Endeca Unveils SEO Capabilities and Best Practices for Guided Navigation-based Websites.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Endeca, a next-generation information access company, today announced the first in a series of solutions and best practices aimed at increasing the effectiveness of search engine optimization (SEO) efforts for Guided Navigation(R)-based websites. Designed to create optimal interactions between the Endeca Information Access Platform (IAP) and popular Web search engines like Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask.com, the new SEO capabilities are based on Endeca's work with hundreds of leading eCommerce, eBusiness and online publishing customers. The solutions and best practices give companies running business-critical applications on the Endeca IAP new, unique capabilities to complement search marketing initiatives and help Web search engines to more accurately rank products and content. As a result, Endeca-powered businesses can increase page views, customer acquisition, and revenue, while reducing dependence on expensive pay-per-click and keyword advertising programs.

"We estimate that the major search engines drive 50 percent of our new business. So a robust SEO strategy is critical to our success," said Jason Robbins, CEO at ePromos Promotional Products, Inc. "Implementing an SEO strategy that takes advantage of our investment in Endeca has generated enough new business that we had to cut back on pay-per-click keyword advertising in order to support the increased volume."

Example Solutions and Best Practices

One of the first solutions is the Endeca Sitemap Generator, which simplifies the task of ensuring that the right pages are indexed by the key Web search engines. It dynamically creates a sitemap containing every relevant navigation page configured within the MDEX Engine - the core technology that powers the Endeca IAP and resulting Guided Navigation user experience. In addition, the generator eliminates duplicate sets of content to avoid "PageRank" dilution through duplication. It supports several out-of-the-box output formats including HTML output for websites and XML output for Google Sitemaps, and is easily configured for other data feeds.

Among the collection of best practices, all offered to Endeca customers via the company's Customer Solutions organization, are new ways to take advantage of the Endeca IAP's Web-based Management Suite to customize and dynamically create meta-tags. This capability allows non-technical business users to build context-sensitive presentation rules to optimize what a Web search engine sees when it indexes specific pages.

"SEO strategy is a critical component of building any publicly facing website," said Andy Wolf, retail industry lead at Endeca. "Endeca's market-leading search, navigation and merchandising platform, combined with unparalleled market expertise, will help our customers build the most search engine friendly websites possible."

About Endeca

Endeca is a next-generation information access company. Combining patented intellectual property, breakthrough science and a deep focus on user experience, the Endeca Information Access Platform helps people find, analyze and understand information in ways never before possible. Leading global organizations like ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Boeing, Costco, Cox Newspapers, The (US) Defense Intelligence Agency, The Home Depot, Hyatt, IBM, John Deere, Lehman Brothers, The Library of Congress, Texas Instruments, and Walmart.com rely on Endeca to power business-critical applications that increase revenue, reduce costs and streamline operations.

Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, Endeca is a private company with operations in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information: www.endeca.com or [e-mail].