Goo goo ga ga Google

My gosh Google is an ornery old search engine.

For some time now Google didn't seem to want to index our web site at www.towergames.com or give it any significant ranking. We tried beefing up our content and wiggling for the shark but it didn't seem to make any difference. Then in April I discovered Google Web Tools. These told me something was wrong, only our home page was properly indexed! Next step was the Google Webmasters Forum, which you get to from your account page in Google Web Tools.

Lots of people tearing their hair out, a few without a clue pretending like they know whats going on and putting others down for their ignorance. I got lucky. I posted that I was having this trouble and one of the other members actually checked the site out and came back to tell me precicely what was wrong!

The answer? Well Google Web Bot is very pernickety about following the HTML rules, more so than the web browser you are reading this with. I had to run my pages through the W3C QA Tools to identify the bugs and fix them. It took a while.

After putting the changes online I had to wait for Google Bot to scan my pages again. Then in May it tookoff. All those pages about the Tower Games scenarios could be found easily and people started dropping in at long last.

For your interest here are the scenario pages:

Pickett’s Charge

Antietam

Brice’s Crossroads

First Bull Run

Cedar Mountain

Champion Hill

Corinth

Gaines’s Mill

Gettysburg Day 1

Pea Ridge

Shiloh