Link Vendor has a great tool that generates a complete site analysis including amount of backlinks and indexed pages on Google/Yahoo/MSN, Google PageRank and also DMOZ and Yahoo directory presence including a few other nifty things.
You should always know where your site is ranking, or not ranking if you’re one of the unfortunate… Here are a few tools I recommend:
Searching the top 50 SERPS, this tool at SEO Bench will Check for rankings on Google, Yahoo! and MSN at once.
http://www.seobench.com/search-engine-rank-checker/
There are many many different Google datacenters, and each of these datacenters have the potential to respond with different results for the same search query. Most times, seeing results that vary from datacenter to data center, means that Google is in the middle of updating their search index. Check out the Multiple Datacenter Rank Check Tool here:
http://www.seologs.com/dc-rank-check.html.
I find it very important to always take a look at your source code from the way spiders see your pages. If there is a ton of javascript or elements that seem to clutter the page, then it’s safe to assume that those pages are harder to crawl for the spiders. In my opinion, proper use of external CSS and JS files is always recommended.
WebConfs.com and SearchWho.com both have great Search Engine Spider tools.
Great Yahoo! Search tool. Even shows number of inbound links and can easily exclude internal links from search. View the most popular pages from any site, dive into a comprehensive site map, and find pages that link to that site or any page. Will even show with or without deep links.
comScore Networks today released its monthly qSearch analysis of activity across competitive search engines. In March 2006, Google gained in search market share versus year ago for the eighth consecutive month and maintained its status as market leader with 42.7 percent of searches conducted on its sites. Yahoo! remained in second place with 28.0 percent, while MSN ranked third with 13.2 percent.
Share of Online Searches by Engine March 2006 vs. March 2005 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore qSearch Mar-05 Mar-06 Point Change Total Internet Population 100% 100% N/A Google Sites 36.4 42.7 6.3 Yahoo! Sites 30.6 28.0 -2.6 MSN-Microsoft Sites 16.5 13.2 -3.3 Time Warner Network 8.9 7.6 -1.4 Ask Jeeves/Ask Network 5.5 5.9 0.4 — Americans conducted 6.4 billion searches online in March, up 10 percent from last month and 15 percent from last year. The increase in search queries from the previous month marked the largest gain over the past twelve months. — Google Sites led the pack with 2.7 billion search queries performed, followed by Yahoo Sites (1.8 billion), MSN-Microsoft (849 million), Time-Warner Network (486 million), and Ask Jeeves/Ask Network (376 million). — The toolbar search market continues to be dominated by Google and Yahoo!, which combined for more than 95 percent of toolbar searches in March. Google led the way with 48.9 percent, while Yahoo! captured 46.5 percent.
The little-start-up-that-could has transformed itself into the 800-pound gorilla of the Web, though it has had to deal with recent growing pains. But the Google sales and marketing team isn’t ready to give up the top spot or its plans for making the globe a more Googley place to be…
More than a year ago, Google launched its Print Library Project, a controversial plan to scan and index digital copies of millions of books, creating what Google describes as a vast virtual “card catalog.” The online research tool would allow users to search within books for relevant information and would generate revenue for Google through advertising sales. The plan has sparked significant controversy and led to two lawsuits.
What does this algorithm do to Google? It’s supposed to let the user decide for himself what they find most relevant. Dubbed “Orion”, the search technology will hunts down pages where the content covers a topic that is strongly related to the searched-for keyword or phrase. It returns a section of that page.
If it did a really good job, a searcher might find the answer to a question right in that section of text, without having to visit the site itself.
But what does that mean for websites? Well, less visitors for one. I don’t care who you are, but that’s not good for conversions.
That’s only part of what Orion does, though. It also lists other topics related to the keyword, letting the searcher choose ones that are most relevant. If any particular broad topic is like a tree, related topics are branches off that tree, and Orion can help a searcher find the twig they were looking for – or even get a better picture of the whole forest. The university’s press release about the technology describes it as “offering an expert search without having an expert’s knowledge.â€
It then provides an example that many of our readers in the United States should be able to relate to from their elementary school days. “Take a search such as the American Revolution as an example of how the system works. Orion would bring up results with extracts containing this phrase. But it would also give results for American History, George Washington, American Revolutionary War, Declaration of Independence, Boston Tea Party and more. You obtain much more valuable information from every search.â€
A new, Microsoft-based, online search engine focused on academic subjects is now live.
Windows Live Academic is a new addition to the Windows Live Search family of services that allows users to search through academic information. Currently, users can search content in academic journals in the fields of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Physics. We will be adding more subject areas in the near future, based on user feedback and demand.
The Academic Live search works with partner libraries and institutions around the world to search and to provide access to subscription-based content for their members. Access-restricted resources included in Academic Live index include subscription services and premium peer-reviewed journals.
Find it here.
Ok, if anyone can do it, they can. Keep in mind, Kai-Fu Lee, who is the president of Google China, used to work for Microsoft on speech technology. The patent covers voice interfaces for search engines, suitable for cell phone users. But Google doesn’t necessarily have a product in the works using the technology.
Conversing with computers, long the preferred mode of interaction between man and machine in science fiction, just moved closer to reality. Google Inc. on Tuesday was granted a patent for a voice interface for search engines.
Then again, it might just be a pipedream. Google spokesperson Barry Schnitt issued this characteristically opaque comment on the company’s plans: “Like many companies, we file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees may come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t. Prospective product announcements should not be inferred from our patent applications.”
Here is the link to the full story.