Microsoft's Free SEO Tool Released

  • By Kurt Mackie
  • 01/14/10

Microsoft has released a free search engine optimization (SEO) tool for Web sites.

The software, called "SEO Toolkit," works with Web sites supported by Microsoft's Internet Information Services Web servers on Windows-based machines. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, "the SEO Toolkit does need to be run on Windows, but it can be pointed at and analyze any site--Apache or IIS--regardless of what it is hosted on." It was previously released as a beta back in June.

The SEO Toolkit crawls through local and external Web sites and checks for problems such as broken links, slow-loading pages and invalid markup. It can be used to optimize key words to improve Web site hit counts.

The SEO Toolkit manages site maps files, which search engines use to grab URLs. It can also check which URLs get excluded by search engines via a "robots exclusion module" that checks robots.txt files, according to Microsoft's description. It's designed to optimize Web sites searched by Bing, Google, Yahoo and other search engines.

To install the toolkit, Microsoft's Web Platform Installer needs to be used. The Web Platform Installer centralizes the installation of Microsoft software used for Web sites. It's also a free download available from Microsoft.

The SEO Toolkit will run on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems. It can be downloaded at this Microsoft Web site, which provides support materials and a demo.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is online news editor, Enterprise Group, at 1105 Media Inc.

Featured

  • MathGPT

    MathGPT AI Tutor Now Out of Beta

    Ed tech provider GotIt! Education has announced the general availability of MathGPT, an AI tutor and teaching assistant for foundational math support.

  • person signing a bill at a desk with a faint glow around the document. A tablet and laptop are subtly visible in the background, with soft colors and minimal digital elements

    California Governor Signs AI Content Safeguards into Law

    California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed off on a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills, signaling the state’s latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm.

  • white desk with an open digital tablet showing AI-related icons like gears and neural networks

    Elon University and AAC&U Release Student Guide to AI

    A new publication from Elon University 's Imagining the Digital Future Center and the American Association of Colleges and Universities offers students key principles for navigating college in the age of artificial intelligence.

  • abstract technology icons connected by lines and dots

    Digital Layers and Human Ties: Navigating the CIO's Dilemma in Higher Education

    As technology permeates every aspect of life on campus, efficiency and convenience may come at the cost of human connection and professional identity.