SEO Optimization for SharePoint

I have been keeping an eye on SharePoint blogs and the Microsoft SharePoint site for a while now and I happened across an article about SEO Optimization for Web Content Management Sites. This article outlines some best practices for optimizing an Internet-facing SharePoint site for search engines.

For a while I have been trying to figure out a way to handle URL chopping in our SharePoint site. This article provides a solution that works well and also takes care of the 302 temporary redirects that SharePoint uses and turns them into 301 permanent redirects.

I used the example in the article and also merged it with an example I found at Waldek Mastykarz's blog to handle both the case of SharePoint creating the 302 and also handling chopping at the pages document library level, which SharePoint does not do by default. The solutions are easy to deploy into the environment, just make sure to place the compiled code in the bin directory for that virtual site and add the additional lines to the web.config file.

Results from the Kalamazoo X Conference

I have to admit that as one of the planners for the first ever Kalamazoo X Conference, I was concerned about the results and experience we would be providing. Up until the last week or so, we had few registrants and so we decided to change the format from a a multi-track, multi-session format to one track. This was a challenge for the speakers as they had to pare their talks down from an hour to 25 minutes. This did allow all attendees to see all of the sessions instead of choosing between two speakers they wanted to see.

The format also allowed the speakers (almost all who were close friends) to bounce jokes and their talks off one another and earlier sessions transitioned into the later sessions.

I was also impressed with the number of attendees, which was close to 90 or more. We received positive feedback on the format and content of the conference, which tended to be more soft skills that you do not see at most other technology conferences. If you missed out on the experience you can see more feedback and slide decks on the website in the upcoming weeks. Wish you could have been there this year, stay tuned to the Kalamazoo X site for more information on next year's conference.

SharePoint 2010

News is starting to be released about Office '14' and we are starting to get a little more information about the next version of SharePoint which is now Microsoft SharePoint 2010. Additional information can be found on the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog. I am excited to see what is in store for this next version of SharePoint.

Using Google for more than Searching

Sometimes it is hard to move from set ways. I often find myself using Google to research new things to try in SharePoint or to search for other people that may be having an issue I came across.

Google is valuable for many other things you may want to know. From the main Google search box you can get weather, stock quotes, time, do mathematical calculations, convert units, get dictionary definitions, get movie showtimes, find houses and real estate, flight status for planes, package tracking, patent numbers, and area codes.

To get the weather, type in the search box "weather (city name)".

To get a stock quote type in the ticker symbol.

To get the time in a city, type in "time (city name)".

To do mathematical calculations, type in the calucation.

To convert between units type in something similar to "convert 10 inches to cm".

To get a dictionary definition type in "define (word to define)".

To get movie showtimes type in "movies (ZIP code)".

To get housing and real estate type in "homes (city name)".

To get flight status type in the name of the airline name and the flight number.

To track a package just type in the tracking number.

To find a patent, type in "Patent (patent number)".

To see the geographical location for an area code type in the area code.

Another Google service I have been using lately is the Web History. I turned it on for Google search page only and it helps to be able to go back in time and find the pages I visited based on a certain search. It has definitely reduced the number of bookmarks I have in my browsers.

Usage Analysis Processing

One of the fairly overlooked items in WSS 3.0 and MOSS is the ability to access reports on site usage and other useful items such as broken links, slow pages, etc. By default this capability is not turned on in WSS or MOSS. If your organization wants to be able to quickly see statistics for SharePoint site usage, then Usage Analysis Processing is a good place to start. Another option available is Google Analytics, which works well also.



To set up UAP, log into the Central Administration page and under Logging and Reporting click on Usage analysis processing. On this page there are two sections, one for logging settings and one for processing settings. Under loggin settings, check the checkbox to enable logging and you can change the location of the log file (which by default is the LOGS folder in the 12 hive.) You can also set the number of log files to create as long as it is between 1 and 30.



Under processing settings, check the checkbox for enable usage analysis processing and then set the time range that you want the server to do processing. This should be a time frame when the server is less busy as the processing will slow down the web server. Click the Ok button and that is all there is to it. You will probably need to wait a day or two before you will start getting usage reports.



To access the reports, you can use SharePoint Designer by opening the site you want the stats for and clicking on Site and then Reports. You can get reports for Files, Problems, Usage, and more.



For more information about UAP and where the files reside check out this article.

Kalamazoo X Conference

If you are interested in a conference that offers speakers and discussions unlike any other conference around, check out the Kalamazoo X Conference. It features topics including:

• Human interaction, including social, personal, and career development.
• Interface and graphic design
• Development processes and best practices
• Requirements analysis, architecture, design, and modeling

The conference is April 25th from 8AM to 6PM in downtown Kalamazoo, MI, at KVCC's Center for New Media. Registration is only $20 for professionals and $10 for students. For more information and to register go to www.kalamazoox.org.