Possible Re-hosting Of Website - Input Requested

[Gary Lewis]

If we can make/upload our own HTML file to the site, we should be able see by uploading a PDF file and embedding the PDF file in that HTML file.

Not sure what you mean by that. Please explain.

But I do have Google tracking things on the site with Analytics and Console.

And Weebly does block some in the robots file. They explained why to me once upon a time, but I've forgotten. Made sense then though.

 

[ckuske]

If we can make/upload our own HTML file to the site, we should be able see by uploading a PDF file and embedding the PDF file in that HTML file.

Not sure what you mean by that. Please explain.

But I do have Google tracking things on the site with Analytics and Console.

And Weebly does block some in the robots file. They explained why to me once upon a time, but I've forgotten. Made sense then though.

I'm not familar with how you get content into Weebly, but if they give you the ability to upload arbitrary HTML and PDF files into the root of your website, we could make a page like "pdftest.html" where the PDF and the HTML are in the same directory on your domain, and then we can wait and see if Google picks it up. Of course, we'd want to put some keywords in the tag of the HTML, as well as the page itself.

Hopefully we prove that Google picks it up, and the content in the PDF as well. If that's the case, it will carry over and work on Wordpress as well.

Now, I understand what you mean regarding not wanting links in Google with direct access to the PDFs without going to the page. I'm not sure if that's possible, but I can noodle on it.

[Gary Lewis]

I'm not familar with how you get content into Weebly, but if they give you the ability to upload arbitrary HTML and PDF files into the root of your website, we could make a page like "pdftest.html" where the PDF and the HTML are in the same directory on your domain, and then we can wait and see if Google picks it up. Of course, we'd want to put some keywords in the tag of the HTML, as well as the page itself.

Hopefully we prove that Google picks it up, and the content in the PDF as well. If that's the case, it will carry over and work on Wordpress as well.

Now, I understand what you mean regarding not wanting links in Google with direct access to the PDFs without going to the page. I'm not sure if that's possible, but I can noodle on it.

Ok, let me work through this:

• You said "if they give you the ability to upload arbitrary HTML and PDF files".... Weebly does allow HTML via an "embed" widget. As for pdf's, there are three approaches:

  1. Embed using an iframe

  2. Use the Scribd widget

  3. Use another widget like the one from Powr

  I know that Google hasn't crawled any of the docs embedded using an iframe or Scribd

• I don't understand "root of your website". Do you mean at the level of Bullnose Forum, Documentation, and About?

[ckuske]

I'm not familar with how you get content into Weebly, but if they give you the ability to upload arbitrary HTML and PDF files into the root of your website, we could make a page like "pdftest.html" where the PDF and the HTML are in the same directory on your domain, and then we can wait and see if Google picks it up. Of course, we'd want to put some keywords in the tag of the HTML, as well as the page itself.

Hopefully we prove that Google picks it up, and the content in the PDF as well. If that's the case, it will carry over and work on Wordpress as well.

Now, I understand what you mean regarding not wanting links in Google with direct access to the PDFs without going to the page. I'm not sure if that's possible, but I can noodle on it.

Ok, let me work through this:

• You said "if they give you the ability to upload arbitrary HTML and PDF files".... Weebly does allow HTML via an "embed" widget. As for pdf's, there are three approaches:

  1. Embed using an iframe

  2. Use the Scribd widget

  3. Use another widget like the one from Powr

  I know that Google hasn't crawled any of the docs embedded using an iframe or Scribd

• I don't understand "root of your website". Do you mean at the level of Bullnose Forum, Documentation, and About?

If we can make a page and put an embed tag in the "Embed HTML" Weebly feature, we can give it a shot. As long as you can also put a PDF on this domain.

Maybe I'll try to make a free site on Weebly to check it out.

I was mentioning the "root" as in not putting the test page under a folder/subdirectory... it doesn't really matter that much, it just may get found a little sooner by indexing bots.

[Gary Lewis]

If we can make a page and put an embed tag in the "Embed HTML" Weebly feature, we can give it a shot. As long as you can also put a PDF on this domain.

Maybe I'll try to make a free site on Weebly to check it out.

I was mentioning the "root" as in not putting the test page under a folder/subdirectory... it doesn't really matter that much, it just may get found a little sooner by indexing bots.

Can you either email me the stuff to embed or actually put it on here?

[ckuske]

Can you either email me the stuff to embed or actually put it on here?

PM me your email address and I can try and send you something.

How do you link to the PDFs in Weebly today? Just “insert link”? Or something similar?

I’m going to be with the family on a mini vacation starting tomorrow, so you might not hear from me till Tuesday.

[Gary Lewis]

PM me your email address and I can try and send you something.

How do you link to the PDFs in Weebly today? Just “insert link”? Or something similar?

I’m going to be with the family on a mini vacation starting tomorrow, so you might not hear from me till Tuesday.

Sent you an email. We don't have a PM facility on here.

Anyway, here's the code that goes in the embed widget. Just a simple iframe. This is for the Bronco Standard interior: But I tweak it to have width="100%" and height="688" for these illustrations.

[Gary Lewis]

Sent you an email. We don't have a PM facility on here.

Anyway, here's the code that goes in the embed widget. Just a simple iframe. This is for the Bronco Standard interior: But I tweak it to have width="100%" and height="688" for these illustrations.

Got some big/good news! With Chris/ckuske's help I think we've found a way to get our pdf's crawled by Google.

This is REALLY a big deal, assuming it works as expected, as people can find the content of the pdf's just via a Google search. Imagine being able to find a TSB or the info on carb or transmission rebuilds!

