Microsoft have launched a free, IIS Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Toolkit that allows you to check your websites for any potential errors and problems that may hinder your search engine rankings. Here's a brief look at this application and how you can use it to help you.
What is the IIS SEO Toolkit?
The toolkit is an IIS add-in that allows you to check for SEO issues and offers guidance on how to fix them to help make your website more search engine friendly.
Some of the key features that it offers are:
- Improve the volume and quality of traffic to your Web site from search engines
- Control how search engines access and display Web content
- Inform search engines about locations that are available for indexing
- Site Analysis Features
- Robots Exclusion Features
- Sitemap and Sitemap Index Features
Where can I download the toolkit?
The easiest and quickest way to download and the toolkit is to install the Microsoft Web Platform Installer and then install the SEO toolkit directly here.
How can I use the toolkit?
Once you have installed the SEO toolkit, open IIS and you will have a new section named "Search Engine Optimisation" and within there a new icon named "Site Analysis":
Go into the "Site Analysis" section and then click "New Analysis" from the "Actions" pane on the right hand side of your screen. You will then be presented with a page that allows you to enter the details of the website you wish to check:
Click "OK" and the analysis will start. Once the links have all been analyised, you will be show a summary of the website results:
Double click any of the entries in the "Validation Summary" section and you will be presented with the individual issues that have been found. Again, double click any of these issues and you will be shown a page that not only tells you the exact problem, but also offers a "Recommended Action" on what you can do to potentially fix the problem and make your site more search engine friendly:
Mark Smith
MDS Solutions