(Archived) QUESTION: Are Shared Notebooks Indexed by Google?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I thought the answer was yes. But, now I am not so sure.

I am starting to think shared notebooks are not indexed by Google. I have searched for content contained in several of them that I have joined, but Google provides no hits. I can find the URLs for the notebooks on Google, but not the content. I have done this both for notebooks linked from websites indexed by Google and single notes on websites indexed by Google.

The only exception that I am aware of is an Evernote support FAQ that has recently been made unavailable. Does anyone know of any other example in which the content of a shared note or notebook appears in the Google search results?

[gazumped 11,652]

We had a discussion a while ago about addresses containing "/shard" and a search on Google (I won't post the exact wording, but it's not hard..) produces all the notes with that address, which -on a quick test- are accessible as long as you don't try to access a PDF file. The PDF address I tried got me a firm 'access not allowed' message. Other notes seem to be available, which then opens up the notebook of which they are part. I think these are notes shared by URL rather than the sharing process in Evernote, which it has been acknowledged are open to anyone who has the URL.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

We had a discussion a while ago about addresses containing "/shard" and a search on Google (I won't post the exact wording, but it's not hard..) produces all the notes with that address, which -on a quick test- are accessible as long as you don't try to access a PDF file. The PDF address I tried got me a firm 'access not allowed' message. Other notes seem to be available, which then opens up the notebook of which they are part. I think these are notes shared by URL rather than the sharing process in Evernote, which it has been acknowledged are open to anyone who has the URL.

Thanks. That wasn't exactly the question, though (you are talking about Google advanced searches with inurl, which actually works better in this case with "pub" rather than "shard", because only public notebooks have "pub" in them, while "shard" is all sorts of stuff).

Anyhow, I can access everything, and I know that Google (theoretically) could follow the links as well, but it doesn't seem to be doing that. In other words, Google is not searching the notebook content (as far as I can tell). Of course, this kind of takes the sharing part out of shared notebooks, because now they are limited to people who somehow stumble upon your link to the shared notebook. I don't see anything in the HTML that is telling Google not to index it, though.

[gazumped 11,652]

You're kind've entering the dark matter of internet marketing here - how realistic is it to expect that someone will subscribe to your notebook because of a random search? I'd submit that 99.99% of visitors to a notebook page - even a public one - are the ones who were given the URL in some form.

The chances of your notebook page on newt-stuffing coming up anywhere high in a Google search are (I think) infinitesimal. I Googled an unusual looking phrase from one of the pages I found today and got four hits - each one from the originally published paper, not from the shard page; that was hidden in the addition hits that Google had hidden because they were duplicates of what it had already turned up.

Regardless of the depth of Google's indexing I wouldn't rely on searches generating hits - I thought the concern might be more on security issues if pages shared with individuals could be viewed through Google's cache - which as far as I can see, they can't.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

actually, quite a few people have joined my notebook since i made it public on my website, and i think that if google indexed my notebook, then considerably more in my field would do so. of course, if it is not indexed, then that is another story.

the only shared notebook i have seen indexed is that one evernote faq (gone now). perhaps evernote changed something, because in my experience (i used to design websites back in the day and seo was a big deal), google is pretty thorough (it has indexed my entire site) unless someone prevents its spiders from crawling around.

well, your findings confirmed my hunch. i was pretty excited about the potential for shifting my site to shared notebooks, but that prospect is looking pretty dim at the moment. back to being a grumpy coding monkey

[lindseycholmes 32]

You can also submit your notebook to me via EverShared. This is a free project that I created to syndicate shared Evernote notebooks. They live here - www.evershared.com, and then notebook updates are syndicated through @evershared.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

You can also submit your notebook to me via EverShared. This is a free project that I created to syndicate shared Evernote notebooks. They live here - www.evershared.com, and then notebook updates are syndicated through @evershared.

Hi. Please do add it. You can find it in my signature. Thanks!

By the way, thanks to notifications, I can see you have been working on your notebook. Good on you!

[IvanPsy 10]

Let me see if I understand...(I was just wondering how I could use Evernote as my blogging platform)

Are public notebooks indexed by Google?

If yes, how can I improve the SEO?

I read in another topic that it would better to link my public notebook to a blogging platform...but how?

I'd like to use a microblogging platform (maybe Tumblr) for my daily thoughts, with some links to my public notebook (I'd write the main articles in Evernote).

What do you think of it?

Are public notebooks so SEO effective?

