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Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Bing and Facebook are among the companies which switched-on IPv6 versions of their websites for the one day trial on June 8, 2011. We have written here before about IP addresses running out as more and more online devices are connected to the web.
IPv6 is the new protocol used for IP addresses and the one-day trial carried out by the Big Four was intended to show what needs to be done in practical terms for the switch to happen. The changeover to IPv6 requires firmware upgrades for home user routers and, for those running older equipment, a hardware upgrade in the form of a new router.

From a website design point of view the new IP protocols coming into effect will not change anything. Though it will have an impact in terms of SEO. To put it into perspective a little it is worth looking at the background behind it all.

The Current IP System and How it Will Evolve

IPv4 was conceived in the early 1980s as a way of identifying individual connections to a computer network.

It is typically made up of 32 bits, written as 12 digits, e.g. 112.233.189.123.

That gives a maximum of around 4.3bn addresses.

However, the rapid growth in PCs, smartphones and other internet connected devices means those addresses are close to being used up, with an estimated 80 million still to be allocated.

IPv6 is a 128bit system, written in hexadecimal (base 16 counting using numbers and letters), e.g. 21DA:00D3:0000:2F3B:02AA:00FF:FE28:9C5A.

The system gives a maximum of 340 undecillion possible addresses (1 undecillion = 10 followed by 35 zeros in the British numbering system).

The additional capacity, argue proponents of IPv6, will be needed to cater to the so-called "internet of things" where devices such as TVs, fridges and home heating systems are connected to the net. The expected move into Cloud Computing with ever greater connectivity required by many more devices is leading us to an interwired world. Fridges, cars and even valuable portable devices such as laptops, smartphones and data storage devices are being equipped with sensors which report to the owner through the web even when they are not ‘switched on’.

The plethora of information flowing through the web is led by an explosion in connected devices which will only get worse as the century progresses. Because many of these will be searchable the new IP address system will require sensitive handling of some of the SEO metrics involved.

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