In reading the other posts I'm having some really bad feelings about how well my site gets seen by other browsers.

Sylvia
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kevinw1

16 years ago

There's something very weird in the source code of your book-titles.ca site. There are THIRTEEN </head> tags, one in the middle of the page and the other 12 at the bottom. Running it through a validator and cleaning up the gunk might make the robots happier.

Your title could be better. It looks like you have transitioned the site from some kind of book directory to the current panic and anxiety focus, and there are some leftovers. Instead of your current title of
"Ebook Web Site of Panic Attack and Anxiety Cure tips" which is neither best SEO (keywords first) or a good, click-attracting headline, or even good English, how about something like:
"Panic Attack and Anxiety Cure e-books, tips and mental health resources"
While not great as a headline, that does sound more like english and put your keywords right up front.

You mentioned having Google Analytics on your site but I don't see the code for it on that page, only Statcounter (which doesn't give you as much information as GA does).

most of my traffic never left page 1 which tells me they were just looking for names and emails.

Maybe, or maybe the site just didn't grab their attention or seem to offer what they were looking for. All sites have a certain rate of bounces.

Kevin

ps - the link with the added \/ on the end looks that way for me too, in FF.

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sylviad

16 years ago

Thanks everyone for all your great suggestions...

Originally Posted by Barbara Eyre

That is weird about your travel site in your site. I see the in FF, but not in IE - just checked in both.

*hums the twilight zone theme* Internet gremlins.

Not sure how your hosting company can be affecting what you see in your browser compared to what other sees ... as your hosting company has no control over your computer and browsers - you would see what the rest of the public sees.

I'm sure you have, but try clearing your cookies, cache, and temp internet files and see if you are still seeing your websites fine or are seeing the errors other sees?

As for your signature link, perhaps Allen might have an idea. :confused:

Thanks, Barbara...

My thinking was that there's something about their server that doesn't interact well with Firefox, but that doesn't explain the problem with one site that is on a different server. I don't have the FrontPage Extensions turned on at either server because it means deleting my entire sites in order to activate it, and then reupload everything... which seemed like a hell of a waste of time. Maybe the problem is coming from that angle.

I opened Firefox and took a look but the only problems I see on the physical page is at the bottom where the opt-in box somehow carries over the other text. Also, the nav bars fly off to the right without going to the next line as I created them.

Good idea. I'll try clearing everything and see if it makes a difference.

Originally Posted by Angela V. Edwards

First of all, don't panic about your Page Rank at this time. Google has been doing some "testing" lately and a lot of people have been noticing fluctuations in their PR. Second, if you want to get a whole lot of backlinks from Authority sites, let me know. I can tell you exactly how to do that.

Thanks, Angela... Sent you a PM.

Originally Posted by netdebut

Although your signature is fine, go ahead and delete that portion and re-type it anyway. If it's something weird with FF, it should do that to ALL of our signature links.

You're probably right. I recall having a similar problem with one of the article databases. If I copy and paste from Word, it doesn't always reproduce properly, even though it looks fine. I'll have to try and remember to always copy/paste into Notepad before using anything from Microsoft online!

You'd think that a BIG company like MS would make their system a little more compatible with the rest of society. This is so irritating. I'm going to have to go through every single one of my pages over 4 sites (tons of pages), put the content in Notepad and see what I can fix.

Unless someone knows of an easier way?

Originally Posted by kevinw1

There's something very weird in the source code of your book-titles.ca site. There are THIRTEEN </head> tags, one in the middle of the page and the other 12 at the bottom. Running it through a validator and cleaning up the gunk might make the robots happier.

Your title could be better. It looks like you have transitioned the site from some kind of book directory to the current panic and anxiety focus, and there are some leftovers. Instead of your current title of
"Ebook Web Site of Panic Attack and Anxiety Cure tips" which is neither best SEO (keywords first) or a good, click-attracting headline, or even good English, how about something like:
"Panic Attack and Anxiety Cure e-books, tips and mental health resources"
While not great as a headline, that does sound more like english and put your keywords right up front.

