Search Engine Optimisation began back in the mid 90s as the first search engines began to catalogue the websites that were currently available. Initially all that webmasters needed to do was submit the site to various search engines and the search engine would crawl the site and rank it based on the keywords supplied by the webmaster. This obviously had a serious weak spot. Webmasters began to abuse search engines and started to keyword the meta tags in order to place highly search phrases that were of no relevance to the site.

When the abuse of meta tags became worse, search engines abandoned their consideration of meta tags and instead developed more complex ranking algorithms, taking into account factors that were more diverse, including:

* Text within the title tag
* Domain name
* URL directories and file names
* HTML tags: headings, bold and emphasised text
* Keyword density
* Keyword proximity
* Alt attributes for images
* Text within NOFRAMES tags

In 1996 if you submitted your site to yahoo and your site was not completely awful then your could be crawled and listed within 72 hours, however people within the community had started to try and crack the basic search engine algorithms in order to rank at the top spots for whatever keyword they wished. Several SEOs managed to decode the 35 parameters in the excite algorithm and therefore could rank number one for absolutely any search term they wished.

By mid 97 some of the main search engines started to use yahoo as a quality assurance check, therefore getting in yahoo became paramount to the success of a website. Unfortunately due to the volume of yahoo submissions only around 5% of the sites were processed.

Later in the year Infoseek introduced a daily refresh system and began a revolution for search engine optimisation, people could submit their site and be indexed and getting results by the end of the day. A person could see in as close to real time as possible the results of their search engine optimisation. This unfortunately also created a huge problem with spam on the search engines. Hotbot and Altavista were rendered nearly useless with the amount of spam that was on their search engines. To make things worse still, people copying top ranked pages became a huge problem, many search engines were completely powerless against duplicate content. This was also the year that the first cloaked pages began to appear on the net, causing even more frustration for the search engines.
For people earning money off affiliate and referral programs this was a profitable time, it was not unheard of for people to make 5000 referrals a day. Dedicated webmasters were starting to earn lots of money.

In 1998 the search engines began to up the ante, they needed some serious ways to reduce the spam and to evolve the search engine algorithms. Papers were written detailing new off site ranking factors including link population, and directory listings. Search engines also started to use multiple algorithms to generate results for different pages, meaning that if someone decoded the algorithm for page 2 results they would not actually know the algorithm for page 1 results.

AJAX incorporates several technologies to work. These are XHTML and CSS for a standards-based presentation; Document Object Model for dynamic display and interaction; XML and XSLT for data interchange and manipulation; XMLHttpRequest for asynchronous data retrieval; and JavaScript to bind everything together.

Since AJAX allows for asynchronous action, loading of new small amounts of data does not interfere with normal page loading. AJAX allows for a more responsive web experience as it allows your web page to exchange small amounts of data with the server as you view the page.

With AJAX, your actions send a JavaScript request which trigger an action - usually a data retrieval request - which is answered by the web page in the form of a XML response. The web page changes accordingly; without having to reload the entire page.

In a classic web application model, user actions trigger an HTTP request back to the web server. The server processes the request and answers the request by loading an appropriate HTML page back to the user.

With AJAX, you don’t have to wait for your server to reload the page according to your requests. AJAX allows the page to process your request and make small changes accordingly without having to reload an entire page. AJAX cuts down on waiting time and makes the web experience more dynamic.

When one loads a webpage that utilizes AJAX, the browser also loads an AJAX engine which renders the interface that the user sees and communicates with the server at the same time. The user can interact with the application asynchronously; every action you make generates a JavaScript request, which triggers a response from the AJAX engine.

Since AJAX is capable of asynchronous action, the user’s interaction with the web page does not stall. You are not left staring at a blank browser window while the server processes you request.

The asynchronous element of AJAX is provided by XMLHttpRequest. This technology allows browsers to make data requests without having to reload the page. This eliminates the need for page refreshing.

Web pages are usually loosely coupled. The data they display are not bound to data sources and must first be set out in proper order in a HTML format before they can be presented in a browser window. This means that, in the traditional format, a web page needs to be re-loaded every time you need to view different data sets. With XMLHttpRequest a programmer can by-pass this requirement.

AJAX web pages load quickly since the payload coming down is smaller in size and the rest of the layout does not have to be redrawn when you request a page update. As such the bandwidth usage and requirements for a page utilizing AJAX are minimized.

Another benefit of AJAX is that the use of this platform means that programmers have to clearly separate the methods and formats used for the aspects of information delivery.

Programmers using AJAX can adopt or adapt whatever techniques work for them but the must adopt separation of raw data or content to be delivered; format or structure of the webpage; style elements of the webpage; and functionality of the webpage.

As AJAX is a new application, it is still evolving and as such is vulnerable to some glitches, usually with reference to its interactions with some web applications.

An AJAX created page does not register in a web browser’s history. As such, triggering the back function might not bring back the desired result. Programmers have tried to use invisible IFRAMEs to invoke changes that populate the history used by a browser’s back button, but not every web page has these yet.

It is also difficult to bookmark a page using AJAX. However, a solution to this would be the use of a URL fragment identifier. Many browsers allow JavaScript to update the fragment identifier of a URL dynamically and as such the user changes made to a page using an AJAX application can be maintained.

If you want to use an AJAX application in your website, you have to take into consideration network latency. Network latency is the interval between the user’s request and the server’s response. Some factors can increase the network latency of a webpage and cause delays in the interface of the web application. If the user is unaware of AJAX properties it may result in them assuming that there is something wrong with the page.

