Hashtags in Webhelp output

[ashleybrown415]

Hi,

The oXygen webhelp output uses hashtags as a separator, but google doesn't index them properly and they're causing a bunch of problems for our team. Can I change this setting somehow? Ideally, the #s would just be dropped altogether, i.e.

http://docs.localytics.com/#Dev/Instrum ... -mode.html

would become

http://docs.localytics.com/Dev/Instrume ... -mode.html

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

Ashley

[sorin_ristache]

The hash characters (the #'s) should not be removed from the address of the WebHelp pages and from the links to other WebHelp pages.

Google will index properly the pages that have a # in the address if you override in your custom Google Analytics code the default page value by adding a call like this one:

Code: Select all

ga('send', 'pageview', { 'page': window.location.pathname + window.location.search + window.location.hash});

as explained on the Analytics website.

[ashleybrown415]

Is there a way for us to fix this behavior, where an incorrect link including a hashtag causes the site to load inside itself?

Thanks!
Ashley

[ashleybrown415]

Also, could you clarify how it could be that the change you're suggesting would affect Google search results, since Google search crawlers can't & don't read javascript? It's hard to imagine how the change could impact how our site reads & routes URL requests. Many of our customers come to our site via Google search, so it's vital that the links are indexed properly.

Thanks!
Ashley

[sorin_ristache]

Is there a way for us to fix this behavior, where an incorrect link including a hashtag causes the site to load inside itself?

I can't find that behavior of the site loading inside itself. How can I see that in the browser on your site? What links do I have to click?

What browser name and version do you use?

[sorin_ristache]

Also, could you clarify how it could be that the change you're suggesting would affect Google search results, since Google search crawlers can't & don't read javascript?

Google clarified it on their website. Please see the note about overriding the default page value.

It's hard to imagine how the change could impact how our site reads & routes URL requests.

The change that I suggested will only impact how Google will index the WebHelp pages that are loaded by a URL that includes a hash character.