I downloaded this app last month, and have used it several time, for several client websites, and even used it to check my own work on www.99seoReports.com.  It’s nice to at least get confirmation that all is well. 

I have used the regular version of SEO Automatic at Scott Hendison’s site, and I think the information is pretty valuable.  It’s great to have one place to go to check your titles, Meta tags, header tags, keyword use, and a myriad of technical elements like HTML file size, canonical URL, and more.

So how does the iPhone app stand up to the regular version?  It’s awesome.  it IS SEOautomatic, just in a mobile form.  And let’s not forget, you get all the same great info, but for a $10 one-time fee, rather than a monthly fee like the web version.

So is it all perfect?  Well, no.  As an SEO consultant of 10 years myself, I would like to see a little more meat in the report – but I’m a bit biased… and some would say picky. 

For instance, I love that the tool checks for the robots.txt file.  But even if the file is there, it might be totally screwed up.  Scott has installed comments to this affect – but the tool does not actually look at the robots.txt file for accuracy and give fix-recommendations.  I would LOVE to see it go that extra mile.

Really though, that’s about all I can complain about.  The SEO Automatic tool looks at pretty much everything you would need to know to properly optimize your site.  Some might complain that the tool is cluttered with “un-needed” details like the Meta Keyword tag – but I’m with Scott on this one… even if an item doesn’t seem to be what Google is resting their hat on right now, that doesn’t mean it won’t be a more important factor later.

There are also thousands to small, unknown search engines out there; many of which are quietly trying to find a hole in Google’s armour so they can be the next big thing.  Some of these guys may be looking at elements that Google has passed on long ago.

My point is, why not follow best practices, cover all of your bases, and be better prepared ANY time the engines decide to swap the weights around in their algorithm?  I really like the fact that SEO Automatic looks at all the little details – not just today’s HOT items.

Oh, and one request for Mr. Hendison… maybe you could bold the header of each section?  I was getting a little confused about where one section ended and another began.

Thumbs up, green light, or whatever you want to label it – I vote ‘YES’ for the SEO Automatic iPhone app, and I highly recommend you kick in the $10 to get it yourself.

Lets say you own a local shoe repair shop and you have a small website.  If you optimize a page for ‘leather and suede shoe repair’ will you rank for both ‘leather shoe repair’ and ‘suede shoe repair’?

You follow all the steps – the phrase is in your title, Meta tags, header tags, hyperlinks, primary navigation, and content. 

In theory, you should show some rank for both phrases, but it won’t get you nearly the results that an exact match will get you.  So what would I do?  I would have a category page for ‘Leather and Suede Shoe Repair’ where you discuss how the repair of these two materials is unique compared to others (I would imagine). 

Then I would add two sub-category pages off of this page.  One for ‘Leather Shoe Repair’ and another for ‘Suede Shoe Repair’.  Each page would, of course, have unique content that speaks ONLY about its topic (i.e. leather shoe content for the leather repair page… suede shoe content for the suede repair page).

This will do two things for you:

1) Search engines will LOVE the content organization… looks like a nice little hierarchy of content.  Engines will give some benefit to the category page for both search phrases, but they will give preferential treatment to each sub-category page for the exact match of the phrase.  I have documented my client success with this strategy for the past 5 years.  There’s no doubt – it works!

2) Usability studies show that people want exact information related to their search, and they want it immediately.  If John Jackson searches for “leather shoe repair”, he’ll be frustrated to get a general page that discusses many types of repair.  Conversely, Mr. Jackson will be elated if he is delivered to a page that discusses exactly what he was looking for…”leather shoe repair”.  In my own studies conducted throughout 2008, conversions (leads/sales) jumped more than 237%, simply by delivering the most exact content to match the visitors search query.

Yes, this might mean you have to grow your website out a bit.  But here’s another piece of advice I’ll discuss in a future post… the thicker your site, the more trust you build with your audience.  In almost every case study I have managed, a 50 page website will continually outperform a 5 page website in ranking, trust building, and conversions.