SEO Blog

Matt Cutts recently reported about a new algorithm change coming to Google. This modification will affect sites using multiple URLs that represent one destination page. Sites that do not make the appropriate changes may be penalized within Google’s index.

Currently, Google examines sites with numerous URLs that denote one page. Heuristics then make a guesstimate as to which URL is the preferred or ‘canonical’ URL. According to Cutts, “Canonicalization is the process of picking the best URL when there are several choices, and it usually refers to home pages.”

For example, the following URLs all represent Metamend’s homepage:

• http://metamend.com
• http://www.metamend.com
• http://www.metamend.com/index

*Note: we are updating our site to use one generic domain name.

To keep things simple, Google no longer wants to have to perform the procedure of identifying the preferred URL. Google is suggesting website owners use one consistent URL to represent the destination page. For website owners that wish to keep multiple URLs, Google suggests 301 permanent redirects that point to the permanent URL. This way, users will be redirected to the appropriate page if they access a homepage by a secondary address. For example, users requesting, say http://metamend.com/, will be pointed to http://www.metamend.com/.

There’s a brand new search engine kicking around the Internet. Navisso Search, based out of the Netherlands, is now live and testing in beta.

A lot of Meta search engines have sprung up lately, but Navisso is a stand alone that crawls from 10 worldwide locations, indexing its own content with its proprietary NavissoBot.

The popular trend for search engine companies is toting a product that delivers the most relevant results. Navisso is no different in this respect. Navisso claims it will favor content rich, well optimized sites over others, promising to deliver the most relevant content instead of favoring paid-for results.

From Navisso’s site: “We are interested in building a true search engine by providing accurate, real, and relevant search results to our visitors. That said, we will never push any results to the top, unlike many other search engines.”

Although Navisso is a free engine, it will earn revenues by offering PPC to interested advertisers. PPC ads will be clearly labeled.

More in-depth information about Navisso will be posted to our sitemap in the future.

An interesting multimedia based search engine is currently in development by French tech company Thomson. Quaero, which means ‘search’ in Latin, promises to accurately index and deliver audio-visual documents and images.

Quaero’s goal is to provide exceptional multimedia search. Thomson states: “Due to multimedia content volume explosion, caused by recent and successive technology breakthroughs, as well as new consumer modes, industry needs to provide new multimedia search solutions… Existing solutions do not respond to new dimensions of multimedia content and creativity, which require improved infrastructure and breadth of content management & search applications.”

Quaero is not a text based engine. Instead, it will recognize, translate and index audiovisual documents. Although the particulars are vague, Quaero will probably work with some form of voice recognition for indexing. It’s unknown how the engine will index static image files. Quaero is said to operate under a number of different languages.

Other companies involved with the project include: Deutsche Telecom, France Telecom, and the search engine Exalead. It is rumoured there are also a number of German and French research firms involved.

It has not yet been stated when Quaero will go live. The venture was first announced in the Summer of 2005. Further details can be found at http://www.thomson.net/EN/Home/Quaero/