WO2007073262A2

WO2007073262A2 - Method and system for improving the searchability of a web site

Info

Publication number: WO2007073262A2
Application number: PCT/SE2005/002025
Authority: WO
Inventors: Stefan Helgesson; Lars Anders Tufvesson
Original assignee: Two I Sverige Ab
Priority date: 2005-12-23
Filing date: 2005-12-23
Publication date: 2007-06-28

Description

Method and system for improving the searchability of a web site

This invention relates to a method of making an existing web site search engine friendly, said web site being located on a domain available to the Internet and comprising a plurality of search engine unfriendly web pages .

The invention also relates to a system for improving the searchability of a web site comprising a plurality of search engine unfriendly web pages, the web site being located on a domain available to the Internet.

The Internet is a huge repository of information. It includes a large number of web sites with information on virtually every topic imaginable. Each web site may contain anywhere from one to hundreds or even thousands of web pages.

Many Internet users utilize search engines to locate information on a desired topic. A search engine is a system accessible from the Internet which is designed to deliver web links to web sites which correspond to a specific topic of interest of the user. GOOGLE, YAHOO and ALTA VISTA are examples of such search engines.

When using a search engine the user enters one or more keywords reflecting the topic of interest into a search form on the search engine web site. The search engine then returns a list of web pages that the search engine deems relevant to the entered keyword or keywords. This list may include hundreds or even thousands of web pages. Usually the search engine lists the web pages in order from most to least relevant. The web pages at the top of the list are the easiest and most convenient to access, and are therefore accessed by users with greater frequency than pages located nearer to the bottom of the list.

In order to find relevant web pages the search engine is designed to explore the Internet in search of web pages using so-called spiders, crawlers or robots, which in the following will be referred to as robots. The robot is able to follow web links present on web pages. When finding a new web page, the robot enters information about the web page into a search engine database. The robot then revisits the web page on a regular basis in order to register changes on the web page and update the database.

When receiving a query, the search engine utilizes a ranking algorithm in order to evaluate the information in the database and find the most relevant web pages. Different search engines use different ranking algorithms, and the ranking algorithms are usually well kept secrets. The search algorithm takes many factors into consideration when determining the relevance of a web page. Such factors may be the location and frequency of keywords, the presence of meta-tags, the number of web links pointing to other web pages and the relevance of those pages, and the number of web links pointing to the web page.

As the importance of the Internet as information channel and advertising tool is constantly increasing, organisations and companies spend more and more effort on producing attractive web sites. Web site owners seek to maximize the number of users who access their web site and, also, to maximize the number of users who repeatedly returns to the web site. In order to produce interesting web pages, it is common that web site designers utilises techniques such as scripts, session IDs, frames, DHTML, image maps or flash or other plug-ins. While these techniques are effective in creating dynamic and graphically appealing web pages, the web pages produced using theses techniques are not search engine friendly as the search engine robots may have difficulties navigating these web pages and retrieving information. Accordingly, the information on theses web pages in the search engine databases may be defective or even absent. As a result, theses web pages will receive a low ranking.

With the ever increasing number of web pages available on the Internet, web site owners are becoming more and more dependent on search engines to effectively advertise their web sites. However, web site owners having web sites relying on above-mentioned search engine unfriendly techniques usually find their web sites far from the top of the search engines' hit lists. A solution to this problem available to the search engine provider is to rebuild the web site using search friendly techniques. Many of these techniques are known as such. Furthermore, the major search engine companies provide advice on how to design search friendly web sites. However, as many search engine unfriendly web sites have hundreds or even thousands of web pages, rebuilding such a web site represent a large investment in effort and money. Therefore, a number of web site owners have turned to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) companies in order to find alternative solutions to the problem. Such companies sell services that claim to improve the ranking of the clients web site.

One technique used by SEO companies is to create a search engine friendly web page laying on a separate domain that funnels users to the web site of the client by using redirect commands. Such domains are often referred to as shadow or mirror domains. However, these shadow domains are often owned by the SEO company. If the client chooses to terminate the relationship with the SEO company, the shadow domain may be pointed to a different web site, or even to a competitor's web site. If that happens, the owner of the search engine unfriendly web site has paid to develop a competing site owned entirely by the SEO company .