You mentioned having Google Analytics on your site but I don't see the code for it on that page, only Statcounter (which doesn't give you as much information as GA does).

Maybe, or maybe the site just didn't grab their attention or seem to offer what they were looking for. All sites have a certain rate of bounces.

Kevin

ps - the link with the added / on the end looks that way for me too, in FF.

Thanks for all your help, Kevin.

You're right. I did transition, but since book-titles was so established (after 4 years) and since it always had mental health as the main topic, it didn't make sense to keep it for my books and start a new one for MH. Everything else has been moved to ebook-haven, but I sure would like to change that first domain. Ah, well.

Titles are always a struggle for me, plus I was looking to incorporate a keyword that wasn't already maxed out, so I was going for ebook web site and already was getting credit for that keyword. I know what you're saying and I do like yours much better than mine. Changing it probably will benefit more than keeping 'ebook web site' since this site is more about MH than ebooks.

That's odd that the Google Analytics is gone. I already gathered some stats from it, and had it working for almost a year. And 13 /head tags?

What the heck is going on with my sites? I know I've done a lot of modifying lately, but certain elements shouldn't keep repeating or getting deleted.

Where do I get my hands on that Validator you mention? Or some sort of site clean-up (preferably free)?

Does anyone know...

how to add Roboform to Firefox? I reinstalled Roboform and asked it to install for both Firefox and IE (which it says it did) but I can't see it on Firefox. I've checked all the "View", "Toolbars" and every other tab on Firefox and I can't see anywhere to activate the Roboform taskbar. I can't even see where to activate keywords in Firefox that I imported from IE.

Thanks.

Guess I have a lot of work to do, huh?

Sylvia

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Kevin Lam

16 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

You're probably right. I recall having a similar problem with one of the article databases. If I copy and paste from Word, it doesn't always reproduce properly, even though it looks fine. I'll have to try and remember to always copy/paste into Notepad before using anything from Microsoft online!

You'd think that a BIG company like MS would make their system a little more compatible with the rest of society. This is so irritating. I'm going to have to go through every single one of my pages over 4 sites (tons of pages), put the content in Notepad and see what I can fix.

Unless someone knows of an easier way?

Sylvia, copy and pasting the text from MS Word to Notepad makes almost no difference because the hidden/extra characters are carried over. So unless you paste the text into an application that automatically parses the extra characters, it's no difference than copy and pasting directly from Word into the application (i.e. article database).

As for your FF and text size question, first check if you're viewing your font size as normal. To check that, just open your website and on your keyboard press Ctrl+0 (that's a zero). That should make sure you are looking at a normal font size.

Now, to me, your text does look a bit smaller, but that's because you're using size="2" instead of 12px. Besides that, it could simply be because you're using Arial. I believe Arial has a tendency of being a little smaller than other fonts. Can someone else confirm this?

Good luck.

Thanks
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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by netdebut

Sylvia, copy and pasting the text from MS Word to Notepad makes almost no difference because the hidden/extra characters are carried over. So unless you paste the text into an application that automatically parses the extra characters, it's no difference than copy and pasting directly from Word into the application (i.e. article database).

As for your FF and text size question, first check if you're viewing your font size as normal. To check that, just open your website and on your keyboard press Ctrl+0 (that's a zero). That should make sure you are looking at a normal font size.

Now, to me, your text does look a bit smaller, but that's because you're using size="2" instead of 12px. Besides that, it could simply be because you're using Arial. I believe Arial has a tendency of being a little smaller than other fonts. Can someone else confirm this?

Good luck.

All the extra characters and funky code are the main reasons I quit using FrontPage some years ago.

Just did the Ctrl+0, and it fixed the layout on the older book site - although it put the opt in box well below the other text on the page.

If You want to have text display in 12 point, use 12pt, not 12px. On higher definition settings, text 12 pixels tall looks very small.

Arial is a smaller, more compact font. I've gone to using Verdana almost exclusively for page text. Because of the proportioning and weight, 10pt Verdana almost looks larger than 12pt Arial. At least, to me...

