The best website in the world won’t do anyone any good if it’s impossible to find, which is where search engine optimization (SEO) enters the equation. So people who are in charge of sites should be happy to know that ASP.NET 4 promises to up the ante on the SEO front.
A slightly better explanation of SEO is that it’s what helps certain sites rank above others in Google’s search results. There are other factors involved – no amount of keyword optimization will put Jim-Bob’s Cowhide Boots ahead of Nike following a search for “shoes” – but SEO is a big deal when it comes to visibility and traffic.
That’s why it’s important that Scott Guthrie, a corporate vice president in the Microsoft Developer Division, wrote earlier this week, “ASP.NET 4 includes a bunch of new runtime features that can help you to further optimize your site for SEO.”
He then named “New Page.MetaKeywords and Page.MetaDescription properties,” “New URL Routing support for ASP.NET Web Forms,” and a “New Response.RedirectPermanent() method” as the key upgrades.
ASP.NET developers should be able to use these features to their advantage. Just consider reading up a little on SEO and keep you expectations realistic.
