5 Great Reasons Why Archive.org’s Wayback Machine is a Great SEO Tool
Archive.org maintains historical versions of sites that allow archiving. You can see how your site looked last year or in 2001. The wayback machine keeps almost all historical versions of your site in archive.
To many people, Archive.org is just another repository like Google’s index that stores historical version in their timeline. Many Webmasters and Search Engine Optimizers (SEOs) fail to recognize this free feature as a very effective SEO Tool. Well, for those non-believers, here are 5 compelling reasons for them to admit that the Wayback Machine is a very useful SEO Tool:
Archive.org - The Wayback Machine
Reason-1: Powerful Tool for SEO Diagnosis
Archive.org’s Wayback machine can be used as a great tool for SEO diagnosis. Have you had a recent fall in traffic after updating a site? You and your webmaster can’t tell what happened to the site. And what were the codes that you have changed, since they were not tracked.
With the Wayback Machine, you can go back and have a look at the codes in previous versions of the site, before you made the update. And then use a simple code comparison tool like WinMerge to see the changes in codes side by side. And by looking at the changes in codes, you can easily diagnose SEO for your site.
Reason-2: Site and Link Aging
Old links are like old wine in SEO. Old links are also helpful for you to get Search Engine ranks. But, after changing the site to new Content Management System (CMS), you might create a lot of new links, but forget about the old links. I have seen many webmasters forget to care about the old links and suddenly the web sales start dropping.
You can search for the old links through the Wayback Machine and manage the aging of the links in the current site through 301 Permanent Redirect, which is very Search Engine Friendly. Here is a nice article on how you can improve SEO from old links.
Reason-3: Fixing Old Broken Links
As your site evolve, you throw away old links. But, there may be many sites and bookmarks out there that had a link to your old link. Not having the link there or having a 404 page instead, is a very disappointing thing for both visitors and search engines.
You can use the Wayback Machine to track back the old links and hunt down the broken links though Xenu’s Link Sleuth software. This will ensure visitor friendly smooth browsing from other sites or bookmarks. And the Search Engines will love your site for that.
Reason-4: Source of Unique Contents
Previously, Content was the King. However, after the Duplicate Content Filter update by Google, Unique Contents became new King. As you have used many contents over the existence of the site, the chances are you might have created unique contents most of the time. Moreover, to keep the site always fresh with contents, many webmaster and site owners do that to get the Fresh Contents SEO benefit.
So, if you are doing that, then you can use your old contents elsewhere and build inbound links for your site. And the major way to find your old contents is through Archive.org’s Wayback Machine.
Reason-5: Evidence for Claiming Copyright
Many people believe that you need to apply for copyright. But, the fact is you don’t need it. Rather, you need a good and strong evidence to claim for your rights. Your archived page in the Wayback Machine may not be a very strong evidence, but it is really a good one.
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Tags: Archive.org, SEO Tool, Wayback Machine
Twitter: @toddysm said:
May 28th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Wayback Machine provides interesting functionality however I am still not clear how the web sites are archived there. Is there a way to add your own site for archiving and automate the process?
said:
June 8th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Webmasters user guide.
said:
June 11th, 2009 at 1:03 am
No @ToddySM there is not a way that you can add your own site for archiving. This is something that is done from their side and happens as your site ages.
Twitter: @seoexpertbd said:
June 17th, 2009 at 3:40 am
Adding to @Jeffrey:
HOwever, you can stop Archive.org from Archiving. i.e. through NoArhive robots meta.
Oneway to make sure your site gets archived is by having links from sites or pages that are already archived.