Search Feature

[Brian]

Maybe it's just me but I'm getting less than hoped for search results, and I feel like this is a recent development since most searches used to return dozens of results.

For example I searched for 'ham' looking for a recent thread (2-3 months ago) that Tom and someone else were talking about in regards to steps and resources to get going on a Ham Radio license. I get nothing.

As a test I searched for 'winch' thinking of all terms this one would have plenty of results. It came back with four results.

Thoughts?

[Getaklu]

i've noticed this of late myself.

[Jim]

I agree. Then I noticed at the bottom of the Google search page...

In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 4 already displayed.
If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included (https://www.google.com/search?q=winch+site:http://www.frontrange4x4.com&domains=http://www.frontrange4x4.com&filter=0).

Hitting the link, several more results came through for www.FrontRange4x4.com (http://www.FrontRange4x4.com).

It's possible that it could be the host and their spider / indexing service settings. I could check if folks think Google's having a bad day with us. The only thing "special" with our search box is that it uses the Google search engine. It fills in the Google search (over at Google) with your search terms and the text to restrict the search results (aside from ads) to FrontRange4x4.com. You can do the very same by visiting Google.com, and in the search box there entering your search terms along with the text
site:frontrange4x4.com
This tells google to only show results tied with FrontRange4x4.com.

Folks, let me know if you think I should contact the host to see if they have anything restricting Google from indexing the content in the forum

[Brian]

Hey Jim, I get the same results using Google directly as well. Also FWIW I've noticed a dramatic reduction in crawlers/guests as well. Not sure if they are related but both seemed to happen about the same time.

[Jim]

Let's see if search starts working.

This is the "search engine friendly" URL for the forum (HTTPS):
https://www.frontrange4x4.com/forums/archive/index.php

I questioned if the issue was due to a permissions setting at the host - though perhaps not. We had an introductory / free SSL cert that lasted one year. I didn't bother renewing as folks weren't calling for one to be active (a couple did comment that it expired). Visiting the search URL with the expired cert resulted in "Danger Will Robinson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IPPn9t6dyE)" messages. I suspect Google turned away and we fell out of their indexed content. I renewed the cert for FrontRange4x4.com (not FR4x4.com).

Let's see what happens with search results.

In addition I'll look to change the FR4x4.com name to simply kick over to FrontRange4x4.com. As-is, if you use FR4x4.com, the URL stays at FR4x4.com - though I'm not bothering to pay for a cert for that domain name. This means you can use the short URL but the site but there won't be a valid cert.

Thoughts / issues, let me know.