WebHelp - indexed by Google?

[dsarig]

Does anyone have a WebHelp that is indexed by Google?

If yes, did you do something special when generating the WebHelp it to make Google index it?

I am working with RoboHelp 8.

I know that there are many books/sites out there about SEO, but I wanted to see if there's a setting that I need to select that would get Google to index my WebHelps.

One of our WebHelps sits on the FTP, and I know that is a problem. However, someone else looked at the HTML generated by RoboHelp and said that because of the JavaScripts, Google will not index it.

Thanks,

Debbie

[Peter Grainge]

If there was a setting, I would have told you in my reply to this question the other day at http://forums.adobe.com/message/2285378#2285378

You say that one of your webhelp outputs sits on the FTP. What do you mean by that?

Are all your outputs available to the world using the internet? If they are behind corporate firewalls as is often the case with webhelp, then it will not get indexed. Otherwise it will get indexed and I have already covered a couple of points. There is no setting.

The use of javascript does not stop a site getting indexed. My menus are javascript based and there is other javascript in the pages. Search on "Grainge" and my site will come up first or second.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[dsarig]

Thank you for your help.

The WebHelp currently resides at a URL like the following: http://ftp.CompanyX.com/www/help/ProductX/startup.htm

Our WebHelp is available to the outside world. It can be accessed from a link in our product and from a link on the company website. It links to the ftp path above.

I use the merged Help as described on your site (thanks for that!).

Regards,

Debbie

[Peter Grainge]

So if I had a link I could paste it into my browser and view the help, correct? If the help is available to anyone, can you not post a link in the forum? If the help would work if you did, then Google will index it. How high it comes in the results depends on many things as mentioned, links being very important.

I suspect however that the link is only good for authorised users and if that is the case Google would not be able to view the help and index it.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

[dsarig]

The site is open to everyone.

[Peter Grainge]

In that case all the normal rules for Google apply. Bear in mind there are people who make a living out of consultancy on improving Google rankings and you will appreciate this is not a simple matter.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips