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Search Engine Arch Nemesis to Collaborate

As the internet gets bigger, crossing the 100 millionth website not long ago, a need for sites regulation aroused. In an unusual cooperation, rivals Google, Yahoo and Microsoft will work together and support a shared standard regarding sitemaps. A sitemap is a file that indexes the whole web site, and by regulating the way people build websites, indexing them into search engine is going to be easier, and help all search companies to yield results that are more relevant.

The initiative will help both webmaster and the search companies. By telling the search indexes what content is available on the website, how large it is, and many other important details, the site will be indexed in the right location. Google already uses a standardization code called Sitemaps 0.90, and both Microsoft and Yahoo announced that they will support it. Google launched its regulation code in June 2005, and it is considered as very successful.

"This is a great development for the whole community and addresses a real need of webmasters in a very convenient fashion," said Search Engine Watch editor-in-chief. The online community was looking for a one-for-all code to be accepted, as it makes it easier to adjust sites for all search engines at once, instead of customizing it for different companies all the time. Currently, people looking for a high Google rank would build the site according to Google`s Sitemaps 0.90 protocol, but that would mean that Yahoo won`t read their sitemap according to Yahoo`s standard. This will all change once Microsoft and Yahoo adopt a unified code.