Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Product Suggestion: Google-Searchable Docs

Some SQL Anywhere technical documents posted on the sap.com website aren't showing up in Google searches, and they should.

The likely reason is that these documents are located in separate PDF blobs deep down in sap.com documentation database, so deep the Google indexing process doesn't find them.

Example 1

Mobilizing an Oracle 11g Database
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/80c79a94-1b24-3010-f7a0-f299dc3b47e1?QuickLink=index&overridelayout=true&57844619551223
This document dates back to May 2011, and it originally appeared on sybase.com. When you do the following Google search
"must have permission for the GV_$TRANSACTION"
the original sybase.com copy shows up
Mobilizing an Oracle 11g Database
http://www.sybase.com/files/Technical_Documents/ias_wp_MobilizeOracle11g.pdf
but not the one on sap.com.

As time goes on, it is very likely that all technical documentation on sybase.com will be copied to sap.com and deleted from sybase.com... but for now, Google can still find this one.

Example 2

Top 10 Cool New Features In SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere 16
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/90b97407-9281-3010-92bf-edb97ae0bb72?QuickLink=index&overridelayout=true&58321360934470
This exists only on sap.com, and as such it is invisible to a Google search like this:
"skipping over one version number per year for three years"

Suggestion

Instead of burying these documents down inside a documentation database that is inaccessible to Google search, they should be stored in a location Google can find... either a simple web page, or a database that Google can index.

For example, the following document is stored as an ordinary "DOC-xxxxx" web page that Google can find:
SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere Supported Platforms and Engineering Support Status
http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-35654
In this case, a Google search works just fine:
"The tables below summarize the platforms supported by SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere"
In fact, the hidden documents ARE represented as simple "DOC-xxxxx" web pages but those pages are stubs; the actual content is buried one level further down (or eight levels further down if you count all the "/" slashes in the urls).

For example, here's the DOC-xxxxx page for the Top 10 article:
Top 10 Cool New Features in SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere 16
http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-40056
As you can see, the DOC-xxxxx page is just a stub, and the actual content is down inside the hidden page:

What's the point?

It may not be important to have this particular page searchable by Google, but that's not the point.

The point is, it IS important for MOST SQL Anywhere technical documents to be Google-searchable, and the trend favoring stealth over visibility should be reversed.


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