Another technique practiced by SEO companies is to place a web page loaded with keywords somewhere on the client's web site. Such web pages are often referred to as doorway pages. The objective of the doorway web page is to make the web site more relevant for more queries. However, this is inherently false since the keywords of the doorway web page is rarely relevant for all of the web pages on the web site. More insidious, however, is that the client may not have total control over the doorway page. The doorway page may contain hidden links to the SEO company's other clients as well. Such doorway pages drain away the link popularity of a web site and route it to the SEO company and its other clients, which may own web sites having a content with which the client does not want to be associated.

Furthermore, many search engine providers look upon above-described techniques as unwanted and immoral ways to manipulate search engine ranking results. Search engine providers, therefore, may ban web sites using such techniques. This said, it must be emphasised that there are many SEO companies that focus on rebuilding search engine unfriendly web sites using approved techniques. However, as stated above, this represent a large investment in effort and money.

The objective of the present invention is to provide a method and a system that allows a owner of a search engine unfriendly web site to render the web site search engine friendly. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system that makes information gathering on the Internet more effective.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method and system that will reduce the amount of data traffic on the Internet.

The method according to the invention is characterized by the steps of: identifying a plurality of keywords or keyword phrases that relate to the information content of the web site; for each of a plurality of the keywords or keyword phrases, creating a search engine friendly web page; in the search engine friendly web page, creating a web link pointing to a web page of the web site containing information relating to the keyword or keyword phrase of the search engine friendly web page; and publishing the search engine friendly web pages on the domain of the web site.

The system according to the invention is characterized in that it is arranged to: produce a set of search engine friendly web pages, each search engine friendly web page relating to a unique keyword or keyword phrase and comprising a text area carrying information relevant to the keyword or keyword phrase, each search friendly web page also comprising a web link pointing to a web page of the web site containing information relating to the keyword or keyword phrase of the search engine friendly web page; and publish the set of web pages on the domain of the web site.

Thus, according to the invention the original web site is complemented with search engine friendly web pages that map the information content of original web site, the added web pages providing links pointing to relevant web pages of the original site. Due to the search friendly and structured character of the added set of web pages, the web site produced according to the method can easily be accessed by search robots and, consequently, the web pages of the web site will be ranked in an advantageous manner by the search engines. It should be emphasised that the web pages of the set do not constitute a 1:1 mapping of the web pages of the original web site, but rather a mapping of the information content. Therefore, by choosing relevant keywords the information content of a rather large search unfriendly web site can be made available to the search engines by producing relative few web pages according to the method of the invention.

Also, due to the fact that the invention helps Internet users to quickly find information that was previously not listed, or poorly listed, on search engine hit lists, the invention will contribute to a lowering of the bandwidth used to information found ratio of the Internet. The invention, therefore, will contribute to a reduction of the amount of data traffic required to find a specific amount of information.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a web site the searchability of which the invention seeks to improve.

Figure 2 illustrates the web site of Figure 1 further comprising web pages generated by a system according to the invention.

Figure 3 illustrates a web page generated by a system according to the invention. Figure 4 illustrates a site map web page generated by a system according to the invention.

Figures 5-8 show different windows of a graphical interface of a tool according to a preferred system of the invention.

With reference to Figure 1, a preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described.

