Place Higher in Google with Rage’s iWeb SEO Tool
If iWeb is designed to make the process of creating web pages easy, then Rage Software’s recently released iWeb SEO tool is designed to make the process of Search Engine Optimization for iWeb easier too.
As those who have been following my articles will know, I have often bemoaned the general joke that is the HTML generated by iWeb and the disadvantage it puts users at in terms of page ranking in search engines such as Google. Outlined in such articles, the lack of basic meta data, the handling of page titles, and a general lack of link titles and image alt tags.
In this blog posting, I will do a quick review of the SEO tool and sum up where it leaves iWeb users in terms of placing their web sites better in Google and other search engines.
Add Meta Tags, Titles & More in iWeb
The SEO tool makes it a no nonsense process by which to manage page titles, meta description and meta keywords, as well as alt tags for images. Beyond this, the SEO tool allows a user to define other meta tags in the iWeb HTML, with everything from whether to index a page or not, follow links from this page, or even when to re-visit the page.
Now you might ask yourself, how much of this really matters? And in some respect you would be right, but, as with all good SEO the process is about ticking off the checklist of building well-crafted web sites. The iWeb SEO tool helps a novice cross your Ts and dot your Is with a clean and easy interface. Though it makes the process painless with hand holding, the results you achieve with your attempts at SEO are as much about the experience of what to put in and how to develop content that is well indexed by search engines.
Does this mean you shouldn’t bother using he iWeb SEO Tool software? Nope, i think as a webmaster, there is definitely a good reason to use this software with iWeb, amongst an armoury of other tools, but all-in-all you should further study the process of SEO, and understand the what the SEO tool is the wider context of search engine optimisation and marketing.
Basic Enhancements
Beyond what iWeb SEO tool currently offers, there are a few easy options I think that Rage has missed out and should definitely add if they wish to continue developing and selling a good SEO tool. This would include the ability to add title parameters to links on pages, in much the same way that a user can add alt parameters to images currently.
In addition they should enhance the selection of meta tags available, the list of course is endless. Even an advanced panel to allow you to hand edit and add stuff on a page by page or site wide basis would be a huge boon to webmasters.
The ability to add web stats code such as that for Google Analytics, as well as to develop easy ways to include and submit sitemap xml for an iWeb site would also be a major plus for the developers at Rage for their customers.
Tooltips and guidance on SEO, with links to places for finding good keywords and making users think about what they are putting into the titles, meta tags, alt parameters and more would so be a big plus. I know that many consider the process of SEO like snake oil, and a dark art and science, but there are definite rhymes and reasons to how search engine spiders view pages based on the content held therein.
Conclusion: Thumbs Up!
Overall, it is great that someone is finally stepping up to the bar, and doing what Apple themselves should be doing from the get go. It’s definitely not the elixir to every iWebmasters woes, but its a great move and one tool amongst a batch that any iWeb user should utilize to help them achieve their web sites goals.
Find out more over at Rage’s iWeb SEO tool web site. For those of us averse to using Apple’s iWeb, consider RealMac’s RapidWeaver which I highly recommend as a more SEO-friendly web developer’s choice for novices.