SEO ready

So, about a month ago, I launched a startup with my brother and a friend called Sondz. After 7 years of development, all in. Since yesterday, it is now SEO compliant, meaning you’ll be able to find it seamlessly on Google. Once Google goes through our content. Which might take some time. But who are we kidding? Everyone has some these days…

What does SEO ready/compliant imply, I hear you (not) ask?

Well, when we launched Sondz, we had a fully functioning website, but we were still working out the kinks of the public part of our project. You see, after so many years working on the database, the design, daydreaming about when we would have yachts, we didn’t quite focus on the elements required for public launch until later in the game. And it was not entirely easy to figure out either, because the database technology we used, while obviously amazing, didn’t make our securing the website any easier (that’s the “s” in the “https” you see on all commendable websites).

Then, there was an issue with the way our information was displayed: whenever you type a request on Sondz, we actually go look for the answer and generate a result page for you. Say you’re looking for the band Queen for instance — obviously an entirely random hypothesis, since you can’t see the posters on my wall — we will generate the band’s page, along with all the accompanying information: the day they were formed, their discography, their collaborators, a bunch of Youtube and Soundcloud bits, the fact that they are the official best band in the world… Now, because we’re actually creating the page as it is being searched by you, Google has to scan it in real time to understand what’s in it. And that takes a bit of coding to make it quick enough… The Amazons of this world actually have (dozens of) millions of static pages all ready for scanning. We’re no Amazon. Yet.

Why would I care?

Because you obviously love Sondz. I mean, it’s all about music — the greatest art form, since that’s the one Freddie Mercury picked — it has a bunch of cool information — did you know that Michael Jackson once used the pseudonym W.A. Mozart? Although that doesn’t sound all too surprising when you think about it… — and, most of all, it was created by great people. OK, more to the point, this may be the start of a great friendship with Google, and therefore the world. After all, once your website is properly ranked on Google, you stand a chance of being noticed. Otherwise, you might as well still be using Blogger to engage your community. And posting your stuff on MySpace. And finding friends on Friendster. You get the idea: we’re in the thick of it now. Not exactly the first ones to do so — more like the latest — but we’re actually playing the game the way it was intended.

So go ahead, click away, tell your friends, share anything you like on there — and tell us in private what you dislike: we take notes, we just prefer people didn’t know our site isn’t perfect. Rock on! Or Pop on! Or Mozart on! Basically, whatever floats your musical boat…