As mentioned above, the invention seeks to improve the searchability of an existing search engine unfriendly web site comprising a plurality of web pages that have been produced using techniques that are search engine unfriendly. Such techniques may be scripts, session IDs, frames, DHTML, image maps, flash or other plug-ins that hinder the work of search engine robots. Figure 1 illustrates such a web site 1. In addition to web pages 2 produced using search engine unfriendly techniques, the web site 1 may additionally comprise web pages 3 that have been produced using techniques that are search engine friendly. Search engine friendly techniques are as such well know by persons skilled in the art of web design and will not be described in more detail here. Also, the web site 1 comprises a web page 4 that functions as an index page or start page for the web site 1. The start page 4 may have been produced using search engine friendly techniques. However, due to the frontal character of such a page, the start page is more often produced using search engine unfriendly techniques. In this case, accordingly, the web site is made up by search engine friendly as well as search engine unfriendly web pages. In other cases the web site may exclusively be made up by web pages that are search engine unfriendly. The web site 1 is hosted by a web server which, when in operation, is accessible via a web browser. Furthermore, in a conventional manner, the web site 1 may be arranged to interact with a database 5 located on the same computer as the web server, i.e. an internal database, or with a database 6 located on a computer other than the computer on which the web server is located, i.e. an external database.

In the following the preferred method and system of improving the searchability of the web site 1 of Figure 1 will be described.

The first step of the method is to analyse the structure of the web site 1 and also the information contained therein. Thereafter, a plurality of themes are identified such that the themes reflect the overall structure and information content on the web site 1. For each theme a keyword or keyword phrase representing the theme is chosen. In the following, a keyword is meant to be understood as a keyword or a keyword phrase. Each keyword is associated with a web page in the web site 1 that carries information relevant to that specific theme. This associated web page can be the index page 4 or one of the search engine friendly or unfriendly pages 2 or 3. For example, for a web site promoting coffee products the keywords representing different themes may be ^Λ Coffee Products' , ^Λ Offers', ^y Coffee Q&A' and ^Λ Coffee Recipes' .

Next a plurality of keywords are identified and chosen within each theme such that each keyword within a theme is relevant to that specific theme. Also, each keyword is chosen so that is exhibits kinship with the other keywords within the theme. For example, within the theme defined by the main keyword ^x Coffee Recipes' , the subordinate keywords * Irish Coffee', ^Λ Cappuccino' , ^Espresso' and ^Cafe au Lait' may be identified and chosen. Also, each subordinate keyword is associated with a web page in the web site 1 that carries information relevant to that specific keyword. It should be noted, however, that all themes do not have to have the same number of keywords.

Preferably, each keyword, main and subordinate, is associated with a unique web page, i.e. each keyword is associated with a web page that is not associated with any other keyword. However, depending on the structure of the original web site 1, two or more keywords may be associated with the same web page. Also, it is possible to introduce keywords that pertain to information on the web site 1 but which do not expressively relate to a specific web page. Such keywords should preferably be associated with the index page 4.

Having identified a plurality of themes and also keywords within each theme, the original web site 1 is amended according to Figure 2. In this example four themes, represented by the main keywords ^Λ Theme 1' , ^Λ Theme 2' , * Theme 3' and ' Theme 4' , have been identified, each theme having four, two, five and four subordinate keywords respectively according to the table below.

Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4

Keyword 1:1 Keyword 2 :1 Keyword 3:1 Keyword 4 :1

Keyword 1:2 Keyword 2 :2 Keyword 3:2 Keyword 4 :2

Keyword 1:3 Keyword 3:3 Keyword 4 :3

Keyword 1:4 Keyword 3:4 Keyword 4 :4

Keyword 3:5

Relating to the previous example of the web site promoting coffee products, ^λ Theme 4' can for example be ^Coffee Recipes' and ^Keyword 4 : 1' -^ΛKeyword 4:4' ^yIrish Coffee' , ^Λ Cappuccino' , ^Espresso' and ^λCafe au Lait' respectively.

