Re: Bad order of Postgres links in Google search results and how tofix it - Mailing list pgsql-www

On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 1:32 AM, Nikolay Samokhvalov
<samokhvalov@gmail.com> wrote:
> Any feedback on this?
>
> The problem persists, a few minutes ago I explained to the new user who
> cited some part of the doc and sent me a link to the manual, that 9.1 is
> very, very old version – obviously, again, Google was used to find that
> link.
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2018 at 2:09 PM Nikolay Samokhvalov <samokhvalov@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> It is very annoying that it most cases, Google search engine result page
>> (SERP) orders links to Postgres documentation so that older versions go
>> first and sometimes the most up-to-date version is not even listed on the
>> 1st page.
>>
>> For instance, if I try to google "postgresql string functions" (in
>> Chrome's incognito mode to have less bias; try it yourself but keep in mind
>> that results may vary depending on your region, settings and search history)
>> it currently shows me links in the following order:
>>
>> 1. https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/functions-string.html
>> 2. https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.6/static/functions-string.html
>> 3. https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.5/static/functions-string.html
>> 4. https://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/functions-string.html
>> 5. http://www.postgresqltutorial.com/postgresql-string-functions/
>>
>>
>> etc, and current (Postgres 10) documentation doesn't even present on the
>> 1st page of SERP. (Well, it does, but only PostgresPro's Russian version
>> https://postgrespro.ru/docs/postgrespro/10/functions-string.html – and it's
>> not because I speak Russian – I by purpose didn't give Google any signs to
>> suspect that; I suspect it's because PostgresPro's page has better SEO
>> weight than corresponding official English page).
>>
>> This is the very confusing situation – I hate clicking "latest" each time
>> I use Google to get some Postgres info, and, what is much, much worse, less
>> Postgres-experienced people even don't suspect that they work with very
>> outdated data (fresh example:
>> https://twitter.com/will_in_wi/status/1009813068346519552 – notice Postgres
>> version IN URL, it's 8.2, from 2007).
>>
>> Here is a quick look at SEPRs of the query "XXX string functions" for
>> other open source database systems:
>>
>> A. "mysql string functions"
>>
>> 1. https://dev.mysql.com/doc/en/string-functions.html
>> 2. https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/string-functions.html
>> 3. https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/string-functions.html
>> 4. https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_ref_mysql.asp
>> 5. https://www.w3schools.com/sql/func_mysql_substring.asp
>>
>>
>> B. "mariadb string functions"
>>
>> 1. https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/string-functions/
>> 2. https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/built-in-functions/
>> 3. https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/locate/
>> 4. https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/like/
>> 5. https://www.techonthenet.com/mariadb/functions/position.php
>>
>>
>> C. "mongodb string functions"
>>
>> 1. https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/method/db.collection.find/
>> 2. https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/text-search/
>> 3. https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/operator/query/
>> 4. https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/tutorial/query-documents/
>> 5.
>> https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/full-text-search-in-mongodb--cms-24835
>>
>>
>> In all 3 cases, we observe that the 1st position is being held by a
>> version-free link, which is still relevant and shows information for the
>> current, most recent production-ready version (e.g., for MySQL it's 8.0 and
>> the links for previous versions – 5.6 and 5.5 – go, with version hard-coded
>> to the URL).
>>
>> This is very convenient and the most user-friendly situation and I think
>> all Postgres user would benefit from it and the daily amount of confusion in
>> this world would be much less if we somehow influence on Google SEPR to make
>> it place results for the most recent and production-ready version to the
>> very top.
>>
>> But how?
>>
>> Postgres documentation has hardcoded links and the special link with
>> "current" word in URL (current main documentation page:
>> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/index.html). But why it isn't
>> being used by Google and as the main one? The reason is that PostgreSQL
>> website doesn't consider it as the main one. Any time I go to
>> https://postgresql.org/docs/ or https://www.postgresql.org/docs/ and try to
>> achieve any documentation page I don't get "current" word in URL – I need to
>> choose version myself, so I definitely get version in the URL.
>>
>> This leads to the situation when people refer to documentation pages with
>> hardcoded version in URL, when they write articles, tweet or discuss
>> anything in social networks (what is very imporatnt for Google and ranking
>> of pages nowadays) or chats or forums.
>>
>> What I propose:
>>
>> ===
>> 1) On the main page (www.postgresql.org) refer to the current
>> documentation (URL =
>> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/index.html) to allow me to
>> get there with just 1 click. This step will give great weight for this page
>> and spread good weight among deeper pages with "static" keyword in URL. It
>> will also – as well as the next steps in my proposal – encourage people to
>> use "current" URLs in their discussions/articles/posts everywhere.
>>
>> 2) Anywhere where the list of documentation versions is given, to the
>> "CURRENT" version to the top, emphasizing that this is the "main" one at the
>> moment, using the entry URL with "current" keyword and using exact version
>> only for displaying purposes, not in any URLs. Example:
>> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/manuals/ – the URL leading to the version 10
>> documentation should have "current", not "10"
>>
>> 3) On the page https://www.postgresql.org/docs/ allow users to get to the
>> "current" documentation as quickly as possible, without additional thinking
>> and clicking. Now I see the word "current", click it expecting to see the
>> documentation already but see the list of versions again because it leads me
>> to the mage https://www.postgresql.org/docs/manuals/. I would rephrase it so
>> the word "current" would have URL
>> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/index.html). In general, I
>> would redesign this page to make it more UX-friendly.
>>
>> The current version of its main, central part:
>>
>> This section contains current and archived manuals for PostgreSQL users.
>> You can read the release notes, and view a listing of books written about
>> PostgreSQL.
>>
>>
>> I propose:
>>
>> For each major PostgreSQL version, a separate version of manual exists:
>>
>> most recent production-ready version (10),
>> the list of currently supported versions (9.3 – 11 beta),
>> archived manuals (6.3 – 9.2).
>>
>> Also, you can:
>>
>> read the release notes,
>> view a listing of books written about PostgreSQL,
>> work with PostgreSQL wiki.
>>
>>
>> 4) Inside manuals, I would reverse the order of versions mentioned and
>> would make "current" upper case. Now it is:
>>
>> This page in other versions: 9.3 / 9.4 / 9.5 / 9.6 / current (10)
>>
>>
>> I propose:
>>
>> This page in other versions: CURRENT (10) / 9.6 / 9.5 / 9.4 / 9.3
>>
>> ===
>>
>> Once these steps are done, one cannot expect immediate results from
>> Google. Some time (months or, for some cases, even years) needs to be passed
>> before SEPRs for most popular queries will be properly reorganized.
>>
>> I can try and make the corresponding patches myself once the consensus is
>> achieved here.
>>
>> Nikolay
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

The problem is well known for a long time, for example, this thread from 2009
https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/1252074856.13736.17.camel%40fsopti579.F-Secure.com

It might helps if we generate sitemap.xml
(https://www.postgresql.org/sitemap.xml) with links
to the pages in "right" order.

Oleg

--
Postgres Professional: http://www.postgrespro.com
The Russian Postgres Company