Smugmug and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

My Smugmug hosted photos are next to impossible to be found on Google and other Search engines.

I just read "Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide" found on Google's SEO Starter Guide page

I am really surprised to see all the hints they are NOT following and how many of the 'avoid's that they ARE doing on Smugmug.

To me this fully explains why Smugmug is doing so badly in Search Engines.

Smugmug have just introduced Smugmug's Feature feedback forum and one of the topics is "Improve our search engine results (better SEO)"

I gave it 3 votes and added the following comment:

It would be a good idea to follow all the tips and avoids described in the document "Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide" found on Google's SEO Starter Guide page

This includes - but not limited to:

Page titles,
Meta data,
URL-structure,
One URL per image
Navigation (HTML + XML Sitemap)
Anchor text
Use of heading tags
Image file names
Quality content
Duplicate versions of the same page.

Add to this a per image preferred size to be indexed. (Size do matter - Google has Small, medium, large and XL)

I was under the expression that they had already started improving this (postet on Dgrin), but this SEO issue is only "Planned". Hopefully they will start soon.

Update July 5, 2009

The Smugmug feature request Improve our search engine results (better SEO) is no longer planned. The status has changed to 'null' - 'nothing'. I hope this is not true.

If you are a Smugmug user - frustrated of not being found by Google and other Search Engines - Go and vote for this SEO-issue request - and do post your frustration on Smugmug Dgrin Forum.

I'm still hoping that Smugmug will take these SEO-issues serious one day, but by hope fades.

Does anyone knows about a SEO-friendly image hosting site?

Update August 25, 2009

Smugmug released a SEO-update and plan to release more later. Please check out my latest post about Smugmug and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).