The amended web site 7 comprises the web pages of the original web site 1. This group 8 of web pages retains its original structure and the web pages 2, 3, 4 of the group 8 are left unchanged. The web site 7 also comprises a new or added set of web pages 9. Thus, the set of web pages 9 is published on the same domain as the original web site 1, i.e. In this context a domain and its sub domains are to be understood as belonging to the same domain. For example, if the original web site is published using the address www.domain_name. com, the set 9 may be published under www. domain_name. com/themes or under www. themes .domain_name. com. The structure of the set 9 reflects the identified themes and keywords. In other words, the set 9 comprises four groups 10, 11, 12, 13 of web pages. Each group 10, 11, 12, 13 corresponds to one of the previously identified themes. Group 10 corresponds to the first theme, i.e. the theme identified by the main keyword ^λ Theme 1' . Group 11 corresponds to the second theme, i.e. the theme identified by the main keyword ' Theme 2' . Group 12 corresponds to the third theme, i.e. the theme identified by the main keyword ^λ Theme 3' . Finally, group 13 corresponds to the fourth theme, i.e. the theme identified by the main keyword ^Theme 4' . Each group 10, 11, 12, 13 comprises a plurality of web pages such that each web page in a group corresponds to a keyword in the theme of that group. In fact, the group structure of the set 9 is a 1:1 mapping of the identified themes and keywords, main and subordinate, within each theme. For example, the group identified by the main keyword ^Theme 4' , i.e. group 13, comprises a main web page 13a, corresponding to the main keyword ^Λ Theme 4' , and subordinate web pages 13b, 13c, 13d and 13e, corresponding to the subordinate keyword ^ΛKeyword 4:1' , ^λKeyword 4:2' , ^ΛKeyword 4:3' , and ^Keyword 4:4' respectively. Also, as a consequence of the fact that each keyword is associated with a web page of the original group of web pages 8, each web page 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d and 13e is associated with a web page of the original group 8. In Figure 2 this is illustrated by dashed lines associating web page 13a with web page 2a, 13b with 2a, 13c with 2b, 13d with 2c and, finally, web page 13e with web page 2d. Similarly, the web pages of the other groups 10, 11 and 12 are associated with other web pages of the original group of web pages 8.

The set of web pages 9 also comprises a site map web page 14 describing the structure of the web pages of the groups 10, 11, 12 and 13. This web page 14 will be described in more detail below.

Figure 3 illustrates the construction of the web pages of the groups 10, 11, 12, 13 of the set 9. In this case, it is web page 13c that is shown. However, the other web pages of the groups 10, 11, 12, 13 of the set 9 are constructed in the same way.

The web page 13c comprises a header 20, a left column 21, a right column 22 and a footer 23.

The header 20 comprises a horizontal navigation bar or area 24 comprising web links pointing to the web pages of the set 9 that correspond to the main keywords of the identified themes, i.e. to the main web pages 10a, 11a, 12a and 13a. In other words, the web link labelled ^yTheme 1' is pointing to web page 10a, ^Λ Theme 2' to web page 11a, ^λ Theme 3' to web page 12a and ^Λ Theme 4' to web page 13a.

The left column 21 comprises a text area 25 for information on the present keyword, i.e. ^Keyword 4:2' in this case. The left column 21 also comprises a bread crumb trail 26 indicating the position of the present web page in the structure of the web site 7. The elements of the bread crumb trail 26 are links pointing to node web pages of the web site 7. In this case, the first element, i.e. ^x Start' , points to the index page 4 of the original group of web pages 8. The second element, labelled ^Λ Theme 4' , points to the main web page of the fourth theme, i.e. to web page 13a. The third and last element of the bread crumb trail 26, labelled ^Keyword 4:2' , indicates the position of the present web page, i.e. web page 13c. The last element does not necessarily have to be an active link since it is only pointing back to the present page. In Figure 3 active links are indicated by underlined word while non-active links are indicated by plain text words. The left column 21 also comprises a link 27 pointing to web page 2b, i.e. the web page of the original group 8 that is associated with the present keyword, i.e. ^Keyword 4:2' , and consequently with the present web page 13c. Preferably this link is labelled ""More Information on Keyword 4:2'.

