Google Sitemap Generators

Can't make my mind up about Google Sitemaps as the jury still seems to be out as whether they make any difference to search engine optimisation for your average website. Probably useful for large dynamic ecommerce sites but for your average punter I am not sure what the value is. Although to be honest half the problem was with our perception that they were a lot of hassle. Well that's all changed I have found a couple of really good tools that create a sitemap in seconds - check out PortalApp and Sitemapspal and there's a list of other third party tools and CMS plug-ins at http://code.google.com/sm_thirdparty.html. I'll let you know how we get on.

Jim at www.ju2.com

BMW Removed from Google

Google claim to be getting serious with spammers internationally. This week Google caught a high profile spammer red handed. BMW.de were discovered using dodgy JavaScripted cloaking techniques to mislead the Goolgebot and were consequently thrown out of the Google listings. Read Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO � Ramping up on international webspam to get the details direct from Google. However it seems that BMW quickly submitted a reinclusion request and are back in the listings already. Would a smaller company get such a quick reponse we ask ourselves? I wonder what BMW said to their SEO company? Are they still working for BMW?

Accessibility Case in the US

A student in California with help from the National Federation of the Blind are suing the retailer Target.com claiming discrimination as their retail web site is inaccessible to the blind. The lawsuit charges that the alleged lack of access violates two California laws, the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Disabled Persons Act.

Take a look at the news story as it appeared on NBC .

The case rests on the lack of image Alt Tags - labels that appear when you mouse over an image on a site. Alt tags are easy to add and are not rocker science. This simple ommission may lead to a large fines and legal fees. Which goes to show how accessibility is being treated seriously in the US. In the UK we are still waiting for a test case but incorporating accessibility features into your website is not expensive - so don't be caught!!