Elliance has posted another helpful ‘Search Illustrated’ graphic at Search Engine Land. We know that search engines can read PDF’s, but what can we do to better optimize these pages so they will show up in search results? Simply put, creating a keyword-rich filename and coupling it with targeted Meta data will not guarantee your charge to the first page of search results, but it’s a start.
Late Monday evening Google announced they have the ability to better index Flash websites. The ability was made possible by integrating Adobe’s Flash player technology with their Flash indexing algorithm.
Google users can expect to find more relevant and dynamic Web results in Search Engines that were previously undiscoverable by spiders due to their Flash nature.
Adobe has also indicated their technology was made available to Yahoo! as well.
For a more in depth perspective on the impact of crawled and indexed Flash pages, read Search Engine Land’s article here.
This is big news for flash developers and companies with flash websites. Adobe has created a product for search engines that will not only allow them to index flash, but will also allow them to crawl content within SWF files. Google has already applied this technology to their algorithm, and Yahoo! is expected to follow as updates are made to their search product.
What does this mean for flash websites currently in existence? They now have an opportunity to get search engine visibility and can optimize their content to rank for target keywords. Adobe has announced that all versions of SWF files will be readable, so there is no need for webmasters to modify the Flash elements within their current websites.
There are still some questions left unanswered in terms of search engine preference. Will HTML content still rank better than Flash? How will search engines determine the importance of text within a SWF file if style sheets aren’t being utilized? Some broader questions are also looming. How long will it take for Yahoo! to incorporate the technology to read SWF files? When will other engines get the opportunity to adapt this technology?
As search experts begin testing over the coming months, we should begin to gain a better understanding of how this Adobe ranking technology will affect SEOs, webmasters and businesses everywhere. Regardless of the uncertainties, this is a significant landmark for search engines and their ability to give consumers a more comprehensive way to search for information.
For more information about Flash indexing, visit the SWF searchability FAQ by Adobe.
There is an interesting bit of news floating around that says Google does not index webpages whose URL ends in a zero. This particular type of address typically signals spam and therefore Google does not think highly of these types of pages.
Example of a page with the type of URL in question:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_1.0
For more information, take a look at the article posted on SEOmoz.
As it turns out, this filter appears to be limited to URLs that end in zero. Other numbers have been getting indexed OK.
Yahoo! appears to be heading in the right direction when it comes to regaining market share from Google. They have taken their Advanced Search setting a step further and have now developed Personalized Search. The Personalized Search collects information about a searcher’s interests from their search history, browsing history, and interests listed in profiles from websites such as MySpace and other social networks. In doing so, it eases the users experience by narrowing the searches.
The author of the book The Art of War, Sun Tzu, once said, “Every battle is won before it’s fought.” With everyone talking about the recession and rising gas prices, it seems that businesses will have to do “battle” in order to get through this downturn. In my last blog entry, “Recession: Blessing in Disguise?” I talked about the MarketingSherpa report and how businesses can leverage online marketing during these uncertain times. However, that report has a second part which talks about strategies that marketers are using to get through the slump. In this blog post, I’m going to talk about those strategies, plus add some data from eMarketer that backs them up. This post will explain how local businesses can use these strategies to their advantage. It can be your “business battle plan” if you will. (more…)
The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization’s (SEMPO) annual survey of agencies and advertisers concluded traditional media is slowing largely due to search. “Thirty-two percent of marketers said they’re spending less on print magazine ads in favor of search: 22% are shifting dollars away from Web site development and 17% said they are raiding direct mail budgets to reallocate cash toward search efforts. What was even more interesting was the conclusion that search will continue to grow even amid fears of a recession.” The primary reason is that search is considered a performance method of advertising.