must have seo favorable sitemap before permanent redirect

[WardCunningham]

In issue #1 we describe the impending permanent redirection of cgi urls to a new implementation based on client-side rendering. We would like to preserve our search engine recognition through this move and beyond especially for engines that don't interpret javascript. A well formed sitemap could be the solution.

Our project would be advanced by the contribution of a script that could translate names.txt into such a map. A pull request with a script including install instructions and seo references would be welcome. Find names.txt here:

https://github.com/WardCunningham/remodeling/tree/master/static

[ghost]

Do you have a preference for a language for the PR? I can write bash, sh, Python 2 & 3, Rust and C; if any of those suit you I'll see what I can do.

[WardCunningham]

I am most concerned that there is some aspect of google that I don't understand and will somehow damage what good will I have with their algorithms. I have Python 2 so that would be a good choice. Thank you for asking.

[ghost]

I think the safest option is to actually offer static pages, which isn't that hard with the tooling available; I'm saying that as someone who's willing to significantly help implement this. If anything it will reduce page load time, which is a joy to me and improves search engine ranking.

Google does index SPA's now, but they also recommend having a sitemap in their guidelines. I think it'd be best to implement the whole Webmaster Guidelines, but that would be a separate Github issue; if you agree, please make an issue for that, and if you want me to flesh it out assign me to it.

[ghost]

As an aside, if it's no trouble I do have a preference for Python 3, as I don't want to further elongate the lifespan of Python 2 by writing new projects in it.

[WardCunningham]

I don't have Python 3. I did check and I do have Python 2 on the computers I would use. I have bash there too.

Let's be careful to not make too much of this issue. I'm guessing this requires some form of one-time template substitution and most of the work is in researching what that template should look like in our situation. I haven't made google sitemaps before and the docs look pretty thick.

The names.txt file will change a few times as I find backup copies for pages that have gone missing. So a command line script that I can rerun would be ideal. I think of this as one-time use but really it will be two or three times.

In issue #3 we describe where we are headed which is a fully distributed read-write copy of this content. Ultimately we will redirect readers into the federation, an anti-seo move.

This has come up recently in conversation on the matrix.
https://riot.im/app/#/room/#fedwiki:matrix.org
You are welcome to join us there.

[WardCunningham]

We see google indexing the remodeled wiki. This experiment indicates that indexing might not be as fast: post. Rapid update would not be a concern here but is important for federated wiki, our eventual replacement.