Perhaps one of the most popular buzzwords of this year is "semantic" in terms of the proposed Web 3.0. But what does the Semantic Web represent, and is it really going to replace the current user trends of the Internet and represent the aged of "linked data"? Tim Berners-Lee seems to think so, but we're still not entirely convinced. The concept is simple, a URL (currently used to access a website, for example www.lincweb-design.com) does not only represent the website of an organisation, but everything relating to that company. The same could also be assumed for countries, biological proteins and just about everything else. 

While doing a little research into some of the more creative ways of sharing information about companies and their respective websites, we came across AboutUs.org the self-titled "editable guide to websites". This useful little service allows you to look up a domain and complete numerous sections about the domain itself, and the company behind it. For example, users who are logged into the site may enter company logos, descriptions, address and histories, as well as fully editable Wiki about the website and its owners. 

Not only that though, there's more! AboutUs.org also provides detailed information about the website's search engine optimisation. For example, it analyses Metadata, including keywords, descriptions and inbound links to generate an Online Visibility Audit. The audit provides stats, figures and recommendations for better search engine optimisation, and also ranks the existing efforts of the website owner in terms of keyword selection, H1 headings and other white-hat SEO tricks. 

Although on the surface, the service might appear to be little more than a nice little feature to publicise your website, it has the potential of being much more than that. For example, not only does the service analyse your keyword and SEO strategy, it also detects your reputation within the social networking scene, detecting links from Twitter, Delicious and Digg amongst others.

We can certainly see a future in this web service, and so we've gone ahead and created our own AboutUs Wiki:
http://www.aboutus.org/LincWeb-Design.com

Does this exciting and useful service represent another move towards Tim Berners-Lee's view of "linked data" and the Semantic Web? Only time will tell; either way though, we think it's more than just an open domain directory!