Sylvia, you can find a free page validation service here:

The W3C Markup Validation Service

Thanks
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sylviad

16 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

All the extra characters and funky code are the main reasons I quit using FrontPage some years ago.

Just did the Ctrl+0, and it fixed the layout on the older book site - although it put the opt in box well below the other text on the page.

If You want to have text display in 12 point, use 12pt, not 12px. On higher definition settings, text 12 pixels tall looks very small.

Arial is a smaller, more compact font. I've gone to using Verdana almost exclusively for page text. Because of the proportioning and weight, 10pt Verdana almost looks larger than 12pt Arial. At least, to me...

Sylvia, you can find a free page validation service here:

The W3C Markup Validation Service

Thanks again, John.

I tried that Ctrl+0 (number and letter O) but it didn't do anything to the page in Firefox. Letter O Opens a file. Tried caps on and off for both keys but nothing happens.

There are odd things going on here. I spent the morning trying to create a PDF from my Word document but the photo refuses to come out. I've been using pdf995 for years and never had this problem before. Tried photos that have worked in the past on a blank page and all I get is a PDF blank page.

Nothing seems to be working for me this week. I think I need another diversion before I go MAD!

Time to go outside into the sunshine and see if I have better luck rebuilding my privacy fence.

Sylvia

Thanks

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Kevin Lam

16 years ago

Hey John,

When I was referring to the size="2" and 12px, I was referring to the HTML tags, not the browser viewing it as 12 pt, but either way I think the font is just smaller simply because of the font style being Arial. I've also moved to verdana and recently switched to calibri. I love the way it looks.

Thanks
1 reply

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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by netdebut

Hey John,

When I was referring to the size="2" and 12px, I was referring to the HTML tags, not the browser viewing it as 12 pt, but either way I think the font is just smaller simply because of the font style being Arial. I've also moved to verdana and recently switched to calibri. I love the way it looks.

I just mentioned it because I've acquired templates with CSS files that called for text in 12 px format. Which, as I understand it, sets the text height at 12 pixels. That 12 pixels looks totally different on a monitor set for 640x480 and one set for 1280x1024, for example.

Specifying 12 pt in the CSS accounts for the screen resolution and tries to make the text 12 points high. Much easier to read, but the downside is that it can break some layouts.

According to one of my reference books, "size = 2" should yield roughly 10pt text, while "size = 3" should be about 12pt.

I'm going to check out that calibri font. Thanks for the tip - much of my readership is a little older, and I want pages to be as easy to read as possible.

Thanks
1 reply

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sylviad

16 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

I just mentioned it because I've acquired templates with CSS files that called for text in 12 px format. Which, as I understand it, sets the text height at 12 pixels. That 12 pixels looks totally different on a monitor set for 640x480 and one set for 1280x1024, for example.

Specifying 12 pt in the CSS accounts for the screen resolution and tries to make the text 12 points high. Much easier to read, but the downside is that it can break some layouts.

According to one of my reference books, "size = 2" should yield roughly 10pt text, while "size = 3" should be about 12pt.

I'm going to check out that calibri font. Thanks for the tip - much of my readership is a little older, and I want pages to be as easy to read as possible.

I always set to 10 pt, although I know people prefer a larger font. I just like the look of 10 point better. Hm. Maybe I should go up to 12 point?!

Re font type... you have to be careful when choosing a font because not all browsers recognize certain fonts. For instance, Calibri is not on my font list.

The obvious safe ones are Arial, Tachoma, Verdana, Times Roman and that other "A" font that I can't recall and that I no longer seem to have on my computer... AvantGuarde I think it is. Anything else and you risk having your pages change for the viewer. You can't be sure what font they have their browsers set for, so it's best to choose one that people do have to minimize font substitution.

Best rule of thumb in choosing fonts is... sans serif is best. ie: Arial vs TR. sans serif is better for viewing on screen.

Sylvia

Thanks
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JohnMcCabe

16 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

Thanks, Kevin...

Actually, my privacy fence went much more smoothly than my business.

John...

