Check Search Engine Visibility on Migration Released

I read a blog with interest recently, from fellow Manchester based SEO Neil Walker on State of Digital entitled “Why I Hate WordPress Websites!“. Neil made the fairly quick conclusion that whilst he doesn’t really hate WordPress websites, he does hate developers who don’t really understand WordPress.

His single biggest bugbear is those who forget to click the “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”.

check-se-visibility-1

I must admit, I’m quite glad Neil didn’t write something along the lines of “it’s something bad developers do”. Largely because, errr, I’ve been guilty of it in the past.

It’s easy to forget. And that makes it a bit sucky. So I’ve decided to do something about it.

Check Search Engine Visibility on Migration very simply prints a big warning on your site should you block search engines. That warning you can dismiss. However should the site url for WordPress change it reappears. So, say, if you move from a domain to another, or from a dev site to a live site, then you may want to change your visibility settings. This plugin will make you aware of this.

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The warning is difficult to miss, so you kind of have to deal with it. Making it perfect for not forgetting to switch off the “Discourage Search Engines”. If you are anything like me, this plugin will probably save your arse a few times.

So to download this plugin, please click here. I am also in the process of putting this plugin on Github, so that’ll appear in the next day or two.

Suggestions, comments and bugs welcome!

Clever Git

My transfer from SEO to pretty-much-full-time-WordPress-developer has been rather swift. I’ve learned a lot in the past year and a half, not only from the technical side and coding (seriously, I’m struggling reading previous code that I wrote from a year or two back), but also from project management perspective.

I heard about Git from a few people. “You need to be on Git!”, they say. “It’ll save your life one day!”, they say. But it scared me a little bit. The only bit of version control I’ve been familiar with for years was SVN which was how the WordPress Repository runs. However, it scared me more not to learn Git, so after a fascinating talk by Jenny Wong at the last MWUG, an opportunity for a quick plugin, perfect for GitHub, presented itself via a support request for WP Email Capture. It was a plugin which would’ve taken an hour or so to code together, which required little or no support, and perfect to stick on GitHub.

So an hour or two later the Multisubscriber Plugin for WP Email Capture was born.

It’s a plugin that allows you to subscribe to any list in the Premium version of WP Email Capture. Obviously for this plugin you require the premium version of WP Email Capture (which you can buy using a the code of THANKS30 until Monday). It’s unsupported, and doesn’t really work outside the box beyond the support request, but it’s there for you to play with.

Should you wish to play with the plugin, you can see the repository for this plugin on GitHub, or (like/follow/friend?) me on GitHub as well. Here is my GitHub profile.

Anyway, am still learning, so would love to hear your GitHub tips! Please share them in the comments. Cheers.

The Bay on Bing

Okay, I’m struggling with blog posts this week, and although I’m not technically a search guy anymore since the launch of FireCask, I’m still interested in search news.

One such story which appeals to me, my mum and a few others was the appearance of Colwyn Bay on the home page of bing yesterday.

Although I moved out about 3 and a half years ago, I’ve a massive affinity with the town and the football club (the last link is what you see when you let me design a website – for better or worse!), so it was an incredible sense of pride I felt when I saw the Bay on the home page of a major search engine on an important day in the British Calendar.

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I used to attend the Eirias Park bonfire night celebrations regularly growing up, though towards the end of my time in the Bay I discovered if you headed to the (then still opened) Colwyn Bay pier you could watch the fireworks with a beer and a pie and not have to queue for hours to get out of the festivities.

It should be added (cheers Mark!) that it’s an old photo of the Bay. The dome you can see in the picture isn’t there on the account it blew onto a nearby motorway during a storm.

Still, cheers Bing! Much appreciated! I expect mention of this to be in a few papers this week!

Trip to Belgium & Germany 2013

I read with interest Nomadic Matt’s post recently on traveling, specifically how on his last trip he became homesick. Traveling is great and I love it, but I did find myself in Germany on my last trip. Specifically I am too old for Dorms, and traveling a couple of weeks on my own is – well – a wee bit tough.

Do not get me wrong, I love Germany and had a great holiday, but it was the final chapter in “discovering myself” and I now know what I need for the perfect holiday.

I need my own space.

After a disastrous time in Cologne where I couldn’t really enjoy myself (buy me a beer, I will explain it), I re-booked the last week of my trip away to change from Dormitories to budget hotels. Lo-and-behold because I had my own space I enjoyed it so much more. Dortmund was great as everybody was super friendly, and Munich is definitely one of my favourite cities outside of the UK. Also Brussels was probably the greatest Wales away trip I have ever been on, and Cologne was fine and I am willing to give it another go if I stay in a non-dorm place.

I have nothing against hostels. In fact I want to stay in them more, but in private rooms with a lock that I can relax a wee bit. I am lucky living in Europe everything is so damn close. I cannot wait to get away again, though not sure where.

Thoughts on Belgium vs Wales & Borussia Dortmund vs Hanover 96 will be live on You’re Supposed To Be At Home in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please enjoy these photos.

Competition – Win 1 of 3 eBook copies of bbPress Complete!

Hello everybody, did you miss me?

Yes I’ve returned refreshed from two weeks travelling around Europe, but before I’d share with you what I’ve been upto and photos, I’d thought I’d share something myself and Packt Publishing have been doing.

Over on Winwar Media we’re running a giveaway to win a copy of bbPress Complete – my book that teaches you everything you need to know about bbPress. Already the feedback has been great for the book, so if you were interested in it, but yet to buy it, you can try and win a copy.

Entry is incredibly simple, and you have a week to enter. Winners will be notified when the competition is complete. Best of luck!

This competition has now ended. If you wish to purchase a copy of bbPress Complete please click here.