Google Tutorials
Disallow Robots Using Robots.txt
I develop customer websites on a publicly accessible web server so that my customers may check the progress of their website at any given time. I could use .htaccess to require username and password for the site but then I'm constantly needing to remind customers what their password is. My big concern is preventing search engines from finding their way to my development server. Luckily I can add a robots.txt file to my development server websites that will prevent search engines from indexing them.
Google and the Canonical Link Rel
Google has introduced a link tag rel value of canonical which is used for defining the value of the page that Google should use. Why? Lets say you have an eCommerce site and one of the product URLs is:
google.load(): Utilize Google’s AJAX Libraries API
The problem: loads of websites around the internet using the exact same JavaScript file. The file is a whopping 100KB in size. Since this same file resides on each website's server, the file is downloaded and cached for each individual website. Lots of load time for same file.
Track AJAX Link Clicks Using Google Analytics
About a year back I created an advanced form for a customer that took in numerous user-given values and calculated some totals using JavaScript. No page refresh, just straight JavaScript and AJAX functionality. Obviously since there's no page refresh, Google Analytics doesn't track the form's usage. I changed all that a few days ago, using some simple MooTools code to control Google Analytics.
Track File Downloads in Google Analytics Using MooTools
A while back I wrote an article detailing how you can use forced downloads via PHP to track downloads. What if you could get that same data into Google Analytics? Using some simple MooTools and advanced Google Analytics tactics, now you can.
Using MooTools to Instruct Google Analytics to Track Outbound Links
Google Analytics provides a wealth of information about who's coming to your website. One of the most important statistics the service provides is the referrer statistic — you've gotta know who's sending people to your website, right? What about where you send others though? Using MooTools 1.2, you can direct Google Analytics' pageTracker to track outbound link clicks.
First Impressions of Google Chrome
Google Chrome was released last week and got as much attention as you would expect it would. A Google browser was inevitable. I'd like to share a few scattered thoughts on Google's browser effort and gain a little feedback from you. I'll let 'em rip:
Create a NoScript Compatible Select Form Element with an onChange Event
I wouldn't say that I'm addicted to checking Google Analytics but I do check my statistics often. I guess hoping for a huge burst of traffic from some unknown source. Anyway, I have multiple sites set up within my account. The way to switch between sites is by choosing the site from a dropdown list. Once the dropdown list changes, the page automatically reloads with the requested site content.
Google Reader, Why Hath Thou Forsaken Me?
I need to solicit some help from my readers. Any help would be appreciated.
Allow Google Into Password Protected Areas
I have many clients that have password protected portions of their website. They love that they can charge users to access content but still allow Google into their website to index it. How does the PHP script know if it's Google accessing the site? By checking the user agent, of course.