The right column 22 comprises a link 28 labelled ^Λ Start' that points to the index page 4 of the original group of web pages 8, i.e. to the same web page as the first element in the bread crumb trail 26. Also, the right column 22 comprises a link 29 labelled ^Sitemap' pointing to the site map web page 14. The right column 22 further comprises a vertical navigation list 30. The list comprises web links labelled according to the keywords of the present theme. The elements of the navigation list 30 point to the web pages of group 13 that correspond to the keyword in the label. However, the elements of the list are presented in order of popularity. In other words, the most visited web page in the theme is placed in the first position, the second most visited web page in the second position etc. In this case the most popular keyword is ^Theme 4' , i.e. the main keyword of the theme. Therefore, the first link of the list points to web page 13a. The least popular keyword of the theme is ^Keyword 4.2' , i.e. the keyword of the present web page 13c. In order to keep track of the popularity of the web pages or, equivalently, of the keywords, the clickrate of the web pages in the group 13 is registered and stored in a database. This procedure of registering clickrates is well known in the art of web design and will not be described further here. The database storing the clickrate information may be the same internal 5 or external 6 database that serves the original group of web pages 8. Alternatively, a designated internal 31 or external 32 database may be set up to harbour the clickrate information. Each time the web page 13c is rendered the web server consults the database in order to produce an up to date listing. The navigation list 30 thus provides an internal ranking of the popularity of the web pages of the present theme. Alternatively, the links of the navigation list 30 may point to the web pages of the original group 8 that are associated with labelling keyword. In other words, the link labelled Theme 4" may point to web page 3a, the link labelled ^xKeyword 4:3' to web page 2c, etc.

The footer, finally, comprises a horizontal navigation bar or area 33 comprising links labelled according to the keywords of the present theme. These links point to the web pages of the group 13, i.e. to web pages 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d and 13e. Once again, the link pointing the present web page, i.e. the link labelled ^yKeyword 4:2' does not necessarily have to be an active link.

Although not necessary for the working of the invention, it is preferred that the above-described method also comprises the step of creating a web link in a web page of the original group 8 and pointing the web link to one of the web pages in the set 9. This web link is preferably placed in the index page 4 and pointed to the web page 10a related to the main keyword of the first theme, as is shown in figure 2. If there is no site map in the original group, the link is preferably labelled ^ΛSite Map' . If a site map already exists, the link is preferably labelled ^ΛSite Overview' or ^λSite Resume' .

The construction of the site map web page 14 will now be described with reference to Figure 4.

The web page 14 comprises a header 34, a left column 35 and a right column 36.

The header 34 is essentially identical to the header 20 of web page 13c. In other words, the header 34 comprises a horizontal navigation bar 37 having web links labelled according to the identified main keywords, each link pointing to the main web page of the set 9 that corresponds to the labelling keyword.

In the same way as in web page 13c, the left column 35 comprises a bread crumb trail 38 indicating the position of the present web page in the structure of the web site 7. In this case the site map organises directly under the index page. The left column also comprises a vertical navigation list 39. The list comprises web links to all web pages of the set 9. The links are labelled according to the identified keywords, each link pointing to the web page of the set 9 that corresponds to the labelling keyword. Links relating to keywords within the same theme are grouped together. The link pointing to the main web page 10a, 11a, 12a, 13a of each theme is placed in a heading position and links pointing to the subordinate web pages in each theme are listed in a predefined order under the link pointing to the main web page. The navigation list 39 thus provides a graphical map of the web pages of the set 9.

The right column 36 comprises a link 40 to the index page 4 of the web site 7 and also a navigation list 41 comprising links to a predefined number of the most visited web pages of the set 9. In this case links to the ten most visited web pages are listed. The links are labelled according to the identified keywords of the themes and each link point to the web pages of the set 9 that corresponds to the labelling keyword. In this case the most visited web page is web page 11a, i.e. the web page corresponding to the keyword ''Theme 2' . The least visited web page in the list is web page 13b, i.e. the web page corresponding to the keyword ^ΛKeyword 4:1' . The previously described database storing clickrate information on the web pages of the set 9 is used to establish the order of the list 41. The navigation list 41 thus provides an internal ranking of the most popular web pages of the set 9 in the same way the navigation list 30 of web page 13c provides an internal ranking of the most popular web pages within a theme.

