Now With Extra SEO Goodness
What exactly do I mean by Extra SEO Goodness? The enhancements in Vine Type version 2.2 provide three new significant Search Engine Optimization (SEO) feature improvements. Being friendly to Google and other search engines is a necessity on the internet. You want your website to be found and indexed easily -- providing the information the search engines need to categorize the information your website provides.
Improved Titles and Descriptions
The biggest feature improvements provide enhanced search result titles and descriptions for your site.
Prior to version 2.2, titles were mostly static, and per-article descriptions were non-existent.
Now, by placing the $_articletitle_text variable in your title tag and the $_article_summary variable in your meta description tag, search engine visitors are more likely to see what they are looking for.
Take a look at two Google searches for the same Vine Type site before version 2.2 and with version 2.2. Before version 2.2, all the article titles and summaries looked very similar.
After version 2.2, the difference is dramatic. Titles are meaningful, and the descriptions (the first several words of the article) provide a clear indication as to what will be found when the link is clicked.
Generic Search Engine Sitemaps
Pro users of Vine Type will also benefit from the search engine sitemap provided by version 2.2. Prior to version 2.2, Vine Type served up Google sitemaps, but now serves up a similar industry-standard version for Yahoo!, Live Search, and other search providers.
404 Page Not Found
You might not initially equate missing page support with search engine goodness, but search engines are very interested in knowing when pages have been removed, so that those pages could be removed from their index. Vine Type previous to version 2.2 issued visual 404s - blank pages when an article or section was deleted or moved.
Visitors understood their bookmark should be changed, but search engines would continue to index the old page thinking it was still in existence but now blank. This situation can lead to considerable search results clutter. By providing true 404 support, Vine Type version 2.2 sites will clearly communicate to search engines whether pages are and are not present.
Vine Type 2.2 Now Available
Vine Type 2.2 is ready for immediate download. Subtitled With Extra SEO Goodness, Vine Type's 404 support and enhanced article summary improves search engine summary reports. In addition, v2.2 pro licenses gain new generic search engine sitemap capabilities.
- fixed: (security issue) vinetype folder name is no longer shown in malformed xml message
- fixed: no more gmt timestamp when saving articles
- fixed: UTF-8 characters in ANSI-encoded file
fixed:
$article_summaries:yesnew: generic feed=sitemap (pro licenses only)
- new:
$_nowvariables- several new now variables allow you to place the current time, date, or year wherever you'd like. I use the current year in my copyright notice.
- new:
$article_summaries_more - new:
$article_summaries_more_img_url - new:
$_article_summary- place this in your meta description tag for improved search engine results
- new:
$_articletitle_text- place this in a title tag for improved page titles
- new: true 404s
- new: srch
$_nav_section$_nav_sectionwill contain "srch" when users use the srch widget.
- new:
$_commenting_open0/1 indicator
Coming Soon: Version 2.2
After some template changes and a repackaging effort, I'll be releasing Version 2.2 of Vine Type. This release will get the tagline With Extra SEO Goodness because the bulk of the changes have been in support of improved Search Engine Optimization behaviors.
From improved search engine result titles and summary descriptions to true 404 Page Not Found support -- version 2.2 provides more tools to get your site indexed even better.
Stay tuned for the update.
Vine Type Template
Boston
A new Vine Type template is available for immediate download. Boston is based from an award-winning Word Press template by Sreejith Krishnan.
A darker theme with orange highlights is in keeping with the season. This template can be viewed in action at the vinetype.org website. Download Boston now.
Vine Type Praised for Accessibility
Today brings even more recognition and praise for Vine Type. This time Accessites.org is praising the Vine Type site itself. Accessites scores and awards sites based on how well they provide web site accessibility. In the review, Accessites noted that Vine Type's level of accessibility is remarkable because "There are few CMSs that excel in [the area of accessibility.]"
The Vine Type site was awarded a Noteable Universal Design designation. Read the full review at the Accessites.org web site.
AspNetPRO Magazine Review
Asp.NetPRO Magazine just released a very positive review of the Vine Type 1.4 Content Management System.
Microsoft MVP Anand Narayanaswamy authored the article, and praises Vine Type for its small size, ease of installation, and ease of content management. He writes:
"I found it very interesting to work with the product as it is easy to manage all the required settings using a single configuration file rather than locating and editing several files."
Vine Type is further praised for its ease of upgrading, portability, as well as Vine Type's ability to provide rich text entry without the need of a "heavyweight WYSIWYG text editor."
Read the entire review at the AspNetPRO website.
Vine Type is Cool
It's official. Vine Type is cool.
411asp.net, one of the premiere .NET application directories, has determined that Vine Type, a content management system designed to facilitate standards compliance, is not only functional, but it's cool. Vine Type's directory listing is enhanced with an icon of 3d-glasses to designate it as cool.
Vine Type joins an elite set of cool applications in the 411asp.net directory, and is the first and only content management system in the directory awarded cool status.
Note: Vine Type has not, and does not, advertise on the 411asp.net site.