Patent Application #20120016857 appears to be for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Here is its claim 1:
A computer-readable medium comprising computer-readable instructions for providing search engine optimization analysis, wherein execution of said computer-readable instructions by one or more processors causes said one or more processors to carry out steps comprising:
- obtaining a starting uniform resource locator identifying a network location for a starting web resource;
- analyzing said starting uniform resource locator, wherein said analyzing comprises obtaining a text-based portion of said starting web resource comprising data and metadata, processing said data and said metadata to determine a plurality of potential target terms, and performing a relevancy test of said text-based portion of said starting web resource based on said plurality of potential target terms;
- determining any referred uniform resource locators in said text-based portion of said starting web resource, wherein said referred uniform resource locators each identify a referred web resource sharing a domain with said starting web resource;
- recursively analyzing said referred uniform resource locators, said recursive analysis comprising obtaining an additional text-based portion of a referred web resource; processing additional data and additional metadata in said additional text-based portion of said referred web resource to determine additional potential target terms for each referred web resource, and performing an additional relevancy test of said additional text-based portion of each referred web resource based on said additional potential target terms for each referred web resource;
- analyzing a link index of a network comprising said starting uniform resource locator to determine web resources linking to said web resources associated with said starting uniform resource locator and said referred uniform resource locators;
- calculating an internal search engine optimization score based on said analysis and said recursive analysis;
- calculating an external search engine optimization score based on said link index;
- providing a graphical report comprising a visualization of statistical information related to search engine optimization; and
- providing a domain visualization map comprising a graphical network representation of said statistical information for said starting uniform resource locator and said referred uniform resource locators.
I have been doing SEO for a few mom and pop stores and recently someone pointed me to this patent. Once you start reading the patent, it becomes clear that the patent could be for a search engine, rather than the optimisation, but the title suggests otherwise.
Is there prior art for SEO?