Thus, according to the method of the invention the original web site is complemented with search engine friendly web pages that map the information content of original web site 1, the added web pages providing links pointing to relevant web pages of the original site. Due to the search friendly and structured character of the added set 9 of web pages, the web site 7 produced according to the method can easily be accessed by search robots and, consequently, the web pages of the web site 7 will be ranked in an advantageous manner by the search engines. It should be emphasised that the web pages of the set 9 do not constitute a 1:1 mapping of the web pages of the original web site, but rather a mapping of the information content. Therefore, by choosing relevant keywords the information content of a rather large search unfriendly web site can be made available to the search engines by producing relative few web pages according to the method of the invention.

A preferred system for improving a web site according to the above-described method comprises a computer tool providing a graphical interface for an operator or administrator to create and administrate the above-described web pages of the set 9. The tool preferably is web server based. Also, preferably, the tool is installed on the web server of the web site. Preferably, the tool is written using Active Server Pages, .Net, Lotus Domino, JSP or any other web server development tool .

Once the themes have been identified and the main keywords, i.e. the keywords defining the themes, have been chosen, the operator creates one or a plurality of templates to be used when creating the web pages. The operator can choose to use one template for all web pages in the set. Alternatively, the operator can use a unique template for each theme. When creating the templates the operator decides on a layout, e.g. header, columns and footer positions, and also on a graphical profile, e.g. colour schemes, fonts, logotypes and images. Preferably, cascading style sheets of the original web site 1, or style sheets mimicking the cascading style sheets of the original web site 1, are used. Also, when creating the templates the operator should decide on the positions of content holders for text information and images. The graphical profile should preferably be chosen in such a way that it corresponds to the graphical profile of the web pages of the original web site 1. A seamless integration of the new web pages of the set 9 with the web pages of the original web site 1 is preferable. Having created the templates the operator, or another authorised person, i.e. a web editor, accesses a graphical interface of the tool that allows the operator to add keywords to each theme and to create and administrate web pages corresponding to the keywords.

Figures 5-8 show the graphical interface 42 displaying a left column 43 and a window area 44. The left column 43 comprises a list 45 of the defined themes. Each list item is expandable to reveal a set 46 of action buttons. Also, below the list 45 is a second set 47 of action buttons.

By pressing the action button labelled ^Keyword overview' in the set 47 the window 48 displayed in Figure 5 will appear. The window 48 comprises a list 49 of defined themes and keywords. The window 48 provides an action button 50 to add a keyword to the list 49 and also, for each keyword in the list 49, an action button 51 to delete the keyword from the list 49.

By pressing the action button labelled ^ΛKeyword' in the set 46 a similar window (not shown) as window 48 will appear. This window, however, will only show the keywords of theme 1. By pressing the action button in this window that corresponds to the action button 50 of window 48, the operator will access a second window 52 shown in Figure 6. In this window 52 the operator can add a keyword to the present theme, i.e. theme 1 in this case. The window 52 comprises a text area 53 in which the operator can enter the new keyword. The operator can also define the sort order of the new keyword within the theme by entering a sort number in a sort number area 54. The sort order will decide the position of the corresponding web page in the list of the navigation bar 33 and also in the navigation list 39. There is also a second text area 55 where the operator can enter the Uniform Resource

Locator, URL, of the web page of the original group of web pages 8 that is associated with the new keyword. The URL is subsequently used by the tool to produce the link 27 pointing to the associated web page. Having entered the required information in the different areas 53-55, the operator presses an action button 56 to enter the keyword into the list of keywords. Alternatively, the operator presses another action 57 button to cancel the operation of adding the keyword.

Having decided upon a set of keywords the operator will create web pages corresponding to the keywords. By clicking on a keyword in the keyword list, or by marking a keyword in the list and pressing the action button labelled ^ΛEdit page' in the set 46, the operator will access a third window 58, which is shown in Figure 7. The third window 58 comprises a text editing area 59 for editing the text of the web page. This is the text that will appear in the text area 25 of the web page. The text editing area 59 comprises a heading section 60 and a text body section 61. The text entered here should relate to the present keyword. At the top of the window 58 is a tool bar 62 comprising conventional tools for editing the text in the text editing area 59. Also, in the tool bar 62 there are two action buttons 63 for toggling the text in the text editing area 59 between HTML code mode, in which the text is shown with HTML tags, and plain text mode, in which the text is shown as formatted text without HTML tags.

