The importance of search engine optimization (SEO) is at an all time high, and the value of solid SEO is increasing daily. A recent JupiterResearch and NPD Group “Blended Search Results Study” shows first page search-result-listings are vital for web traffic.
Almost 7 out of 10 individuals surveyed clicked on a first-page search result. Only 8% of respondents were willing to click results beyond the third page. This continues a recent trend of search engine users refusing to dig into deeper search-result pages.
Instead of progressing into deeper search results, most users (over 9/10) simply altered their search terms or switched search engines.
eMarketer forecasts these dramatic trends to influence SEO spending in the next few years. Companies are not only realizing the importance of quality search engine rankings, but also the relative cost efficiency of SEO investment. By 2011, they forecast SEO spending to total 23% of search-marketing spending.
For more information on SEO, including how your company can benefit, please contact Soleer.
A major breakthrough for the web design & development communities…
Yesterday (March 5th), at the MIX conference in Las Vegas, the IE team announced the availability of a developer beta of IE8 Beta 1 for Download.
This normally would not be such a huge deal, but the folks at Microsoft are actually trying to implement standards compliance. What are we going to do with all of the extra free time generated by not having to kick our code in the pants until it renders correctly despite all of IE’s quirks?
Not only are they “attempting” standard compliance, as they have tried, and failed miserably in the past. They’re actually testing the fact this time!
We’ve contributed over 700 test cases to the W3C CSS working group because we think a comprehensive certification test suite for CSS is important for true interoperability and we support the W3C’s effort to deliver such a suite. The CSS spec is good, but contains many ambiguities, and a test suite will help resolve them and benefit web developers and designers.
Also, it sounds like IE8 is going to deliver full standards-compliant CSS 2.1 support by default, instead of requiring specialized mark-up to kick it into action. This was a reversal in stance by the IE team, after a substantial outcry by the design/development community. I can only imagine the possibilities if they actually make a habit of listening to their customers…
Read much more about the IE8B1 release at the IEBlog.
Microsoft recently announced the Beta release of its HealthVault platform. The platform is aimed at helping people better manage their health information. The information available from Microsoft is pretty cryptic, but basically it looks like the service is a massive database for storing and sharing health information.
Some are perturbed by the possible privacy issues, but I absolutely love the concept. I loathe inefficiencies, and the fact that every time I go to a dentist, doctor, etc. I need to fill out 5 pages of the same exact information I’ve filled out numerous times before, has never sat well with me. Streamlining patient forms is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to possible benefits of this new platform.
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