Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

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Ingmar Koecher
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Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:13 pm

Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Ingmar Koecher »

We've been using H&M for quite some time, and the HTML version of our product is posted online. I've been told by our web team that our online help that is generated by H&M is not only being ignored by Google, but effectively harms our overall ranking.

Google complains about several issues, including:

* Text too small to read
* Clickable elements too close together
* Content wider than screen
* Viewport not set
* Underscores in file names
* Title Too Long
* Missing Descriptions

It seems to mainly complain that the online help is not suitable for mobile devices. The skin I am using is "Webhelp, Responsive Grey, Keywordlist.hmskin". To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Google's seemingly arbitrary rules, but at the end of the day we need to make sure the search engine ranking of our site is good, something we invested a lot of resources into.

Is this is a known issue and is there something we can do about that?

Thank you.
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Tim Green
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Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Ingmar,

If you're getting a message about the viewport not being set then you're using a very old copy of that skin that has been obsolete for a long time. All the current standard skins have the viewport set in all the HTML pages and templates. Underscores in file names is not an issue and can be ignored.

If your content is wider than the page that is not something Help+Manual can change for you automatically. You need to make your content responsive by not using layout tables, other fixed-width tables and non-breaking text in your project, and by setting all your images to responsive by using the %of page width setting instead of physical size.

Title too long and missing descriptions are also up to you. Help+Manual can't define your title, and it has fields for descriptions, alt text etc. for all elements that you can insert. You just need to insert them -- here too, Help+Manual can't do it for you. That is your job as the author.

If you change all those things, it is unlikely that any ranking influence by Google will be significant compared to the reputation and popularity of your page content. We use our own skins for our own online WebHelp documentation, and it ranks highly for many searches. 8)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Ingmar Koecher
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Ingmar Koecher »

Thank you for the quick response. I will start with updating the skin, I was unaware that it is outdated. Where do I get the latest version of that skin? All of the WebHelp* skins in the "C:\Program Files (x86)\EC Software\HelpAndManual8\Templates\HTML Skins" folder have a time stamp from 2018?
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Tim Green
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Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Ingmar,

If you install the current version of Help+Manual 8 and make sure to check the box for sample content etc. you should get the current versions. However, the 2018 dates are correct, even though they are actually up to date. If you look in the templates you will see that the viewport tag is set in all of them.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Ingmar Koecher
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Ingmar Koecher »

Thank you.

Where can I verify that I have the latest templates that have the viewport set? I clicked around a bit but wasn't able to find that.
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Tim Green
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Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Tim Green »

Ingmar Koecher wrote: Tue Oct 04, 2022 4:49 pm Where can I verify that I have the latest templates that have the viewport set? I clicked around a bit but wasn't able to find that.
Open the .hmskin file in Help+Manual and check in:

Configuration > HTML Templates > Default
Publishing > WebHelp
> Layout
> Table of Contents
> Keyword Index
> Full Text Search

You will see the viewport meta tag towards the top of the template code in all five templates.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Ingmar Koecher
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Ingmar Koecher »

Loading the templates from the installation folder, after downloading the latest v8 installer and making sure ALL check boxes are checked, did not update those templates, and I don't see viewport set anywhere there.

However, we really don't like how google searches bring people to a page without navigation, so we will need to purchase the premium pack anyways.
Ingmar Koecher
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Ingmar Koecher »

I just purchased the premium pack and selected the "WebHelp, Responsive Blue, Keywordslist" but I still don't see viewport anywhere. Looking at the templates folder it looks like the premium packs are in a sub folder, so I selected the Modern_Standard_Business_Grey_WebHelp instead, and when I create the WebHelp, I do see a viewport in the source, so that part seems OK now.

The only thing left for me is to change the top of the web help that features your logo (obviously we don't want that) and links to your site. Can you tell me how we can customize that?

Do we need that toolbox app that popped up after I installed the premium skins?
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Tim Green
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Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Tim Green »

Ingmar Koecher wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 3:20 pm I just purchased the premium pack and selected the "WebHelp, Responsive Blue, Keywordslist" but I still don't see viewport anywhere.

Installing the Premium Pack doesn't have any effect on the standard skins. However, I just checked and the ones with "keywordlist" in their names are older and don't have the viewport tags.
Do we need that toolbox app that popped up after I installed the premium skins?
Yes, you can't configure them properly without it. When you use it, you get the configuration variables in logical groups with filters, popup help for every variable and plausibility checks for your settings. You can also use it to edit the templates in a proper code editor, but you need to set that up in Edit > Preferences first (we recommend using Notepad++). 8)
The only thing left for me is to change the top of the web help that features your logo (obviously we don't want that) and links to your site. Can you tell me how we can customize that?
You need the documentation, which you can access from the Help menu in the Toolbox. The section you need for the Modern Standard skins is here:

https://www.it-authoring.com/info/pp4he ... skins.html

The setting for the logo URL is in the Header & Footer variables group.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Ingmar Koecher
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Ingmar Koecher »

Thank you, I figured out how to do some of these changes. I'm sorry to say that it is not very intuitive, the toolbox app is very outdated but thankfully this will be a one-time process.

One thing I cannot figure out is how to remove or edit the following links in the standard help:

EC Software Website
Tutorials
Resources
Information

I haven't been able to find those in any variables?
Ingmar Koecher
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Ingmar Koecher »

OK, I figured out that I had to edit the HM_HEADERMENU.html html file in the baggage section and was able to customize it that way.
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Tim Green
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Re: Google penalizes us for H&M Online Help

Unread post by Tim Green »

Ingmar Koecher wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 6:57 pm One thing I cannot figure out is how to remove or edit the following links in the standard help:
...
I haven't been able to find those in any variables?
...
OK, I figured out that I had to edit the HM_HEADERMENU.html html file in the baggage section and was able to customize it that way.
This is all in the help, I really recommend going there first. 8)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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