Also, when a web page is rendered or changed by a request, there is a brief moment of re-adjustment when the content changes. This too can cause confusion for the viewer. The use of visual clues or warnings to make the user aware of the background activity inherent to an AJAX application is recommended.

While AJAX relies on JavaScript for it’s dynamic interactions; JavaScript can cause its share of problems. JavaScript can be implemented differently by different browsers and as such there may be compatibility issues. If the browser being used by the user is incompatible to JavaScript portions of the website can be distorted or just rendered unreadable.

Search engines as a rule do not execute the JavaScript code needed for AJAX functionality. Websites that use AJAX to load data must provide equivalent Sitemaps data at a public, linked URL that search engines can read.

AJAX can also pose a problem with web analytic systems. Analytics systems which allow for the tracking of events other than a simple page view, such as the click of a button or link, are the ones most likely to be able to accommodate a site which heavily utilizes Ajax.

If you work with computers or the internet you know how much trends affect the industry. The most well known trend is the first Dot-com Boom. As we all know this short period of amazing growth ended up being far worse than no growth at all. However that boom left us with a lot of lessons learned. Keeping up with the trends is a near impossible feat and many who try are stuck on the bleeding edge of things. There is a way to stay up on your news without sacrificing results however to keep their “edge” SEO’s are always looking for the next big thing. The problem is that as soon as one good website is found it is gamed and spammed into oblivion. So much so that many of these websites are forced to undergo change or go out of business entirely.

Looming in the under belly of the SEO world there is a second trend growing. Social websites have become the second boom. Search engine marketers everywhere take full advantage of every social website. Websites like Digg, Myspace, and Squidoo have been gamed, spammed and killed. But despite this fact and the fact that Myspace users are quickly leaving, investors are pouring money into internet ventures. Fox’s buyout of Myspace, Ebay purchasing Skype and now Microsoft is considering buying Facebook(for $10 Billion!). On a smaller scale, confidence in the internet is high. Internet marketers are rushing to the next big social media website and investors are soon to follow suit. The question is, should confidence be as high as it is?

Kevin Rose – Digg

Kevin Rose created a user edited news website called Digg that came out in 2004. Originally the website was just an “experiment” where users could vote stories up or down a.k.a. “Digg” them. This democratic version of the news quickly took off and has grown to be one of the largest and most well known social media websites in existence.

While Digg revolves primarily around tech and science stories, many appear dealing with politics, conspiracies, piracy and a myriad of other controversial topics. In May of 2007 a story appeared on Digg that contained the encryption key for AACS digital rights management, which protects DVD’s and Blu-ray discs. Digg removed all instances of the stories and banned the users who posted it because of the advice of their lawyers. This move created a user revolt where the entire community posted stories about the incident, after much ado Kevin ceded and allowed the story to propagate despite possible legal repercussions.

Tom – Myspace

Myspace is 7th most popular site website in the entire world. It has been hailed as a revolutionary website, connecting users across oceans in a way that has never been done. Myspace founder Tom Anderson teamed up with Chris De Wolf and created this site with only a few small pages and grew to be the number one social media website on the web. Tom Anderson sold Myspace to Intermix Media for a few million dollars, before intermix media was purchase by Fox News Corporations for a tidy sum of about $580 million USD. This was a very controversial move and was considered a questionable investment on the part of Fox, however it has yielded millions since the buyout. Myspace has come under scrutiny as of late because of excessive spam and malicious code.

Seth Godin – Squidoo

Seth Godin is a legend amongst internet marketers. He is famous for writing several popular books relating to search engines and internet marketing. Seth Godin began his rise to fame with the creation of Yoyodyne, one of the first online marketing companies. In 1998 Seth sold his company to Yahoo and then became the Vice President of Permission Marketing at Yahoo. Towards the end of 2005 Seth founded Squidoo, an increasingly popular social media website. Search engine marketers have been using Squidoo for social networking purposes, but recently there has been a large issue of spam which has prevented most Squidoo “lenses” from achieving ranking on Google. Unlike Myspace and Digg, Squidoo still has a great deal of potential as a social website and as a tool for SEO professionals.

Many larger companies have finally recovered from their dot-com fears and have begun to recognize the countless opportunities on the internet. They are purchasing up websites and companies across the board that may give a competitive advantage. Only time will tell what will happen with this 2nd dot-com boom, the social boom.

Once you have made the decision to have a website designed and posted for you business venture, then the next decision to make is who you are going to have design and create your website. One thing that is important to bear in mind is that all website design companies are not alike and it is in your best interest to go with a reputable company with an established track record such as Web Design in Blackpool.

At Blackpool we have extensive experience in designing websites for a wide variety of businesses and no matter what you are selling we most likely have done it before. This is important because the last thing you want to be is someone’s guinea pig. At Blackpool we work closely with our clients through all phases of the creation of their website to make sure that all details are addressed with regards to their website.

Your website is going to represent you on the internet and you want to make sure that it is of the highest quality and reflects your business in the most positive light and this is what we specialize in at Blackpool. There are so many website design companies in business today and many of them are less than reputable and the best way to avoid getting ripped off is to go with a reputable web design company such as Blackpool.

Trying to save a few bucks by going with an overseas start-up company is a mistake that many people make when they have their website designed and created, so it is best not to gamble with something as important as your website. At Blackpool our team of professionals work closely together to insure that your work will be completed in a timely manner, so you never get stuck waiting for your finished product.

Written by Joe Solaman. Find the more information on the latest Blackpool Web Design as well as Web Design Company.