The third window 58 also comprise a tag editing area 64 for editing the TITLE tag, the META name="description" tag and the META name="keywords" tag of the web page. For entering tag text the tag editing area 64 comprises text boxes 65-67. The window 58 also comprises an information area 68 comprising information on the presence of the keyword in the different areas of the web page. If the keyword is not present in the heading, text body, TITLE tag, META name="description" tag or META name="keywords" tag, a warning message will appear in the information area 68. For example, in the case shown in Figure 7 the keyword is missing in the heading and in the description tag.

When satisfied with the entered texts, the operator saves his work by pressing an action button 69 in the tool bar 62. The web page will then be stored in a storage area of the tool. If the operator wishes to edit the web page at a later stage, he simply presses the labelling keyword of the web page in the keyword list and the web page will reappear in the third window 58.

Before the web pages can be published on the web site I₁ each web page need to be manually approved of. The approving person preferably is a person other than the person who created the web page. The approving person can for example be the person chiefly in charge of the web site 7. In order to approve a web page, the approving person accesses a fourth window 70 of the graphical interface 42 by pressing the action button labelled ^ΛApprove' in the set 46. Figure 8 shows this fourth window 70. The fourth window 70 comprises a list 71 of web pages, labelled by their keywords, that have been created but not yet approved upon by the approving person. Each item in the list 71 comprises an action button 72 for viewing the web page in the previously described third window 58. The approving person can also access the web page by clicking on the web page labelling keyword in the list 71. Each item in the list 71 also comprises an action button 73 for previewing the web page in a web browser. By pressing this button 73 the approving person will be able to view the web page such that it will be displayed when published on the web site. Furthermore, each item in the list comprises a text area 74 where the approving person can enter comments regarding the web page, e.g. to be read by the web editor when updating the web page. Each item also comprises a tick box 75 containing a tick. When the approving person is satisfied with the web page, he removes the tick from the tick box 75 and the web page is removed from the list 71. At the same time, the web page is automatically published on the web site 7 and the site map web page 14 is automatically updated to contain the added web page.

A web page produced using the above-described graphical interface is inherently search engine friendly as only search engine friendly techniques are used in the building of the web page. Also, the tool encourages the operator to follow practises that render the web page a good ranking. For example, it is preferred that the keyword of the web page is present in the heading, text body, TITLE tag, META name="description" tag as well as in the META name="keywords" tag. The above-described information area 68 makes it easy for the operator to check that this is the case. Also, the system can be configured such that it will not publish a web page unless the keyword of the web page is present in the heading, text body, TITLE tag, META name="description" tag and META name="keywords" tag.

The system organises the published web pages of the set 9 in an ordered fashion on the web server. All web pages of the set 9 are stored as individual files in the same main directory. Web pages belonging to the same group 10, 11, 12, 13, i.e. same theme, are stored in the same individual sub directory. Furthermore, each sub directory is named according to the main keyword of the theme, and the files of the subordinate web pages are named according to the subordinate keywords. For example, the web page corresponding to the keyword ^ΛKeyword 4:2' belonging to the theme identified by the keyword

' Theme 4' , will receive the URL www.domain_name. com/... .../maϊn_directory_name/Theme 4/Keyword 4:2. asp if Active Server Pages is used by the system. This structure is transparent for the search robots and makes it easy for the search robots to gather information.

In addition to the above-described tools, the system comprises a template generating and editing tool. This tool is accessed by pressing the action button labelled ^ΛTemplates' in the left column of the graphical interface. Template generating and editing tools are as such familiar to a person skilled in web site and web page design and will not be described further here. Also, the system comprises an administrator area, accessible by pressing the action button labelled ^Administrators' in the graphical interface, where the operator can grant privileges persons to create, edit, approve and publish web pages. Such a tool is also well known in the art of web design and will not be described further here.