Thank you!

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Let me see if I understand...(I was just wondering how I could use Evernote as my blogging platform)

Are public notebooks indexed by Google?

If yes, how can I improve the SEO?

I read in another topic that it would better to link my public notebook to a blogging platform...but how?

I'd like to use a microblogging platform (maybe Tumblr) for my daily thoughts, with some links to my public notebook (I'd write the main articles in Evernote).

What do you think of it?

Are public notebooks so SEO effective?

Thank you!

Hi. As mentioned above, your public notebooks (as far as I know) will not be indexed by Google, and so nothing in them will be found through any search. At best, you can have a link to the shared notebook, and someone will stumble across it. If you are really lucky, someone like me will publish a list ( http://www.princeton...dnotebooks.html ) and include your notebooks in it

However, there is a really cool new service called Everblogger. Basically, you write something in your blog notebook in Evernote, they take it and post it on their site in blog format, and that gets searched by Google. Everything is synced and really convenient.

http://www.everblog.org

[IvanPsy 10]

I thank you for your answer...

In the meanwhile I found this...

What do you think about it?

I don't understand if the author means you take ALL the EN note and copy to your blog (then Google indexes it because the note had simply become a blog post), or you post the note link (just the URL), then Google find it, follow the link and then it goes deep in the EN note...

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I thank you for your answer...

In the meanwhile I found this...

What do you think about it?

I don't understand if the author means you take ALL the EN note and copy to your blog (then Google indexes it because the note had simply become a blog post), or you post the note link (just the URL), then Google find it, follow the link and then it goes deep in the EN note...

Interesting. The page seems to be saying:

(1) Shared notebooks are not indexed by Google

(2) Shared notes ARE indexed by Google IF they are linked from a regularly indexed web site. I'll test this out and see what happens. I do believe shared notes and shared notebooks are handled differently, so it seems like a possibility. It would not work at all well for someone thinking of fashioning a web site out of shared note links, though.

In the end, I think if you want to take an Evernote note and turn it into a blog post that gets indexed by Google, Everblog is the best answer. Otherwise, you have to copy the content of a note and paste it into Wordpress or whatever blog application you are using.

[IvanPsy 10]

Yeah I think there's a difference between shared notebooks and shared notes...I'll wait for you tests: I'm not a tech! ;-)

I had a look at Everblogger: nice service!

Just a question: Google indexes the Everblogger pages or the related notes inside my Evernote account?

How about backlinks (for a SEO purpose), do I have to backlink to my EN note link, or to the Everblogger page?

I'm sorry if I'm boring, but I have to get all the necessary infos before taking a decision... :-)

BTW: TNX for your support! ;-)

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Yeah I think there's a difference between shared notebooks and shared notes...I'll wait for you tests: I'm not a tech! ;-)

I had a look at Everblogger: nice service!

Just a question: Google indexes the Everblogger pages or the related notes inside my Evernote account?

How about backlinks (for a SEO purpose), do I have to backlink to my EN note link, or to the Everblogger page?

I'm sorry if I'm boring, but I have to get all the necessary infos before taking a decision... :-)

BTW: TNX for your support! ;-)

Whatever you do, you'll want to test it out for a while. As far as I know, nothing goes inside your account. Rather, Everblogger kind of copies the information out of the notes in your shared notebook and pastes it onto the site on its domain. From the standpoint of a visitor to that blog (search engine or human being), your Evernote account doesn't exist.

[gazumped 11,652]

@GM - Just so you know..

I was interested in the blogging site, so registered a shared notebook with everblog.org; wasn't impressed that my test-page blog showed my Evernote user name, and the site doesn't have any contact or feedback details at all. Looked for another connection to a developer's site, and fell over the EverBlog that was in the Devcup. That URL is Everblog.us, and they have a completely different sign-up process.

I just deleted my shared everblog.org notebook (there's no 'cancel' option on the website either).

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

@GM - Just so you know..

I was interested in the blogging site, so registered a shared notebook with everblog.org; wasn't impressed that my test-page blog showed my Evernote user name, and the site doesn't have any contact or feedback details at all. Looked for another connection to a developer's site, and fell over the EverBlog that was in the Devcup. That URL is Everblog.us, and they have a completely different sign-up process.

I just deleted my shared everblog.org notebook (there's no 'cancel' option on the website either).

Thanks. I am just testing it out, so I can't say much about it. This is important information. Personally, I've got them linked up to my test account, and not to my regular one.