12th May 2008

In SEO : custom error 404 page

[from the HTTP error “file not found on server”] Extended to humans to convey that the subject has no idea or no clue — sapience not found or the document you’ve tried to access can’t be located. This can happen when the page is moved, not uploaded, is misspelled or the URL people are clicking through is not formed properly. The first 4 indicates a client error such as a mistyped URL. The middle 0 refers to a general syntax error. The last 4 just indicates the specific error in the group of 40x, which also includes 400: Bad Request, 401: Unauthorized, etc.

Requirements for Customizing the 404 File Not Found Page

If your web host has not enabled the facility for your website to create 404 page then there is no possibility to customize 404 error page. Web host which provide this facility will already mention of this. Also if they mention that you can create “.htaccess” file (e.g. Apache web servers)it means that you can also make 404 File Not Found error page.

Creating the custom page itself isn’t difficult. It is just an HTML file saved with any name.
Little extra work is require to get your custom page to show up on a 404 error. You will also need to be the one in charge of your web site, and it must be under your own domain name. If you do not have permission to do this, be sure to ask your web host before you proceed.

To start, there are some steps to follow:

  1. Go to the main directory of your web site through FTP or Telnet.
  2. Look for a file there named .htaccess
  3. If you have the file, you will want to edit it. If you do not have the file, create a new text file and save it as “.htaccess”
  4. While creating a file if you are creating the file from scratch, type the following line into the file, changing the url to the location of your custom page:

    ErrorDocument 404 http://www.example.com/custom_page.html

    Keep it all on one line, with a space on each side of the number 404. Also, this is case sensitive, so be sure to check the case of the E and D in ErrorDocument before you proceed.

  5. If you already have the file and need to edit it, look for a line like the one above. If it is there, you can just change the url. If you do not have the line, add it in after everything else on its own line.
  6. When you are done, upload your new .htaccess file to the server. Then, be sure to use the CHMOD command through your FTP or telnet program to set the permissions to CHMOD 644. Also be sure that you have uploaded your custom page to the server, otherwise you’ll get a 500 server error or something similar.
  7. Once that is done, then test it by typing a URL that you know does not exist.You should get your custom page, ready to bring in the lost visitors that may be out there.

You should make your 404 page larger than 512 bytes, even when you are testing. Otherwise Internet Explorer (IE) will load what it calls its built-in “friendly HTTP error message” instead of your 404 page.

Common Errors with a 404 Custom Error Page

  1. Some times people make error while customizing their page is putting a wrong url in their .htaccess file. When user trying to access a missing file the web server goes in to loop.
  2. Your 404 Error Page may be loaded either from the main directory or from a subdirectory or even your CGI-BIN directory. When you put links on your 404 Document Not Found page be sure that you use the full URL and not a relative link. That is, use things like
    < a href="http://www.example.com/sitemap.html" >Site Map< /a > instead of
    < a href="sitemap.html" >Site Map < /a >

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9th May 2008

Now Yahoo becomes more informative

India is the first market in which Glue Pages Beta is being launched by yahoo.

Yahoo launched this new search concept. This is the new way to find answers quickly.

Only Yahoo India is using Glue Pages as the default search option, however, so the company appears to be pretty interested in this presentational style.

Now Search is United with text, images, and video content from anywhere on the web on a single page. Currently you can get the most relevant information for health, sports, entertainment, travel, technology and finance from across the Web.

The Glue Pages were designed to save time and a new way of serving content on a broader level. This search technology is used to get the most relevant search results alongside classic Yahoo India Search Results.

Users can switch back to Classic Search Results with a small tab.

A search for a topic combines results Yahoo Groups, Yahoo blogs, HowStuffWorks, Yahoo Health and Yahoo Answers.

Glue Pages combine traditional search results with a wealth of other related information. Traditional search results appear on the left side of the page, with other modules like sponsored links, medical information, Wikipedia entries, stock charts, Flickr images, train schedules, restaurant lists, recipes, news, and even Google blog search results.

Because Yahoo already having its research and development base in India, developers are available to create applications around the Yahoo technology, Glue Pages beta was selected to run on the Yahoo India site.

Yahoo Look for Glue Pages to spread if it’s at all successful in India.

If you want to get the whole information for a particuler subject then put a specific keyword related to that category . For example if you want to search for sports then put name of the game like Football in http://in.search.yahoo.com/ It will returns standard search results on the left, in the right you will have Wikipedia: football, News: football, Answers: football, Flickr Images: football.

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7th May 2008

Yahoo!’s last hope

If you think walking a mile in Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang’s shoes is tough these days, imagine being Susan Decker.

A year ago, she was on top of the world. Decker was a rare shooting star at Yahoo!, promoted to the company’s presidency after Terry Semel unceremoniously left the company last year. She joined the Berkshire Hathaway board of directors, leading some to wonder whether she was on the short list of eventual replacements for Warren Buffett himself. She’s even the youngest board member at Costco .

Things change. When Microsoft walked away from Yahoo!, it left behind a sea of shareholders who are now irate with Yahoo!’s executives, Decker included.

Until now, Decker has been untouchable. Her salaries and bonuses have inched higher without much dissent; if Charlie Munger (who also sits on the Costco board) and Buffett see a spark in Decker, who are we to argue otherwise?

However, leave it to a mob of angry investors to toss out the lady with the bathwater. They may tie her ascent at Yahoo! with the company’s descent in everything from search-engine market share to profitability. If Yang can’t turn the company around in a hurry, do you think investors will be satisfied if he’s ultimately replaced by anyone but an outsider?

As fate would have it, Decker was with Bill Gates in Omaha over the weekend, when Microsoft turned its back on Yahoo!. Decker and Gates serve on the Berkshire Hathaway board, and Decker actually serves with Gates’ dad on Costco’s board.

Forget Yang, Gates, and Steve Ballmer. Decker is really the most interesting character in this whole Microhoo saga. She’s the one with ties to both companies. She’s the one who can either bring Microsoft back to the table, or convince investors that Yahoo! may be worth more than $33 a share in the near future.

In short, she’s Yahoo!’s last hope — the one hire that Microsoft or even Google would love to have on their side. With her reputation on the line, I’d be shocked if she didn’t either take on an even bigger role in turning Yahoo! around, in a “double or nothing” kind of career wager — or move on before her spectacular climb becomes an equally steep fall.

Forget Yahoo! and Microsoft. Watch Decker.

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Source: themoneytimes

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posted in SEO/Search Engine News | 0 Comments

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