[Phpwm] tag clouds

[Phil Beynon]

> >>> So I pretty much understand the concept, how the CSS works, how
> >> you derive
> >>> the words from the database, how you make the actual word cloud
> >> for search
> >>> engines and how it intergrates with the searching functionality
> >> to present
> >>> the pages with those words to the s/e.
> >> I didn't realise search engine's understood tag clounds -
> >
> > Yeah thats why you use different size fonts, Hx tags etc as the search
> > engines do traditionally rank something thats in say an <h1>
> higher than a
> > <h6> etc.
> > Thats a fairly standard SEO technique.
> >
>
> Sorry - obviously <h> tags and font sizes would have some impact on a
> search engine, I thought you were implying there was a 'standard' tag
> cloud format that search engines could understand and use (similar to
> google-esque sitemaps)

I normally just use <ul><li> sitemaps for that sort of thing, Google likes!
:-)

>
>
> > I've seen pages with them on, and they look utterly crap :-)
> > I don't think they impart anything useful to the human reader at all.
>
> Well.. it's useful to see what sort of content is popular, and it can
> give you a quick overview of what someone's blog/site is involved
> with... or (for instance) what products have been popular recently.
>
> Although on a more commercial side, you'd think something more concrete
> like a clickable graph with numbers would be of more use!
>
> - --
> David Goodwin
>

Which opens a whole new idea up in that should a list for a sitemap be
ordered by say click # popularity of the article/period, tag cloud
popularity or even by on some sites imported information's tag cloud based
on an RSS stream.
That would be actually quite interesting to do as it would almost
synchronise knowledgebase articles presented in the sitemap  with other
sites.
You could actually base that on information snaffled from visitors recent
browser history if they had been on certain sites and present your site
accordingly. :-)

Phil
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database: 269.14.1/1050 - Release Date: 04/10/2007
17:03