Session Summary
This session was split into two talks; the first covering semantic HTML and the second looking in depth at search bots and the way they spend their time on sites.
Semantic HTML – Jono Alderson
- Squeeze all the value you can from your HTML mark-up, be anal about it.
- There are different HTML tags for different purposes.
- Tags such as <cite> are effectively the grammar of HTML.
- Semantic HTML works well when applied to ‘stuff’, however it is difficult to apply to concepts.
- Adding Semantic code to recipes has increased click through rates by up to 30%.
Search Bots – Roland Dunn
- Webserver log files are the best way to determine whether or not bots find everything.
- This data can be used to compare what Google looks at with the results served.
- The data shows that Google bot gets lost, obsessed and distracted.
- Dunn suggests that Google bot spends its time in areas of sites that users aren’t visiting. Therefore, bots do not necessarily use their time cost effectively across sites.
- Views the Google bot as a distracted teenager: smart, hardworking but often off topic.
Go back to the main video page for more of ionSearch 2012.