Google Listing shows SmugMug not my domain name

caroline

Approx 24 hours ago I updated the gallery description on my Portfolio
http://www.carolineshipsey.co.uk/gallery/3606374#205170768_vYBvU

I've just been checking some searches on Google and see the following entry

Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

Why does the URL have www.smugmug.com/gallery/3606374#205170768_vYBvU and not my domain name ?

What is more concerning is that when clicking the link my customization doesn't appear.

I try not to get to obsessed about Google listings but find this a little strange ?

Caroline

paulbrock

I'm pretty sure google will list both your smugmug.com pages and again for your custom domain pages.

Can't see why the customisation isn't picked up on your smugmug.com pages though! Only thing I can spot is that rather than being
http://cdn.smugmug.com/gallery/3606374#205170768_vYBvU
it's
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/3606374#205170768_vYBvU

Maybe check you haven't got 'hide owner' set on the gallery? Other than that can't help sorry...

caroline

Hi Paul,
Thanks for taking a look - I checked that I haven't got 'hide owner' set before I posted as I saw something similar posted in another thread. Andy has picked this up and the Smugmug guys ar looking at it, however, I did want to change some other gallery descriptions but until this is resolved I will hold fire. I don't want it to happen again :-(

Cheers,
Caroline

paulbrock wrote:

I'm pretty sure google will list both your smugmug.com pages and again for your custom domain pages.

Can't see why the customisation isn't picked up on your smugmug.com pages though! Only thing I can spot is that rather than being
http://cdn.smugmug.com/gallery/3606374#205170768_vYBvU
it's
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/3606374#205170768_vYBvU

Maybe check you haven't got 'hide owner' set on the gallery? Other than that can't help sorry...

caroline

Message for Dustin & Question Generally
I have created a new gallery in 'Portfolio' category called 'google testing' with the same description as the original portfolio gallery, since this is what caused the problem. I'm hoping you can throw some light on why this happened soon because I would like to change other gallery descriptions but don't want to end up in the same situation.

I wonder if this has happened to anyone else ? It was a fluke really that I discovered this, so maybe if you have changed a gallery description and not checked how you appear in google subsequently you could be unaware.

caroline

The test gallery I set up this morning is already showing up on a google search:-
Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

If anyone has created new galleries in the past couple of days perhaps they could check and see how they are being picked up by Google. Until there is an explanation for this I will not be either creating new public galleries or editing gallery descriptions.

Caroline

caroline wrote:

I have created a new gallery in 'Portfolio' category called 'google testing' with the same description as the original portfolio gallery, since this is what caused the problem. I'm hoping you can throw some light on why this happened soon because I would like to change other gallery descriptions but don't want to end up in the same situation.

I wonder if this has happened to anyone else ? It was a fluke really that I discovered this, so maybe if you have changed a gallery description and not checked how you appear in google subsequently you could be unaware.

paulbrock

OK...so checked my site somemore.

Google picks up my galleries in www.smugmug.com, as well as paulbrock.smugmug.com and www.paulbrockphotography.co.uk. I suspect it always has done; I'd prefer it if we could only have our custom domain listed but don't think that's currently possible. Till now I've not been too bothered as normally www.smugmug.com doesn't show up till way down in the listings...

Customisation is fine for some galleries
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/206753_7uDjj

which displays customisation, but not
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/3540435
or
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6341940_N6Tkh
which dont!

Possible solutions (for Smugmug - looks like there's nothing we can do about this)
1) Don't allow indexing of galleries under www.smugmug.com, only under username.smugmug.com (Yes please!)
2) Ensure customisation shows up on galleries under www.smugmug.com

caroline

Paul,
Thanks very much for looking into this on your site. I'm glad that you have picked this 'occurance' up too, also interesting that sometimes the customization displays but not always. I wouldn't care if this entry was way down the listings but at the moment using a few different search terms its sits smack bang on the top, and it really bugs me. I do hope that SmugMug have an explanation for this, if I can understand why it happening AND that it happens to everyone and not just me that makes it a little better. BUT the big question is why the difference in the way your galleries display when they apparently are showing up in similar forms.

Really appreciate your input here Paul.

Caroline

paulbrock wrote:

OK...so checked my site somemore.

Google picks up my galleries in www.smugmug.com, as well as paulbrock.smugmug.com and www.paulbrockphotography.co.uk. I suspect it always has done; I'd prefer it if we could only have our custom domain listed but don't think that's currently possible. Till now I've not been too bothered as normally www.smugmug.com doesn't show up till way down in the listings...

Customisation is fine for some galleries
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/206753_7uDjj

which displays customisation, but not
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/3540435
or
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/6341940_N6Tkh
which dont!

