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Problem with indexing

Upper/Lower case titles of files

         

dgdclynx

7:53 am on Jul 26, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



When I designed my site eight years ago I used interface files with a name in upper case to direct readers to the content file which had name in lower case. The name being the same in both cases. This worked merrily on all search engines.

I have had to recreate the site with a new host and am currently watching Google index the files. But Google is clearly having a problem with the upper/lower case file names and is tending to index the content file titled in lower case and ignore the interface file titled in upper case. But Google is not consistent. Sometimes it indexes both files and sometimes none.

I think I will have to wait for things to settle down as the move to the new site is only four months old but I thought I should ask here for any advice. Particularly re retitling the interface files. Thanks.

dgdclynx

9:59 am on Jul 26, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Silly me. I have been vague. By names of files I am referring to the TITLEs I have given them. Sorry for the obscurity.

vincevincevince

11:54 am on Jul 26, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



this could be a task for mod_rewrite? either way - i suspect your problem is that the bot is lazy... give it time!

g1smd

8:23 pm on Jul 26, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



>> By names of files I am referring to the TITLEs I have given them <<

You mean the words between <title> and </title> tags, I assume?

Not the filenames as they appear on your hard drive and on the site.

dgdclynx

11:03 pm on Jul 26, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Yes. The names between <TITLE> and </TITLE>. Uppercase and loercase (except for capitals). I think the previous advice to give Google more time to sort things out will be my best course.

Robert Charlton

3:54 am on Jul 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



I used interface files with a name in upper case to direct readers to the content file which had name in lower case...

By "interface" files and "content" files, I'm assuming you're talking about files for menu windows and content windows, respectively, on a framed site. Is this correct?

If this is what you're talking about, try using a robots meta tag in the following form to keep the menu files from being indexed:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow">

If this isn't what you're talking about, I don't understand your question.

Title case shouldn't affect Google indexing at all.

dgdclynx

7:11 am on Jul 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



No. A small file containing entrypoints to a large file, with a limited amount of information about the large file (a book of poetry). No frames used. This was my original design from 1995 and I have stuck to it. All text, no graphics.

dgdclynx

7:43 am on Jul 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Google is continuing to index my files. Another 15 last night so there are only about 40 (out of 340) to go. So I think I should wait and see what happens when indexing is complete. The original design was for the lynx browser.

dgdclynx

9:07 am on Jul 30, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Just to say this seems resolved cos Google is now indexing both upper and lower case titles. I didnt wait long enough.

g1smd

8:12 pm on Jul 30, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



I usually advise that people wait a couple of months for Google to sort out any changes you make to a site. However, under the new way of doing things it can now take only a couple of weeks sometimes.