Google Webmaster Tools have launched some new features. One of the most relevant tools for SEO’s, marketers, and website developers is called Fetch as Googlebot (in the “Labs” section). This tools allows you to chose any URL on a given website and run a test to see what Google sees when it requests that URL from your server. 

For example, if you want to test a home page or new page on your website you can use this tool to obtain the exact HTTP responses that Google receives from your server.  Simply paste the URL into the tool and click “Fetch”.  You will then receive a report showing the page code. 

So how is this different than just viewing the source code?  This tools shows you specific HTTP header info that is no contained in the source code because it comes from the server, not the page.  This allows you to find potential discrepancies in what the server is showing and how the page is coded. 

The Fetch as Googlebot tool is great for:

• Find discepancies in how the page is coded and what the server shows to Google when it requests a page (URL)
• Finding bugs that may exist in the site
• Testing 301 redirects
• Testing the site for potential “hacking”
• Ensuring that your SEO strategy is consistant for page code and how the server is showing Google

Social Marketing has become the latest buzz word in the internet marketing industry.  Organizations, companies, and bloggers are now using this method to convey their messages to their intended audiences effectively and quickly.  There are many tools, perhaps too many tools at their disposal to be able to create effective messages.

Some of these tools include the ever growing FaceBook, a social networking site that has grown from being exclusive to college students, to an internet marketing vehicle for companies, bloggers, and yes, even celebrities.  There are many other social networking sites besides FaceBook such as MySpace, Bebo, Xanga, and even Ning which allows you as a user to custom create your own little social network.

In addition to social networking sites there are also micro blogging sites.  These micro blogging sites such as twitter, tumblr, and Pownce (now Six Apart), have been great vehicles for launching the latest news, keeping tabs on the recent elections, and simply updating your friends and followers alike of your daily activities.  All of these tools, from social networking sites, blogging, microblogging, and doing search optimization, can become rather overwhelming for most companies, and surely so for people.  All of these tools have gotten a term coined by the marketing industry, called social marketing.  If you have a business, a blog, are a celebrity, or a large corporation, it becomes more and more important to hire professionals to do social marketing for you.

The days of getting the message out via static images in newspapers and magazines are over.  Television ads are also not as effective as before as more and more people have turned into engaged consumers, instead of passive consumers.  Consumers want to choose what to view, what to buy, and what to admire.  To become successful and get  your message out there, you need to be actively involved in all of these social marketing tools.  However, if you dedicate your time to that, you may not have the time of day to effectively run your business.  Perhaps now is the time for you to think about social media marketing by talking to people and see what they think about it, as well as do some research on your own.

There has been a lot of confusion between webmasters and SEO experts about static and dynamic URLs and which is preferable for search engine optimization.  Google has made many advances in how they read URLs which is why it is imperative for any Internet marketing company or SEO company to stay current on the latest developments.

Before we get into the comparisons, let’s look at the definitions of static and dynamic URLs.  A dynamic URL is generated when a site pulls content from a database rather than having the content displayed in a static format right on the page.  In this case the site acts as a template and runs queries to pull the necessary content from the database.  Dynamic URLs may appear different each time when pulling the same content because it may include session IDs and source trackers.  A static URL never changes and corresponds with the static content on the page.  A static URL may appears:

http://www.domainname.com/more-content/even-more-content.hmt

The myths:  It used to be fairly common thought that the search engines could not read dynamic URLs and would not index those pages accurately.  SEO experts would say that for that URL and page to be indexed by the search engines the URL must be rewritten to appear static.  They might also say that only static URLs work well for a proper search engine optimization campaign.

Some pitfalls:  SEO consultants might suggest rewriting the URL to appear static.  This is not recommended because it can actually cause more confusion for the search engines and they may not analyze the URL properly.  It can also cause important information to be left out.

The truth:  Google can read both static and dynamic URLs.  While you might have a slight advantage with static URLs, a dynamic URL will not hurt you.  The best practice is always to keep the URLs short no matter how they are structured.  If you use dynamic URLs you should make sure they do not include unnecessary parameters.  The new rule of thumb is to have fewer than three parameters in your dynamic URLs.

What to avoid:  If you wish to rewrite your URLs to appear static you should actually create static content for those pages.  Do not simply rewrite them to appear static.  Do not include parameters that are not necessary.  Have an SEO engineer review your URLs and adjust them accordingly.

Healthy SEO:  When developing a new website from scratch or planning for an SEO campaign, all the aspects of optimization should be taken into account.  This is the problem when design firms with great artistic capability create websites that have absolutely no foundation for SEO.  They may not even include proper title tags, URL structure, or internal linking.  These are SEO basics and should be part of website development from day one.  There is no point in developing a site that you never want to appear in the search engines.  Only a proper SEO foundation will ensure eventual rankings in the SERPs.

The best way to plan ahead is to hire an Internet marketing company that focuses on SEO.  There are many firms out there that specialize in one or two areas but few that a good at all aspects of Internet marketing…but they do exist.  When you are interviewing Internet marketing firms for website design, ask about their SEO knowledge.  Make sure their engineers will develop the site with a proper SEO foundation.