Google Webmaster Tools has recently seen a few updates. Posted on the Google Webmaster Central blog yesterday, here is a summary of some of the changes.

The vast majority of users will not be affected by this, but now you can submit up to 2.5 billion URL’s with a single sitemap index using up to 50,000 child Sitemaps. (previously Google only supported 1,000 child Sitemaps.) This is rather interesting considering that back in 2000 Google had only 1 billion pages indexed. As of last year Google has more than 1 trillion URL’s indexed. Read more…

Bing is out of the gates and running. The new search platform from Microsoft was reported to have seen approximately 11.1% search share for its first week out. This compares to the previous week at 9.1%, (according to comScore). Not bad for a brand new engine. Read more…

When it comes to operating a successful online business these days the key is traffic to your website. In order to generate traffic there are a number of sources one can tackle. The first and most obvious is an increase in your search rankings over at Google. But what about all those social media websites floating around out there – are they worth your attention? Read more…

If your site utilizes Javascript based navigation, you are in for a treat. Google is now able to crawl links embedded in JavaScript onclick() events. These links will not only be followed by Google but they will also now pass both Page Rank and Anchor Text value!

What does this mean for your search results? Read more…

It is no real secret that a well written topical blog can significantly help out your website – so why aren’t you doing it?

The most common reasons I hear for not starting a blog involve a lack of time to write posts, and limited ideas to write about, but taking that extra time to get some useful content out there can do wonders for your search rankings among other things. Read more…

According to the latest figures over at Hitwise, Google’s market share is inching closer to the 73% mark, that’s up 0.35% since last month, and up nearly 5% compared to April of 2008. Read more…

My 3 part series on how to optimize for google (part 1, part 2, part 3) were recently published over at SiteProNews, and I have been seeing a number of people commenting and asking questions. Here is a post to address all the comments thus far.

On May 1st I wrote about the close of GeoCities and how all accounts with GeoCities will soon be deleted permanently. I wanted to take the time to discuss the importance of having your website hosted on your own domain, and also to give those currently using GeoCities a few ideas on how to move forward.

Over the years I have spoken with a handful of people looking to optimize and improve their search rankings for their GeoCities-hosted website. These are not people who simply had a personal site with photos of their families and furry pets, but people with actual tangible businesses being run through this free hosting platform. Read more…

If you need another reason to always host your websites at your own top level domain (TLD) the recent announcement of Yahoo permanently closing GeoCities should be enough to convince you.

At the end of 2009, GeoCities will cease to exist, and if you don’t move your site, it will be permanently deleted. Yahoo is urging existing users to sign up for their paid hosting of $5.98/month. This closing is a reminder that no free hosting is guaranteed forever. The only way to ensure that your website address will always be safe is to own and host it on your own domain. Read more…

One question that I hear fairly often is not, how to get links, but rather, “How can I tell if a link will be any good?”

Obtaining links from other sites has two main purposes. The first is “link juice” for the purpose of improving search engine rankings. The second is attracting traffic to your site. There are many instances where a link is totally useless for SEO but great for traffic, some that are great for SEO but useless for traffic, and some that are a combination of the two. This article focuses on how to tell if a link will benefit you in terms of SEO.

Search Engine Friendly
There are a number of factors to consider when deciding if a link has any SEO value. First and foremost, the most important factor is whether or not Google can even see the link. If Google can’t see and follow your link, then it will hold no value at all. Here are a few things you need to check out to see if Google can see what you’re putting out there. Read more…