Microsoft Expression Studio 4 Upgraded for Optimal SEO Exposure

Microsoft (News - Alert) has unveiled an upgrade to its Expression Studio 4 program that will allow users to get greater visibility on search engines.

Up until now, figuring out how to make websites rank higher within search engine returns has been a questionable art form. But no longer.

On the topic of getting visibility on search engines, Jon Harris, senior product manager for Expression Studio, said 'It's almost like a black art.' He added, 'The Web team has built a search engine optimization program to look at application design and code and make suggestions on changes that could enhance search engine optimization.' So the program will make suggestions for changes to code based on an internal process - which figures out what could improve the code's SEO standing.

According to a Microsoft press release, Expression Studio 4 complements creative tools already in use by design and development teams with high-quality import capabilities, ensuring that the best static design assets can be used in interactive design. It also provides fast, flexible workflow with Microsoft Expression Blend, Visual Studio and the Microsoft .NET (News - Alert) Framework. The program allows designers and developers work together to craft user interfaces for the web, desktop, and other devices by using the three main tools featured within the overall suite: Web, which is for web design; Blend, for UI design; and Encoder, which is for video encoding.

Expression Studio 4 Ultimate, which includes Blend and SketchFlow, allows the quick translation from ideas to rich, digital prototypes and simplifies the creation of applications for Silverlight and for mobile devices, such as Windows Phone (News - Alert) 7. Its streamlined method for website creation allow users to easily build and deploy sites and advanced visual diagnostics speed along browser compatibility testing. Lastly, Expression Studio 4 has simplified video publishing by encoding a wide variety of video file formats, such as VC-1 and H.264, to make simple edits and enhance media for distribution through players built with technologies such as Silverlight.

As per Microsoft, customers using Expression are seeing a substantial increase in business opportunity. Utilizing SketchFlow to pitch new business, Anvil Digital has increased its business win rate from 30 percent to 90 percent, cut development time by 40 percent and has more than doubled in size in the past two years. In another example, Cynergy, an Expression customer for the past three years, now focuses more than half of its business on developing Silverlight applications using Expression. Expression Studio 4 allows Copia users to consume content and share information seamlessly via rich multitouch experiences that span the PC, eReaders, tablets and mobile devices.

This is just another step forward in the search engine wars for Microsoft, which struck a deal with Yahoo! last year.  Microsoft agreed to provide Yahoo! with the same search result listings available through Bing, and Yahoo! aimed to innovate around those listings by integrating Yahoo! content, enhanced listings with conveniently organized information about key topics, and tools to tailor the experience for Yahoo! users.

By developing products with SEO in mind and rejecting an open source video codec proposed by Google (News - Alert), Microsoft continues maneuvering as an autonomous entity.

Erin Monda is a TMCnet Contributing Editor. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Michael Dinan