I just ran my site through the Validator and I'm getting an error that I don't know how to fix. It's that <!DOCYPE...> code that is missing. I've checked all my sites and it only shows on one,like this:

<html xmlns:mso="urn:schemas-microsoft-com

ffice

ffice" xmlns:msdt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882">

This was an FP-created pages, but awhile back I updated my computer and the FP program. My suspicion is that FP has changed how it codes this stuff.

I tried starting a new page / new site with FP and it just started right in with <HTML>. !DOCTYPE doesn't show anywhere.

Rather than <!DOCTYPE...> it only shows
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
which the Validator used to check my site. However, it recommends that I add the appropriate DOCTYPE code, otherwise the spiders can't read the pages properly. The sample they provide says "for most sites".

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">

How do I tell what's right my sites? Can I just use the code from the one page I DID fine (as indicated above)? Or should I just go with the one they suggest?

Thanks.

Sylvia

Sylvia, try using the statement from the page that did fine, then run it through the validator again.

Another option is to sign up with Google Webmaster Tools and let them report any errors they find.

Originally Posted by sylviad

I always set to 10 pt, although I know people prefer a larger font. I just like the look of 10 point better. Hm. Maybe I should go up to 12 point?!

Re font type... you have to be careful when choosing a font because not all browsers recognize certain fonts. For instance, Calibri is not on my font list.

The obvious safe ones are Arial, Tachoma, Verdana, Times Roman and that other "A" font that I can't recall and that I no longer seem to have on my computer... AvantGuarde I think it is. Anything else and you risk having your pages change for the viewer. You can't be sure what font they have their browsers set for, so it's best to choose one that people do have to minimize font substitution.

Best rule of thumb in choosing fonts is... sans serif is best. ie: Arial vs TR. sans serif is better for viewing on screen.

Sylvia

I can handle 10 pt, but for screen reading I prefer 12 pt because I have the resolution on my monitor maxed out and 10 pt looks kind of small. When I use my wife's computer, with the resolution set lower, 10 pt is fine.

What I don't like is when designers create gorgeous layouts using Lorem Ipsum, set the font height to something like 8 pixels, and send it out. Then you put in real text and you can't read it. So you up the text size in the browser, and it destroys the layout...

I did check out Calibri, seems it's a Vista font. It's OK, but for web work, I'm sticking with good ol' Verdana.

Anyway, try the DOCTYPE statement that worked, then the one they suggest. If those both fail, sign up for Google Webmaster tools, put up a site map and let Google tell you where they're having problems spidering the site...

Thanks
1 reply

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sylviad 16 years ago

Thanks, John.

I've been working on this all morning... going through the Validator and trying to fix problems. It seems the DOCTYPE is at the source of most of them. I've tried all versions of DOCTYPE (the one they suggest, the one from my other site, and one explained in my "Novell's Certified Web Designer Study Guide".

With XHTML in the DOCTYPE, I get 500+ errors. When I use the simple DOCTYPE HTML, I get 136 errors that all relate to attributes that seem to need the XHTML, like it says there is no attribute

<body bgcolor="#000080" leftmargin="15"> and the first " is red and underlined
indicating it's wrong. Since all my sites use this code, clearly I need XHTML.

I'll check out Google Tools and see if their reports are easier to understand and fix.

Sylvia
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Kevin Lam

16 years ago

I can't say that calibri would be easier to read for older folks, just that I like its style. I believe Verdana and Tahoma to be the easiest to read for the more visually impaired. Just my opinion, of course.

Well, good luck Sylvia. Hopefully, the stars re-align for you and everything runs smoothly again soon.

Thanks
1 reply

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sylviad 16 years ago

Thanks, Kevin...

Actually, my privacy fence went much more smoothly than my business.

John...

I just ran my site through the Validator and I'm getting an error that I don't know how to fix. It's that <!DOCYPE...> code that is missing. I've checked all my sites and it only shows on one,like this:

<html xmlns:mso="urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" xmlns:msdt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882">

This was an FP-created pages, but awhile back I updated my computer and the FP program. My suspicion is that FP has changed how it codes this stuff.

