Google Sitemaps becomes the standard

Microsoft and Yahoo will adopt the Google Sitemaps protocol in the future for real time Web Sites indexing.

For instance, only Google was using an XML protocol to submit Web Site changes to a search engine. Yahoo used a plain text sitemap protocol, i.e. a simple text file containing the Web Site URL list.

Now, both Microsoft and Yahoo will use the Google Sitemap protocol for their search engines Windows Live and Yahoo.

The adoption of the Google Sitemaps protocol by Yahoo and Microsoft makes easy for webmasters to communicate to all major search engines on the Web using the same data format.

A new web site dedicated to the Sitemaps protocol has been launched.

Accoona search engine needs http in URL to query a site

With most search engines, for example with Google or Yahoo, you only need to enter a Web Site URL, even if not exact, to fetch pages of the Web Site or related pages.

For example, if I issue "mqseries.net" on Google or Yahoo, it will return in the first results the following Web Site: http://www.mqseries.net/.

The Accoona search engine does not !

If you forget to add http:// at the beginning of the URL, you will have no results, or bad results such as spamming pages linking to the Web Site you are looking for !

It means that the spamming pages have more credit to Acoonna's eyes than the original Web Site ...

With the search "mqseries.net", it returns nothing !

With the Web Site of a friend of mine, it gives all spamming pages on several result pages before (in the end !) returning the pages of his Web Site !

So, the conclusion is: do not trust Accoona to get fast information on a Web Site ; keep on using Google or Yahoo !