The SEO Tools add-in is available for Expression Web 4 and Expression Web 3.

About the SEO Tools Add-In

The SEO Tools for Microsoft Expression Web add-in helps you prepare your site and pages for Google, Bing, and other Internet search engines. Integrated with Expression Web, you'll have all the tools you need to help get your site and pages noticed.

(Still using Expression Web 1 or 2? No problem, we got you covered!)

One of the most important parts of your search engine optimization (SEO) work is building an XML sitemap. This standards-based, XML-formatted file helps search engines do a better job of crawling and indexing your site and is a snap to create with the Sitemap Builder. Remember, the sitemap.xml protocol is used by Google, Bing, and other search engines.

Highlights

• No XML knowledge required.
• Integrates with the Expression Web user interface. There's no need to use a stand-alone application or go to an external Web site.
• Fast and efficient. (updated in v5.5!)
• Ability to exclude many default file types from your sitemap. (updated in v5.5!)
• Ability to use a custom list of file types to exclude. (updated in v5.6!)
• Honors the Expression Web Exclude from Publishing file property. If set, the file is not included in your sitemap.
• Home and index pages are automatically assigned the highest priority. (See what are the default priority settings?)
• Sitemap is automatically saved to the correct folder.
• If an existing sitemap.xml file is found, a backup copy is created before a new sitemap.xml is saved.
• Use on as many of your own sites or ones that you manage.

There are two reasons to always include a robots.txt file in your site. First, it lets you control which files and folders search engines, crawlers, and robots can see. And second, it's the best way to let search engines know about your sitemap.xml file.

The Robots.txt Builder will automatically include the special sitemap.xml directive that lets search engines know you have an XML sitemap available. And since most search engines download your robots.txt file every day, it's the ideal way to get discovered. The Robots.txt Builder. An essential tool.

Descriptive image title and alternative text make for a better user experience. And it also helps improve and increase your searchable page content. With the Image Text Builder you can conveniently add and edit both of these important values quickly. Iterate through all images on a page or edit them one at a time. The Image Text Builder is fast, easy, and efficient.

Have you ever published a new page and then realized you forgot to change the default title? Or forgot to add your page description and keywords? If so, you're missing out on some critical SEO work (never mind not practicing good page design). With the Property Count Toolbar you'll keep your title, description, and keywords values front and center as you go about preparing your pages for publication.

You'll also see the lengths of each property, ensuring you don't say too much. Most search engines truncate the title after a certain length. And values that are too long might be viewed as keyword stuffing.

Note: The Property Count Toolbar also includes quick access buttons for the Image Text Builder and Page Text Viewer.

Tip: A generally accepted rule is to keep your titles less then or equal to 65 characters; and that's including spaces!

Tip: Go to Google or Bing and then type the following in the search box (without the double-quotes and replacing "mysite" with your site): "site:www.mysite.com". You'll get a list of your indexed pages and the title and description of each one.

New in version 5.5, the Page Text Viewer is a convenient way to see all your HTML page headings and link text in a single window. You now have the ability to quickly glance over these important search engine optimization targets.

Tip: Clicking any heading or link text selects that element in your page.