In this issue:
- What is the invisible Web? And does it affect my site?
- What's the latest on online collaboration tools?
- POP Announcement: Website Package for Law Firms
- About Web Insights
Issue 8original publication: October 19, 2001
last updated: February 11, 2004
Feature Article:
What is the invisible Web? And does it affect my site?
by Deborah Christie, POP Interactive
Q With more and more information on the Web being inaccessible to search engines, more and more people are talking about the 'invisible' Web. As a result, website managers are asking, "Does this affect me?"
A The term invisible Web refers to what has become an enormous amount of information that search engines are unable to index. This includes everything from information in databases to PDF and multimedia files.
You need to be concerned about the invisible web if important content on your site is inadvertently ending up as part of it. Otherwise, search engines won't be able to find this content - resulting in prospective clients not being able to find you. And as we regularly remind you, being found on search engines is critical to the success of most sites (unless of course you don't need any new business).
How do you know if you are part of the invisible Web? If you are using dynamically generated pages they could be invisible to many search engines. Also, if pages providing key content have been implemented as Flash or are only available in PDF format, you have invisible pages.
What should you do to address this issue? There are some steps you can take, and some steps the search engines are taking to reveal the invisible Web. We suggest you develop guidelines for determining what content needs to be search engine indexable and then review your site to identify the changes that need to be made. To help get you started, here are some tips:
- Some search engines will not index links with queries that require using ? in the URL string.
- Provide HTML versions of PDF, Flash and other multimedia content that is key to your site.
- Many search engines will not follow forwarding pages.
More about the Invisible Web:
Search engines focusing on the invisible Web:
Some search engines are trying to deal with the invisible Web. However, out of the top search engines only Google currently indexes both URLS with queries and PDFs.
What's the latest on online collaboration tools?
Q With more and more information on the Web being inaccessible to search engines, more and more people are talking about the 'invisible' Web. As a result, website managers are asking, "Does this affect me?"
A InternetWeek has recently concluded a full review of the latest collaboration tools that provide you with an in-depth answer to this question.
InternetWeek's Review:
Online collaboration might already be in use within your organization on a much simpler level whether you are aware of it or not. Recent research shows that instant messaging is finding a home within business enterprises:
POP Announcement: Website Package for Law Firms
Just some quick self-promotion here. Most of you are familiar with our web design, development, maintenance and SEO services. However, many of you may not be aware of the specialized website packages we offer to franchise organizations, eMarketplaces and vertical markets.
In this area we are pleased to announce the introduction of a website package program for small law firms and solo practitioners. This program has been developed through our partnership with LawCommerce.com.
We hope you will share the below links with any attorneys you know. Your referrals are always greatly appreciated. So thanks in advance!
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