Sunday, November 16, 2008

MS Live Webmaster Tools

Apparently its been around for a while but I only just thought checking to see if Microsoft had a Webmaster Tools site just the other day and it turns out they do. It's pretty much a copy of some of the things Google provides. If you've used the Google Webmaster Tools before, this will be a very familiar experience.

The authentication process is a little more involved and it checks to see if you are an authenticated user EVERY time you want to access a site statistics (not sure if Google does this everytime, it's a good idea). It means you can grant access to a remote user and then revoke it at a moments notice.

One tool stands out - the backlink checker shows the domains linking back to you and the sites rating in a scale of 1-5. The scale isn't very thorough and it's even more blunt than the 1-10 PR ranking method of Google's. But it is nice to see a tool that shows you each and ever page that is linking to you. I look forward to seeing Microsoft (and Google) adding some more innovative tools!

Visit the Microsoft Webmaster Tools Site.

Monday, November 10, 2008

a quick plug for two charity sites

Ok, I never wanted to make this a Blog for plugging other sites but I do want to mention two charity sites we've been helping to optimise. World Vision (Ireland) - at www.worldvision.ie and their new alternative gifts site, www.worldvisiongifts.ie. WorldVisionGifts.ie is a new site and I would ask anyone who has a blog or newsfeed or site to add a link to this domain. They are a wonderful charity that helps some of the neediest and most vulnerable children in the World's poorest spots.

PrimaryPosition.com SEO Blog

I've been meaning to setup a blog for ages and now I've finally got round to it. Over the past 6 years we've launched, redesigned and managed over 200 websites and optimised over 120, covering almost every industry and business sector.

I think SEO and Web Development is one of the most interesting fields to work in. It's diverse, dynamic and brings you into contact with a lot of new ideas. There a lot of people "offering" SEO too, some very good and many who couldn't explain SEO to you if you gave them the answer.

I hope to use this blog to help people discover more about the web, to showcase ideas and to have the odd rant/praise/....