A few of you using the Firefox browser let us know right away that our permalinks weren’t working right after the
Search Engine Watch Blog launched. We fixed that within hours. However, I’ve been meaning to post exactly what happened, in case others encounter a similar problem.
Each of our posts uses the file format of two-digit year, two-digit month, two-digit day, a dash, then the entry number. Why? It makes it easy for me to know when exactly a
post was created. Each post also lacks a file extension. They don’t end in .html, .htm, .asp and so on. Why? There’s no reason to have a file extension.
One glitch did come up with that, however. Not having an extension meant that our server sent the file to browsers as a "text/plain"
MIME type. Internet Explorer, seeing that this supposed "text" file contained HTML, decided to assume the
file was in HTML despite what the server was saying. That means IE users had no problems. But Firefox, actually doing exactly what the server instructed, showed the plain text
of the file — causing Firefox users to see the HTML source code.
The solution was easy. The default MIME type for content in our blog area was set to be "text/HTML," solving the Firefox problem.
Related reading
Four tools to build a smarter and more up-to-date in-house marketing team
The SEO community has been fighting with low-quality, outdated and simply incorrect content for ages. How to educate yourself as well as your team in this abyss of misinformation? Here are four tools that can help solve these problems.
The best SEO influencers and resources to follow
The SEO industry has spawned a vast array of influencers, dispensing invaluable insights that businesses can apply to their own strategies. With luminaries like Rand Fishkin, Danny Sullivan and Matt McGee announcing their departures from the scene in the near future, who should SEOs follow for advice and best practices? Here are some of the best experts and resources in the industry right now.
How to escape Google’s filter bubble
Over the years, Google has greatly increased the extent to which it tailors results to the user, with the aim of improving accuracy and relevance. While this can be helpful and convenient, many users find it disturbing - or unhelpful to their efforts in getting their site found by a wider audience. Here, we look at how, as a user, you can escape Google's filter bubble - and as an SEO, how you can penetrate it.
7 things to consider when choosing an ecommerce platform
With ecommerce growing rapidly year-on-year, it's essential for online retailers to have the right technology to underpin their strategy. But with so many platforms now available, how can you tell which one is right for your business?
