“My husband configuring a site this early on a Sunday morning? Now that’s something a girl just doesn’t see every day.”
I felt a hand on my shoulder as I heard Julia speaking softly. I must have tensed slightly or something because she then leaned down and kissed me passionately before saying, “It’s ok. Something was on your mind, and you felt you had to act on it. I’ve had those nights too.”
She then kissed me again before asking, “What’s this you’ve got going on here? I’m not really all that up on my WordPress and don’t recognize the screen.”
So… I explained to her that I was adding the sites newly hand-crafted XML Sitemap to the sidebar of the Briasphere.com to get Google’s undivided attention. “Google has seen fit to ignore 195 posts on my website since its inception last year. So, I’m pulling an older trick out of the bag to remedy the situation as Google really doesn’t have a valid reason for doing what they are doing other than the fact that they are a bunch of self-serving pricks who think the world should revolve around them.”
Julia Giggled and said, “Don’t hold anything back Babe.” She then kissed me again saying, “Not that I can blame you. I’ve read that they are a very secretive company with a cult like following. I’ve also read how Google has been known to exploit Browser vulnerabilities for their own gain without even bothering to let the software manufactures of said browsers know there was a problem. So… Yeah… I get the contempt you feel for the company and anything to do with them.”
I stretched back in my seat after doing a few quick keystrokes. “Done,” I said. “The XML Sitemap is now in the sidebar.”
Julia asked, “What does this do for you? I mean… You said it was hand crafted. Weren’t you using site generated ones?”
“Yes, I was,” I said. “But… There’s been a time or two in the past where I’ve noticed that Google in particular has gotten a bug up their ass about any WordPress website that displays all of it’s post and page links in an elegantly crafted XML site map, like the type that a plugin like Jetpack generates. So… rather than generate a notification that they don’t like the map presented they just start ignoring links or simply taking them out of the index.”
I then continued after receiving a light kiss from Julia when I paused, “I’ve noticed this behavior over the years, once a WordPress website reaches a total of fifty pages. Automated site maps will only get you so far and with a site like Briasphere.com… Well… It’s time to change tack if I’m going to get noticed by the masses.”
Julia stood there for a moment running her fingers through my hair for a long while. Then she asked, “How long do you expect to wait before you know for certain that this has worked?”
“I fully expect that, starting tonight, the Google Alerts I’ve set to notify me when pages have been indexed will begin raining in. I see no reason that I won’t have a larger number of pages indexed in the search engines within the next week or so.”
“But it’s Google that’s primarily the problem?” Julia asked. I nodded saying, “What I’ve done will effect indexing, even on Bing, who I’ve always geared my posts towards anyway.”
“Well… It’s a bit beyond me. But… I know you are on top of your game,” she said running a finger through my hair. “You look tired though. Any chance of you coming back to bed? We don’t have to go look at the boat for a little while yet and I’m pretty sure of what strokes to use to help you relax and get a bit of rest.”
She wasn’t kidding. And… When I finally did get out of bed… Well… I’m pretty sure we both felt well rested; definitely having that peaceful easy feeling that comes with quality time spent with one’s lover.
After looking at and deciding to buy the boat, we headed back towards Newton. It was 2:00 PM before we new it so I suggested we grab a late lunch. “Do you think Ellen will want to join us?” Julia asked.
I said, “Only one way to find out,” taking out my phone and giving her a call. She hadn’t had lunch yet. So, we swung by and picked her up before heading to the Hampton Diner.
It was lightly raining when we got there, the day being kind of drab. But… We all had a good time anyway.
And… Sure enough… When I looked in on things around 7:00 PM this evening… The first alert from Google that another site page had been indexed arrived.
FYI: Did I mention that we finished reading Clive Cussler’s Mediterranean Caper, too? “God is good!”