Possible solutions (for Smugmug - looks like there's nothing we can do about this)
1) Don't allow indexing of galleries under www.smugmug.com, only under username.smugmug.com (Yes please!)
2) Ensure customisation shows up on galleries under www.smugmug.com

Thando

caroline wrote:

Paul,
Thanks very much for looking into this on your site. I'm glad that you have picked this 'occurance' up too, also interesting that sometimes the customization displays but not always. I wouldn't care if this entry was way down the listings but at the moment using a few different search terms its sits smack bang on the top, and it really bugs me. I do hope that SmugMug have an explanation for this, if I can understand why it happening AND that it happens to everyone and not just me that makes it a little better. BUT the big question is why the difference in the way your galleries display when they apparently are showing up in similar forms.

Really appreciate your input here Paul.

Caroline

Hi Caroline. I've been trying to figure this out and unfortunately I don't have much yet. I searched for 'carolineshipsey portfolio' and the first result was http://www.carolineshipsey.co.uk/Portfolio what search terms are you using when you get the www.smugmug.com address at the top? If you'd prefer to do this through email just let me know. I've got the email you sent to help.

caroline

Hi Thando,
Thank you for looking into this, I don't mind if we do it on the list or through email as long as we do it
I agree that if you search for 'caroline shipsey portfolio' it returns the result as you get. However its not very likely that someone will use this. These are the terms I used and the results as I detail below :-
caroline shipsey mendip hills
caroline shipsey mendip
caroline shipsey mendips
shipsey mendip hills
caroline mendip hills
mendip hills shipsey
mendip shipsey
mendips shipsey
priddy shipsey
priddy caroline shipsey
mendips caroline shipsey
mendip hills caroline shipsey
mendip caroline shipsey
photographer mendips caroline shipsey
photographer mendips

There may be other permutations, in every case using those search terms which would be typical the offending entry appears on the first page of google listings in varying positions from 3 down to 10. This morning it appeared at number 1 several times.

I have just a few pics at photographersdirect.co.uk and haven't updated that for ages, and some of the other entries are for qute old contributions ie pbase etc, and yet those search results regularly return listings for them.

I hope this gives you some additional ideas for looking into this. If you prefer to take this off list thats fine by me, thank you again for looking into this.

Caroline

Thando wrote:

Hi Caroline. I've been trying to figure this out and unfortunately I don't have much yet. I searched for 'carolineshipsey portfolio' and the first result was http://www.carolineshipsey.co.uk/Portfolio what search terms are you using when you get the www.smugmug.com address at the top? If you'd prefer to do this through email just let me know. I've got the email you sent to help.

caroline

Thando, please see PM :-)

Caroline

Thando

caroline wrote:

Hi Thando,
Thank you for looking into this, I don't mind if we do it on the list or through email as long as we do it
I agree that if you search for 'caroline shipsey portfolio' it returns the result as you get. However its not very likely that someone will use this. These are the terms I used and the results as I detail below :-
caroline shipsey mendip hills
caroline shipsey mendip
caroline shipsey mendips
shipsey mendip hills
caroline mendip hills
mendip hills shipsey
mendip shipsey
mendips shipsey
priddy shipsey
priddy caroline shipsey
mendips caroline shipsey
mendip hills caroline shipsey
mendip caroline shipsey
photographer mendips caroline shipsey
photographer mendips

There may be other permutations, in every case using those search terms which would be typical the offending entry appears on the first page of google listings in varying positions from 3 down to 10. This morning it appeared at number 1 several times.

I have just a few pics at photographersdirect.co.uk and haven't updated that for ages, and some of the other entries are for qute old contributions ie pbase etc, and yet those search results regularly return listings for them.

I hope this gives you some additional ideas for looking into this. If you prefer to take this off list thats fine by me, thank you again for looking into this.

Caroline

Thanks that helps. Will take a look.

caroline

I'm still trying to resolve this myself while waiting to see if you have any suggestions on why its happening and how to be sure it isn't going to happen again. So, how about looking at it being something to do with consolidating my 'caroline2.smugmug.com' account with carolineshipsey.co.uk ? I see lots of the former url when searching with the terms I gave in my previous post.
I can't remember whether the 'Portfolio' category was originally in the caroline2 account - could you check this for me please ? Is it possible to provide a list of the other galleries that were transferred so I can check into this, or can you give me a definitive answer ?

Caroline

Ryan Armbrust

I have noticed the same thing. It is very odd how it happens. It is pretty lame that we work hard on the look only to have our customization taken away on some Google search returns.

caroline

Further Question Please
As there doesn't appear to be an explanation of this from SmugMug I removed the images and put a link in the gallery description to the new location. This means that the words "This is a brand new gallery with no photos" appears, so I added code to my CSS as I thought to remove this comment. However, it doesn't work because the URL doesn't actually reference my site only SmugMug. I don't want to delete the gallery completely because then the link in google will simply go straight to SmugMugs home page. An answer would be so much appreciated.

http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/3606374_78nfS/1/130226569_GavsP

Caroline