Bing - Authentication

[icegems]

I have just gone back in to Bing Webmaster Centre and I'm getting the following error message:

We are unable to authenticate your permission to access this website. We tried both authentication methods and received the following errors with each:

XML File Authentication - We received a 404 file not found error when attempting to download the file.
HTML META Tag - We were not able to locate your authorization code.

I have tried to put the HTML META Tag into the Developers section within the template editor.

Anyone have any ideas why it won't work?

[Dave]

Hi Nadine,

We are using the HTML Meta Tag Verification Method and have put the code into the Head Section (developers) box in optional code tab for our home page (index.html) within the page manager.

Hope this helps.

[icegems]

Hi Dave

Thanks for that, I got it working on the millionth attempt!! Not sure why it wouldn't verify but I got there eventually.

Many thanks.

[Dave]

Morning Nadine,

Glad you got it working in the end. It doesn't matter whether the code goes into the default template or home page but as Bing only needs to carry out the validation on the index page it made more sense to me to put the code into the head section for the home page only.

Hope Bing indexes more of my pages than Google does. Working on Google but so far it has indexed only 25% of my products for some strange reason :confused:

[icegems]

Hi Dave there was a discussion on that recently quite possibly whilst you were away, G seems to be doing that - there was a whole who-har on another forum for a previous ecommerce provider whereby merchants seemed to be blaming the provider for G not indexing pages - I actually now think it is a G issue rather than anything else - too much of a co-incidence in my view!

[Dave]

Hi Dave there was a discussion on that recently quite possibly whilst you were away, G seems to be doing that - there was a whole who-har on another forum for a previous ecommerce provider whereby merchants seemed to be blaming the provider for G not indexing pages - I actually now think it is a G issue rather than anything else - too much of a co-incidence in my view!

Yes I have seen that thread and also had a chat with John last week. I need to do some more digging and try to understand what's going on!

[Neil]

Dave,

Do you think it could be the fact that the text on all your pages, whilst not the same is very very similar.
Say for a printer that has 4 cartridges the text will be virtually identical, therefore Google will probably choose to list just one of them, hence the 25%!!

I have this problem where if i offer plants for pre-order on 3 delivery months that text will be very similar and only 1 will be list, with google considering the other duplicate products.

Also notice in your source that the only keywords are for the cartridge code, when i search for cartridges i tend to search by printer model, rather than cartridge code.

Hope you had a good holiday.

[Stix]

I have just gone back in to Bing Webmaster Centre and I'm getting the following error message:

We are unable to authenticate your permission to access this website. We tried both authentication methods and received the following errors with each:

XML File Authentication - We received a 404 file not found error when attempting to download the file.
HTML META Tag - We were not able to locate your authorization code.

I have tried to put the HTML META Tag into the Developers section within the template editor.

Anyone have any ideas why it won't work?

I'm also having problems with doing this. Have tried both methods (putting the html code in optional header content of the template) and uploading the file (to the main directory you get to from the "Your Files" link). Have been trying for ages and nothing doing! Any suggestions on where I'm going wrong? Thanks, Nicola

[Dave]

I'm also having problems with doing this. Have tried both methods (putting the html code in optional header content of the template) and uploading the file (to the main directory you get to from the "Your Files" link). Have been trying for ages and nothing doing! Any suggestions on where I'm going wrong? Thanks, Nicola

Hi Nicola,

Don't use the File Verification method because Bing requires the file to be uploaded to the root directory which we don't have access to. The file you uploaded will be sitting the the /user directory which is of no use to Bing!

Use the HTML Meta Tag method and put the code into the Head Section (developers) box in optional code tab for your home page (index.html) within the page manager. The code can go into the default template or home page but as Bing only carries out the validation on the home page it makes more sense to put the code into the head section for the home page only.

The code you are pasting will look something like


<meta name="msvalidate.01" content="lots of letter and number in here" />

Remember to click the save icon after adding the code and then try and re-validate through the Bing control panel.

Any further problems then please report back.

PS Nice looking site and if I have not already said so "Welcome to the Forum!"

[Stix]

Thanks Dave - that worked an absolute treat!
Thanks for the welcome and feedback too - I'm totally new to ecommerce and have a lot of learn so really glad to have access to such experience!

[Red Devil]

Nice site Nicola. I would just say that you should consider adding an address and phone number to your contact us page so potential customers have confidence in your internet business.

You should also try to make your left margin uniform across your different pages - look in Page Layout Manager to do this.

[Gillf]

Nice site Nicola. I would just say that you should consider adding an address and phone number to your contact us page so potential customers have confidence in your internet business.

You should also try to make your left margin uniform across your different pages - look in Page Layout Manager to do this.

Seconded. Nothing boosts sales like trust and customer will trust you more if they know where you are and how to contact you quickly. I may be wrong, but I think it is actually a legal requirement for an ecommerce site to have its physical address and phone number onsite.

[Adva Trading]

...it is actually a legal requirement for an ecommerce site to have its physical address and phone number onsite.

I though only address. But than, I could be wrong too :D

[Stix]

Thanks for the feedback - it's much appreciated. The address is on the T&Cs section to tick the box legally, although I wasn't aware of the need to have a phone number. I take on board that customers gain some confidence in someone putting their contact details out there so you don't come across as a hit and run type site.

It's the thought of putting my home details on the site that deters me although I'm sure I'm not the first though and there are ways of dealing with it.

[icegems]

Thanks for the feedback - it's much appreciated. The address is on the T&Cs section to tick the box legally, although I wasn't aware of the need to have a phone number. I take on board that customers gain some confidence in someone putting their contact details out there so you don't come across as a hit and run type site.

It's the thought of putting my home details on the site that deters me although I'm sure I'm not the first though and there are ways of dealing with it.

Take a look at www.vonage.co.uk (http://www.vonage.co.uk) (or other VOIP providers) - you can get a virtual phone number for a very low cost and have that divert to your home phone if you want. It is quite easy to do. As it so happens we have dedicated business lines now but this was a good solution for us at the time.

[Stix]

Thanks, I'll take a look.:)