News
Archive for February, 2009
Not much prompts a buzz of excitement in the SEO world. Today, fortunately, we have an exception. The big three – Google, Yahoo, Microsoft – have proposed a solution to the always challenging issue of duplicate content. In separate announcements, each search engine covered their explanation of the new tag and how it should be used. And don’t worry, Google even included pictures.
It might be slighly daunting for an SEO beginner to understand the use for it, or even say the term for that matter (it’s pronounced [kuh-non-i-kuh
l], I looked it up). As explained by Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, “Canonicalization is the process of picking the best url when there are several choices, and it usually refers to home pages.”
Duplicate content can come in the form of URLs that point to the same page, and this can happen for a couple different reasons. Sometimes eCommerce sites will allow various options to sort merchandise for a given section (lowest price, newest merchandise) and each result page will have a different URL while still having the same content. Or, your marketing team may want to add tracking codes to website analytics to see how effective different promotions are in driving traffic to a webpage. There are problems that can stem from this: search engines won’t know what page to include in their index, or which version to rank for query results.
By using a canonical tag, which looks like this:
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com">
search engines now see the URL “www.example.com” as the URL they want to use, even if there are similar ones, such as “www.example.com/index.htm”, or “www.example.com/home.asp”.
Of course there are safeguards in place to make sure that ambitious web developers do not abuse this code. The canonical tag will only be effective for pages within the same domain, and that have the same or very similar content.
For more reading on the subject, be sure to check out some of MediaG’s favorite technology blogs, like SearchEngineWatch, or TechNewsWorld.
For any questions, you can contact Media Genesis at inquiry@mediaG.com.
It’s February in Detroit and it’s time for the annual Cirque Ball, hosted by the DIA Founders Junior Council. This year’s theme is Cirque de Monaco, and this lavish event will be held at the Roostertail on February 28th and showcase a live DJ, 60s jazz, hand-rolled cigars, red carpet photo shoot, and Monte Carlo style casino games. Indulge yourself in a night filled with old-world glamour while supporting the DIA, as everyone knows that Cirque will be the place to be seen in February. To purchase tickets, visit the Founder’s Junior Council website.
Media Genesis has partnered with the Detroit Institute of the Arts and will be giving away a pair of tickets. To be entered in the drawing, please respond to MG_Newsletter@mediaG.com with your name, email address, and phone number. Good Luck!
(TROY, Mich.) - Media Genesis will be holding a Lunch & Learn workshop for business owners and marketing managers/coordinators who are interested in learning about Search Engine Optimization. These online marketing techniques can help bring higher traffic of current customers, potential customers and potential recruits to their web site.
Each attendee will receive a personalized report to help them ascertain current presence online and opportunities for improvement.
Media Genesis has more than 13 years of web development experience and has been managing Search Engine Marketing campaigns that range from a few hundred dollars per month to over $500,000 per year.
The 2 hour seminar is facilitated by Media Genesis President Antoine Dubeauclard and will cover the basics of search engine optimization, including meta tag development, traffic analysis, keyword density, directory listings and more. The seminar costs $90 per person and lunch will be provided. An early bird discount of 50 percent ($45) is available to registrants prior to Feb. 6. Space is limited
To take advantage of the early bird pricing or to get more information e-mail jim@mediaG.com.
What:
• Media Genesis Lunch & Learn Workshop – focusing on Search Engine Optimization
When:
• Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Where:
Media Genesis
1441 E. Maple Rd.
Suite 200
Troy, MI 48083
