James Cellphone

Many of us install server-side (ASP, CGI or PHP) scripts on our web sites, and many of this scripts store data on the server. However, poorly designed scripts can experience performance problems and sometimes even data corruption on busy (and not so busy) web sites.

If you’re not a programmer, why should this matter to you?

Answer: Even if you’re just installing and using server-side scripts, you’ll want to make sure that the scripts that you choose don’t randomly break or corrupt your data.

First, some examples of the types of scripts which store data on web servers include:

(Of course, many scripts in each of these (and other) categories are well-designed, and run perfectly well even on very busy web sites).

1. Follow-up autoresponders typically store the list of subscribers to the autoresponder, as well where in the sequence of messages, each subscriber is. Examples of autoresponder scripts: http://www.scriptcavern.com/scr_email_auto.php

2. Classified ad scripts store (at least) a list of all the classified ads placed by visitors. Examples of this type of script: http://www.scriptcavern.com/scr_classified.php

3. Free for all links scripts store a list of all links posted by visitors. See some example scripts listed at: http://www.scriptcavern.com/scr_ffa.php

4. Top site scripts usually store a list of the members of the top site as well as information about the number of “votes” that each has received. For examples of this type of script, see http://www.scriptcavern.com/scr_topsite.php

So what kind of scripts have problems? And what sort of problems am I talking about?

Well the principle problems all relate to what happens when bits of data from multiple users needs to be stored on updated at the same time. Some scripts handle these situations well, but others don’t…

DATA CORRUPTION

Here’s a common data corruption problem that can occur with many scripts:

1. When some bit of data needs to be updated, a copy of the server-side script starts running, and then starts updating it.

2. If another user comes along and does an update before the first copy of the script has finished, a second copy of the script starts running at the same time.

3. There are a number of ways things can now go wrong, for example:

(a) What if the first copy of the script reads in the data, then the second copy reads the same data, then the first copy updates the data, then the second copy updates the data? Answer: any changes made by the first copy of the script can get lost.

(b) What if the first and second copy of scripts are both adding multiple bits of new data to the store at the same time? For example, imagine each needs to store the headline, description and the name of the person posting a classified ad. Well, what can happen (with some scripts) is the two classified ads can get intermingled, so you might get (for example) HEADLINE-1, DESCRIPTION-1, HEADLINE-2, PERSON-1, DESCRIPTION-2, PERSON-2. Or worse yet, you might get bits of each part of each classified ad, mixed with the bits of the other. This type of thing is usually really bad news, as your data may consequently becoming unusable from that point on.

Does this sound too unlikely a problem to worry about? Don’t bank on it… even if it happens only 1 time in 1,000, or 1 in 10,000, eventually it will happen: You need a solution.

So the real question is: is it possible for programmers to create scripts without these kinds of problems? Fortunately the answer is yes, and there are a number of ways that programmers can address it:

1. They can store each bit of data in a separate file. This isn’t necessarily a total solution by itself (in particular, a script which just does this could still have problems if multiple copies of a script update the same file at the same time), but it does make data corruption less likely, and if corruption does occur, at least it won’t corrupt the entire data store in one go.

2. They can use file-locking. This means that if one copy of a script is working with a file, another copy of the script is prevented from working on that file, until the first copy has finished. File-locking works if done correctly, but programming it into a script needs to be done very carefully and precisely, for every single possible case… even a tiny bug or omission can allow the possibility of data-corruption in through the backdoor!

3. They can use a database (such as MySQL) to store the data. Provided the data is properly structured in the database, the database handles the locking automatically. And, as the programmer doesn’t have to write their own special locking routines, the possibility of bugs and omissions are much reduced.

PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS

Of course, avoiding having your data corrupted should be the paramount consideration in choosing a script, but is there anything else we need to be concerned about?

Answer: Performance

Of course, all webmasters are aiming to build busy high traffic web sites… but will your scripts be able to handle the load?

Go back and re-read the paragraph on file-locking. Now think about what would happen if all the classified ads on your classified page were stored in a single file (or all the links on your top site, or all the subscribers to your autoresponder, etc.).

What would happen?

Answer: Because each update can only be performed after the previous update has been completely finished, your site may be slow, or even unable to handle all your users’ requests.

So what’s the solution?

There’s two options that programmers can use:

1. They can use lots of small files and file-lock each individually (for example, one per classified, one per top site listing, etc.). Of course, this needs to be handled very carefully…

2. They can use a database (like MySQL), as databases allow any one individual record (“row”) to be updated, even when another is also being updated.