I tried starting a new page / new site with FP and it just started right in with <HTML>. !DOCTYPE doesn't show anywhere.

Rather than <!DOCTYPE...> it only shows
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
which the Validator used to check my site. However, it recommends that I add the appropriate DOCTYPE code, otherwise the spiders can't read the pages properly. The sample they provide says "for most sites".

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">

How do I tell what's right my sites? Can I just use the code from the one page I DID fine (as indicated above)? Or should I just go with the one they suggest?

Thanks.

Sylvia
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francophile

16 years ago

Google are constantly re-rating inbound links. One-way links from directories, links from resource/link pages have been de-valued.

Good content will gain natural linking - these are the links Google is looking for!

Alternatively, suggest you look for relevant links from quality sites. Choose carefully (if possible) the anchor text you request from a "reciprocal partner". The keywords in the anchor text must be relevant to theme of the reciprocal partner page and your landing page.

Thanks
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sylviad 16 years ago

The more I try to fix these problems, the more I find. I cannot validate my site through Google because they can't find the verification files I've uploaded as per Google's specifications, plus a bunch of other issues.

I just sent Google's error list to my host provider as the problems refers to the web server errors - DNS errors, etc.

It's becoming a freakin' nightmare!

What would it cost to have someone fix whatever is wrong with my site(s)?

{signed} bleeding from my ears...

Sylvia
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Kevin Lam

16 years ago

Sorry to hear about your situation, Sylvia. It seems the Internet Gods are just raining on your parade. I'd be happy to help, but I simply don't have time. I just stop in here to help with what I can from posts or look for good offers from other warriors. I'm busy with my own things. I hope you get it all figured out though.

Thanks
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sylviad 16 years ago

Thanks, Kevin.

Late this afternoon, I finally got the Google portion sorted out. Apparently, Google won't verify a site if you have a special 404.html document on your site. My host had to switch back to the generic "page not found" option until I verified, and then put my 404 redirect page back. So all of that is fine now. Thank goodness!

Unfortunately, I've made a mess of my site trying to get the DOCTYPE code right. While the page looks okay again (finally!), I'm having a weird problem with scrolling my site index page. The little button on the right of my browser doesn't work when I'm viewing my page... but it works fine on other sites, like WF and Google, etc. At the bottom left of my browser, it says it's "Done (loading), but with errors". When I click to view the error, it refers to an "object" on line 270, which is about 80 lines longer than my site code - so I have no idea where to see this and fix it.

Looks like I'll have to live with it until I figure out what else to try.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me.

Sylvia
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SteveJohnson

16 years ago

Sylvia, PM me if you don't get any fixit offers. I'm kind of busy, but I can probably squeeze you into the schedule.

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Kevin Lam

16 years ago

Well, I was about to look into that problem for you, but I don't see the errors you were talking about. Apparently, you've already gotten it fixed.

Thanks
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sylviad 16 years ago

Thanks, Kevin.

Yes, I stumbled across the correct DOCTYPE code while I was looking at some other sites. I haven't run the Validator again since I changed it, but since the scroll button on my browser now works for that home page, I'm relatively happy.

If there are problems I don't know about, I guess I'm still in trouble as far as Google is concerned.

Another thing I noticed, too, is that while I was in my space suit, I went mad cramming tons of keywords into that page, bolded them every time, which I know is a no-no. Most likely, that had something to do with the drop in rank. I've removed the bold and a lot of keywords, so maybe next time around, they'll appreciate the site more. Since that site links to my other site that also dropped in rank, I can only guess that both were affected because of my wrecklessness.

Of course, promotion is imperative for both sites but because my efforts have been spent on so many other things, it hasn't gotten done. It's definitely time to really boost my promos and backlinking efforts. There's definitely something drastically wrong when I lose page rank and half my sales the moment I stop promoting.

Sylvia

Originally Posted by netdebut

Well, I was about to look into that problem for you, but I don't see the errors you were talking about. Apparently, you've already gotten it fixed.
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Site Rank Dropped! Any suggestions?

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