Suggestion: A more focused Google-driven search link set for CLOG pages

[bekateen]

Hi Jools,

After you added GBIF as a search option on CLOG pages, I've given more thought to the other search features listed on each CLOG page. Specifically, I've been feeling that the Google search for a species tends to yield results that aren't particularly helpful.

For example, if I click that link in the above photo to search for any species using Google, Google will return the CLOG page for every species in the genus because all species appear in the drop down menu on each CLOG page.

The URL of the Google search generated for a species from its CLOG page is as follows (note: I broke up the URL with spaces so that it didn't become an active link):

https ://www .google . com/search?q=species+genus&client=pub-4826277487478777&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%237F00CC%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23333333%3BVLC%3A7F0030%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BALC%3A009900%3BLC%3A009900%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A999999%3BGIMP%3A999999%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en&sitesearch=planetcatfish.com

Here is an example, searching for

Rineloricaria lanceolata

:

The first few returns are the CLOG page for lanceolata, the clog for cf_lanceolata (that's okay), the Keeper's list for lanceolata, some of the images on the lanceolata CLOG page (those are all okay, but they were accessible from the CLOG page I was just on before clicking the Google link)... After that, Google returns the PCF homepage comes up too, along with CLOG pages for every other Rineloricaria - 1,320 results in all.

The Google search is effectively searching "site:Planetcatfish.com" when perhaps most people want to find links that AREN'T immediately accessible from the CLOG page they're already on. That means mainly the forum, Shane's World, and COTM.

My suggestion is to edit the search link as a single link hitting only these three areas: forum, Shane's World, and COTM:

genus species site:planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php | site:planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/shanesworld.php | site:planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm.php

If I go to the Google home page and type in the text above, this search results in just over 120 hits, all in the forums, in Shane's World, or in COTM

Reality check: I tried quick-testing my idea by simply inserting the three URLs I chose into the existing Google code from your search link (as shown in my first Quote box), and I yielded EITHER the forum links OR the Shane's World links or COTM, so maybe they can't be combined into a single search (or if they can, I don't know how). You might need to have separate lines on the CLOG page, one entitled "Look up Genus species in the Forum" and the other entitled "Look up Genus species in Shane's World", etc.

Perhaps there are other places that should be hit in such a search, but in my humble opinion, searching the CLOGs to show me the CLOG I'm already on is not what I'm hoping to get if I want more information.

Maybe I haven't thought this through. Am I missing something? Thanks for considering, and I apologize for all the suggestion posts today. I'm not a fan of creating work for someone else.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

Hi Eric,

I've overhauled the search on the species page, the code in there was VERY old. It now works with modern google tooling.

I've "had a go" at what you might want to see but by excluding what you don't want to see. Bear in mind the search appears on all ARN sites, (but CotM and Shane's World are specific to Planet). What I did to try to achieve your improvement was to say "search the current domain (i.e. planetcatfish) but exclude the species page".

How about you play around with it and I can further change it as you see fit?

Cheers,

Jools