The issue, as Chris pointed out, was that we had the pdf's hosted on another site, like Microsoft's OneDrive or Google Drive. And all that connected our site to the pdf's was a link. But Chris suggested that we host the files on the Weebly server as part of the website. That took some figuring out as I'd not done that before, but I now have three files on there:

• Documents/Driveline/Transmissions/Automatic Transmissions/C6: The section from the 1985 FSM is shown on the tab entitled Rebuild Procedures.

• Documentation/Fuel Systems/Carburetors, Chokes, & EFI/Carter YFA 1BBL: The file on the Instructions tab and then the Walker tab is new.

• Documentation/Interior/Interior Trim: The illustration on the Regular Cab tab is done the new way, and the one on the Bronco tab is done the old way. Which way appears to be more clear to you?

I've asked Google to crawl and index all three of those pages, which is the process by which they catalog everything on a page so they can return the results in a search. In a few days we'll see if the contents of any of those pages is now found and, if so, we have a winner!

But, the guru at Weebly that helped me figure out their addressing scheme is sure it'll work. If so it is a major step in the direction of helping people find all the info we have available.

[Gary Lewis]

Got some big/good news! With Chris/ckuske's help I think we've found a way to get our pdf's crawled by Google.

This is REALLY a big deal, assuming it works as expected, as people can find the content of the pdf's just via a Google search. Imagine being able to find a TSB or the info on carb or transmission rebuilds!

The issue, as Chris pointed out, was that we had the pdf's hosted on another site, like Microsoft's OneDrive or Google Drive. And all that connected our site to the pdf's was a link. But Chris suggested that we host the files on the Weebly server as part of the website. That took some figuring out as I'd not done that before, but I now have three files on there:

• Documents/Driveline/Transmissions/Automatic Transmissions/C6: The section from the 1985 FSM is shown on the tab entitled Rebuild Procedures.

• Documentation/Fuel Systems/Carburetors, Chokes, & EFI/Carter YFA 1BBL: The file on the Instructions tab and then the Walker tab is new.

• Documentation/Interior/Interior Trim: The illustration on the Regular Cab tab is done the new way, and the one on the Bronco tab is done the old way. Which way appears to be more clear to you?

I've asked Google to crawl and index all three of those pages, which is the process by which they catalog everything on a page so they can return the results in a search. In a few days we'll see if the contents of any of those pages is now found and, if so, we have a winner!

But, the guru at Weebly that helped me figure out their addressing scheme is sure it'll work. If so it is a major step in the direction of helping people find all the info we have available.

And, we have partial success!

The Freefind search widget that we have in the upper left corner of the forum pages now finds the phrase "On 6.9L diesel engine trucks equipped with a C-6 automatic transmission a Vacuum Regulator Valve", which is on the C6 page that has been re-homed to Weebly from OneDrive. But it doesn't find "The dual master cylinder contains a double hydraulic cylinder with two fluid", which is in the General Hydraulic Brake Service PDF that is still homed on OneDrive. I'll move it to Weebly today and search again tomorrow to prove this works - at least as far as Freefind is concerned.

Freefind crawls and indexes the site nightly, as opposed to Google which can take up to two weeks to get done even after you ask it nicely to re-crawl a page, which I did yesterday with the three listed above.

You might ask why I'm reporting this, and the reason is two-fold. First, to keep track of what works and doesn't work. Second, because Chris/ckuske is due back tomorrow and will want to catch up on how/if his suggestion works - which it appears to do.

[Gary Lewis]

And, we have partial success!

The Freefind search widget that we have in the upper left corner of the forum pages now finds the phrase "On 6.9L diesel engine trucks equipped with a C-6 automatic transmission a Vacuum Regulator Valve", which is on the C6 page that has been re-homed to Weebly from OneDrive. But it doesn't find "The dual master cylinder contains a double hydraulic cylinder with two fluid", which is in the General Hydraulic Brake Service PDF that is still homed on OneDrive. I'll move it to Weebly today and search again tomorrow to prove this works - at least as far as Freefind is concerned.

Freefind crawls and indexes the site nightly, as opposed to Google which can take up to two weeks to get done even after you ask it nicely to re-crawl a page, which I did yesterday with the three listed above.

You might ask why I'm reporting this, and the reason is two-fold. First, to keep track of what works and doesn't work. Second, because Chris/ckuske is due back tomorrow and will want to catch up on how/if his suggestion works - which it appears to do.

Well, swell. I did add the General Brake Service file to Weebly and embedded it on the Brakes page. And then I told Freefind to index the site. It is now done and Freefind does find the phrase listed above.

HOWEVER, it actually finds the file itself tucked away in the directory here: www.garysgaragemahal.com/files/theme/GeneralBrakeService.pdf. But it was supposed to find it on the page at Documentation/Driveline/Brakes, which it hasn't done.

Given that, I went back to the search on the C6 and now I realize it is doing the same - finding the file in the directory (www.garysgaragemahal.com/files/theme/FordC6RebuildProcedures.pdf) rather than on the page. Close, but no cigar.

The issue is that while the user can find the document, s/he doesn't really know where they are and has no way of getting truly into the website. They are just viewing a seemingly random document found on the interweb. Yes, it says it is on garysgaragemahal, but that only shows in the URL, not on the page.

I'm afraid the same thing will be true of Google. In fact, the best case is that they just find it on the page and not as a separate file. If that's the case then I think there's a way to tell them to ignore the file itself. But the worst case is that they find just the file and not the page, which is what Freefind has done.

One question becomes if the problem of finding the page has to do with the fact that I have the file embedded on a tab, as I do in many if not most of the cases. Some of my reading suggests that Google won't find it. So, more testing is due.....