Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have added support for the new Canonical Link element to help identify a link to content on your site where all traffic should land when more than one link exists to the same content. The Canonical Link will be used for the search engine index, and sitemap URLs will still be used when there is a tie between more than one URL link.

WordPress 2.9 has now integrated the rel="canonical" link element, which will display between the "head" tags, but only on single post pages:

Note: WordPress itself does not actually integrate the wp.me short url format in the core. The Stats plugin, version 1.6 or above, is required for the wp.me short url format to be integrated.

Drupal has not added core support for the rel="canonical" link element, so Yoast has created a module that will add this feature to Drupal.

If you’re using WordPress, as NG does, then you will want to have the rel="canonical" link element on all the pages of you’re blog such as the homepage, tag, content, and other pages of your blog, so that each page can tell the search engines which link to use for all similar content that might otherwise be labeled as duplicate content. For instance, if you use the Google analytics campaign tag for traffic coming from Twitter your link might look like:

For this page the Canonical link should be:

To make sure all your pages tell the search engine which link to use you’ll need a plugin to help with this SEO (search engine optimization). Here at NerdGrind we use the a WordPress plugin called All in One SEO Pack, which has included Canonical URLs for a while. The All in One SEO Pack is highly recommended.

The addition of Canonical Links can significantly improve the SEO of your blog, and this can result in more traffic, as well as higher quality traffic. Below is a video on Canonical Links, and a few links to more resources on this very important topic.

Specify your canonical
Handling legitimate cross-domain content duplication
Demystifying the duplicate content penalty

Matt Cutts explains the Canonical Link element in the video below:

Microsoft had contracted Family Guy to make some funny Windows 7 promotional video clips, but after the show did a more than usual controversial show that Microsoft execs attended, they decided the show’s values were not consistent with Microsoft’s Windows brand.

Microsoft did publish the four video tape clips on their YouTube Windows channel.

If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer you may have noticed the message above when you visited the Google homepage. Google is doing everything they can to entice IE users to become Google Chrome converts.

Whoever controls the browser controls a large portion of both the desktop, and the Internet. Maybe Microsoft should consider making their browser lighter and faster.

A few days ago Microsoft released their free anti-virus software called Microsoft Security Essentials, which is replacing Windows Defender.

Microsoft says Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software, but it is Security Essentials itself that contains spyware. Read on, I’ll explain. This is a must read for anyone concerned about their privacy.

Read More →

Jon Skeet has received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award since 2003 for his work and contributions to the C# programming language. Skeet joined Google about a year ago, and recently asked his Google bosses if he could renew his award, which is only given out to around 1,500 developers worldwide, and his Google bosses said no. Skeet wrote on his blog:

It’s with some sadness that I have to announce that as of the start of October, I’m no longer a Microsoft MVP.

As renewal time came round again, I asked my employer whether it was okay for me to renew, and was advised not to do so. As a result, while I enjoyed being awarded as an MVP, I’ve asked not to be considered for renewal this year.

This doesn’t mean I’m turning my back on that side of software development, of course. I’m still going to be an active member of the C# community. I’m still writing the second edition of C# in Depth. I’m still going to post on Stack Overflow. I’m still going to blog here about whatever interesting and wacky topics crop up.

I just won’t be doing so as an MVP.

Thanks to all the friends I’ve made in the MVP community and Microsoft over the last 6 years, and I wish you all the best.

Keep in touch.

Published Thu, Oct 1 2009 6:21 by skeet

Skeet works on Google Sync, and during his 20% other projects time, his bosses are okay with him continuing his C# work, but he just can’t accept the MVP award for it.

Since Skeet works on Google Sync, I have to wonder if that project is written, at least in part, in the C# programming language.