Regular readers of my posts may know I’m a big fan of the Mozilla Firefox browser. In the run up to the release of Firefox 4, I’ve been showing you how you can install old add-ons in this new version.
Firefox 4 has officially been launched, and to mark the occasion, for the next few weeks I’ll be naming some of my favourite SEO add-ons – some you’ll know whilst others may well be a little more obscure.
I’ll also be testing these to see if they all still work when you upgrade to Firefox 4, so that you can make an informed decision as to whether you should update now or wait a little longer.
I delayed publishing these results so I could test the add-ons in the final release. With Firefox 4.0 now available, let’s begin!
One thing I can’t emphasise enough: This post is not a review of the new software; there are plenty of technology blogs that will be flooding the net with these all too soon. I have to say I rate it very highly and find it nicer and more stable than earlier versions. My aim is instead to show you which add-ons still work so you can make an informed decision as to whether you should upgrade.
Not all of these add-ons are officially supported in Firefox 4 and some have been installed using the Firefox 4 Add-On Compatibility Reporter or other techniques for enabling old add-ons in Firefox 4.
Wahanda Canonical Tag Viewer
Wahanda Canonical Viewer works in Firefox 4.0
I’m surprised this add-on isn’t more widely talked about. It’s a very simply concept: just beneath the address bar the canonical URL of a page is displayed. I like this a lot, however be warned that when switching between tabs the URL doesn’t change. Beyond this, the add-on works perfectly in Firefox 4.
Word Count Plus
Word Count Plus 1.2.3 is not officially supported in Firefox 4
Another add-on that slips under the radar for most people, I find this very useful in gauging how much text is on a page. I often have clients call me and ask me to look at a new part of a site that’s just been added; with this add-on it will only take a mouse click for me to know if there is sufficient text or if they should try to expand upon what they’ve written.
Version 1.2.3 is not officially supported in Firefox 4 but I’ve not encountered any problems.
Firebug
Firebug 1.7 is officially supported by Firefox 4.0
Firebug 1.6 is officially supported by Firefox 3.6
Firebug is easily one of my favourite add-ons and I’m not sure how well I’d cope without it! For me, the main benefit is in being able to select a piece of text on a webpage, right-click it and look at the code to learn (for example) if it’s been correctly tagged as a heading. I also use it to obtain additional information about styles. I’m not going to conduct a full review of this add-on
Firebug works fine in Firefox 4.
MetaTags and Meta Description & Title on Top
MetaTags 2.3.5.2 does not work in Firefox 4.0
Such a simple idea, Meta Tags takes the meta data from a page and displays it in a sidebar. I always liked this as during site reviews I could copy and paste information without digging deep into the HTML. Sadly this doesn’t work in Firefox 4 – the sidebar loads blank.
Searching for a replacement, I tried using the rather long-named Meta Description & Title on Top – this will run, however you need to go to Tools: Add-ons, click Options, tick the boxes for title, descriptions and keywords and then hit apply before the add-on will work. For me, this doesn’t replace MetaTags as you can’t copy and paste the data however it’s useful now that full page titles aren’t displayed across the top of the browser window.
Of course, these days the Screaming Frog SEO Spider is a far better way of obtaining a list of title and heading tags.
Next week I’ll be continuing this series with another selection of my favourite Firefox 4 SEO Add-ons.
