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So if you have a web site, you have probably used Google Webmaster Tools. Maybe even Yahoo Site Explorer. Both have some useful features. However, there is now news that Microsoft is releasing its own webmaster portal.

So why bother using any of these?
For the information and guidance they give -they let you troubleshoot and fix issues with your web sites.

Yahoo! and Google both provide different things. Google’s webmaster tools allows you to trouble shoot errors and issues that you may have with spiders or robots.txt files, as well as providing some information about links. You can also submit xml sitemaps using this facility. Yahoo! provides a more in depth list of links to your site, as well as allowing you to add sitemaps and RSS feeds.

From the blog entry by the Live Search team, it seems that their webmaster portal will be combining features of the services offered by the other search engines, and more interestingly, bringing back their link: command. At the moment, you have to apply to be part of the Beta test, but hopefully it should be released to the general public by the end of the year.

Should be interesting!

James
SEO Programmer

Article marketing is an ever-growing area of internet marketing which is getting quite a lot of coverage within the SEO world at the moment, so I thought I should write a short article detailing how both marketers and webmasters can utilise articles and article directories.

Before I start going into detail, I should probably explain what an article directory is. An article directory basically provides an online space for webmasters and writers to post their work. Other webmasters can then take the article and post it on their own website, so long as they don’t change the structure or content in any way.

This arrangement benefits both parties.

The writer will usually include links to their own web pages within the content of the article, as well as a small biography at the end of the article that can include a link to their homepage. So then anyone adding this article to their website gives the author of the article some well-targeted external links. The webmaster using the article benefits by getting some quick and regular content on their website, a big plus with search engines. However, it’s important to note that the website is unlikely to rank in search engines for any of the content within the article due to its nature as being freely available for anyone to publish – i.e. duplicate content. Unique content is worth a lot more than a published article.

Generally, there are no costs involved in submitting to or using articles from an article directory. If there are, you should quite easily find free alternatives. There are many article directories available online, covering all manner of niche subjects.

Just Search provide their own article writing and submission services, using collective years of experience finding the best article directories available for your website’s niche.

Rik
SEO Programmer