Preferred embodiments of the invention - a method and a system - have been described. However, other embodiments are possible within the scope of the invention. For example, many of the describe features, i.e. the bread crumb trail 26, are preferred but not necessary for the working of the invention. Also, for improving the searchability of large and complex web sites, i.e. a e-commerce site selling many different types of products, more keyword levels than two may be required.

P1916PC TEl 051221

Claims

C L A I M S

1. A method of making an existing web site (1) search engine friendly, said web site (1) being located on a domain available to the Internet and comprising a plurality of search engine unfriendly web pages (2) , characterized by the steps of: identifying a plurality of keywords or keyword phrases that relate to the information content of the web site (1); for each of a plurality of the keywords or keyword phrases, creating a search engine friendly web page (13c); in the search engine friendly web page (13c) , creating a web link (27) pointing to a web page (2b) of the web site (1) containing information relating to the keyword or keyword phrase of the search engine friendly web page (13c) ; and publishing the search engine friendly web pages (13c) on the domain of the web site (1) .

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized by the steps of: identifying a plurality of themes that relate to the information content of the web site (1); organising said keywords or keyword phrases into themes such that each theme has a main keyword or keyword phrase representing the theme and a plurality of subordinate keywords or keyword phrases relating to the information content of the theme; and organising said search engine friendly web pages (13c) into groups (10, 11, 12, 13), each group comprising a main web page (10a, 11a, 12a, 13a) corresponding to the main keyword or keyword phrase of the theme, and a plurality of subordinate web pages (13b, 13c, 13d, 13e) corresponding to the subordinate keywords or keyword phrases of the theme.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the step of: in each of said search engine friendly web pages (13c) , creating a text area (25) comprising text relating to the keyword or keyword phrase of the search engine friendly web page (13c) .

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized by the step of: in each of said search engine friendly web pages (13c), creating a navigation area (24) comprising web links pointing to said main web pages (10a, 11a, 12a, 13a).

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized by the step of: in each of said search engine friendly web pages (13c) , creating a navigation area (33) comprising web links pointing to said subordinate web pages (13a, 13b, 13c, 13d, 13e) that are within the same theme as the search engine friendly web page (13c) .

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized by the step of: in each of said search engine friendly web pages (13c) , creating a bread crumb trail (26) indicating the position of the search engine friendly web page (13c) in the web site (7) .

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized by the steps of: in each of said search engine friendly web pages (13c) , creating a list (30) comprising list elements labelled according to the main and subordinate keywords or keyword phrases within the same theme as the search engine friendly web page (13c) ; and presenting the list elements in order of popularity.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized by the steps of: forming each of said list elements as web links; and pointing each web link to the main or subordinate web page (13a-13e) that corresponds to the labelling keyword or keyword phrase.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized by the steps of: creating a site map web page (14) comprising a list of said search engine friendly web pages; and publishing the site map web page (14) on said domain.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized by the steps of: creating a web link on a web page (4) of web site (1) ; and pointing the web link to one of said search friendly web pages (10a) .

11. A system for improving the searchability of a web site (1) comprising a plurality of search engine unfriendly web pages (2), the web site (1) being located on a domain available to the Internet, characterized in that the system is arranged to: produce a set (9) of search engine friendly web pages, each search engine friendly web page (13c) relating to a unique keyword or keyword phrase and comprising a text area (25) carrying information relevant to the keyword or keyword phrase, each search friendly web page (13c) also comprising a web link (27) pointing to a web page (2b) of the web site (1) containing information relating to the keyword or keyword phrase of the search engine friendly web page (13c) ; and publish the set (9) of web pages on the domain of the web site (1) .

12. The system according to claim 11, characterized in that it is arranged to: produce a site map web page (14) comprising a list of said search engine friendly web pages; and publish the site map web page (14) on said domain.

13. The system according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that it comprises a graphical user interface (42) .

14. The system according to any one of claims 11-13, characterized in that it is computer implemented.

15. The system according to claim 14, characterized in that it is arranged to be installed on the web server hosting said domain.

P1916PC TEl 051221