IN CONCLUSION

Now, let’s summarise:

1. Scripts that store data in files need to use file-locking to avoid data-corruption, and they also need to break the data into separately updateable chunks to avoid performance problems on busy web sites.

2. Scripts that store data in databases (like MySQL), provided of course that they have been properly coded, are usually less likely to suffer from data-corruption or performance problems.

And one additional point:

3. Even the best script is not immune to hard-disk hardware failures, your web host being struck by lightning, and all the other snafus that can happen. So, do take regular back-ups of any data that you can’t afford to lose!

In short, even if you’re not a script programmer, you need to be aware of data storage issues. In future, when considering a script for your web site, don’t be afraid to ask some hard questions about how it stores data and how well it handles multiple users.

1-Write easy-to-read text – Users enjoy content that is well written and easy to follow. Avoid: – writing sloppy text with many spelling and grammatical mistakes – embedding text in images for textual content (users may want to copy and paste the text and search engines can’t read it) – Stay organized around the topic – It’s always beneficial to organize your content so that visitors have a good sense of where one content topic begins and another ends. Breaking your content up into logical chunks or divisions helps users find the content they want faster. Avoid: – dumping large amounts of text on varying topics onto a page without paragraph, subheading, or layout separation – Use relevant language – Think about the words that a user might search for to find a piece of your content. Users who know a lot about the topic might use different keywords in their search queries than someone who is new to the topic. For example, a long-time baseball fan might search for [nlcs], an acronym for the National League Championship Series, while a new fan might use a more general query like [baseball playoffs]. Anticipating these differences in search behavior and accounting for them while writing your content (using a good mix of keyword phrases) could produce positive results. Google AdWords provides a handy Keyword Tool that helps you discover new keyword variations and see the proximate search volume for each keyword. Also, Google Webmaster Tools provides you with the top search queries your site appears for and the ones that led the most users to your site.

2- Create fresh, unique content – New content will not only keep your existing visitor base coming back, but also bring in new visitors. Avoid: – rehashing (or even copying) existing content that will bring little extra value to users – having duplicate or near-duplicate versions of your content across your site; content theft creates an entirely different problem. Just as thieves can steal tangible goods, they can also steal content. This, unsurprisingly, is the reason why it is called content theft. It creates a similar problem for search engines, because they strive to filter duplicate content from search results — across different web sites as well — and will sometimes make the wrong assumption as to which instance of the content is the original, authoritative one. – Offer exclusive content or services – Consider creating a new, useful service that no other site offers. You could also write an original piece of research, break an exciting news story,or leverage your unique user base. Other sites may lack the resources or expertise to do these things.

3- Create content primarily for your users, not search engines – Designing your site around your visitors’ needs while making sure your site is easily accessible to search engines usually produces positive results. Avoid: – inserting numerous unnecessary keywords aimed at search engines but are annoying or nonsensical to users – having blocks of text like “frequent misspellings used to reach this page” that add little value for users – deceptively hiding text from users, but displaying it to search engines

More than 1.5 billion people are now on the Internet and a big majority don’t speak English. Investing in multilingual seo services is a way for a company to reach these potential audiences with localised, market-specific sites with a process that can be described as web localisation.

Regardless of your choice of selecting a search marketing agency specialized on International search marketing or your will to handle this in-house, you will have to take several factors into account:

• IP delivery . The location of the server where your site is hosted might have an impact on your rankings for local results. You might want to try to purchase a hosting service that is located in the target country you want to target and will thus provide you with a local IP address. • Domains. CCTLDs might have some effects on how the native users will perceive your company. Click through rates for listings with the same local TLD than the Google version your audiencer is using seem to be higher than for neutral TLDs (.org,.com, etc) • Language identification. This seems an obvious one but the answer is more complex that it feels. A string of letters (such as l-e-t-t-e-r-s) can have meanings in several languages – and often English words are adopted by speakers of other languages. The language of the site is being parsed by the search engines through language identification techniques although you can hint at the language of the site through the meta content tag. •Google webmaster tools geolocation. With Google Webmaster Tools you can assign a specific target geographic audience to a part of your site, even at a folder level. •Local links. They could be the main factors in order to determine the local flavour of a specific site. •Social media presence in local social networks. Google recently admitted that they look at social media factors of a specific site as part of their ranking algorithm within the local query cluster. Participation in local social networks should be very important in the future.

Oscar Carreras is a Multilingual Search Marketing expert, and lot more. In the past, he was an International SEO consultant for a renown International search agency, where he provided with support , consultancy and branding strategy. He has been giving International SEO tips and solving Multilingual search engine optimization problems at http://europeanseo.org for more than 4 years.