10 Search Tips for Internet Marketers

From kids to the old, everybody searches and search engines provide search tips to help searchers get more relevant result.

But how many of those search tips are you using? There are some tips very useful especially for Internet marketers and web masters. I've summarized those tips and explained how those search tips can be helpful for Internet Marketers in this article.

Although I'm writing this article for Internet Marketers, the usage of these tips applies are not restricted only for them.

Suppose you want to write a web page, find or create a web site about 'Internet Marketing Blog.' You may want to know or should know :-) what's going on about 'Internet Marketing Blog' on the net. So, you'll open your favorite search engine, type internet marketing blog and hit enter.

What do you get?

You'll have search engine result pages (SERPs) that includes all three terms plus those includes only two of them or one of them. This is not what you wanted.

1. How to make SERPs include all three terms?

Use plus sign in front of each search term. That is, type; +internet +marketing +blog . This applies all search engines.

Now you may wonder is it possible to have the SERPs including internet marketing but not blog?

2. How to make SERPs exclude a certain term?

Use minus sign in front of search term you want to exclude. That is, type; +internet +marketing -blog . You'll see the web sites that include both internet and marketing but not blog. This applies all search engines.

Going back to the starting point, the above two tips are still not sufficient to your purpose: getting information about "Internet Marketing Blog." Say, you wanted the exact phrase.

3. How to make SERPs include the exact phrase?

Use quotation mark. That is, type; "internet marketing blog". This applies all search engines. Many searchers know this tip and it's especially important for Internet marketers when they want to know how many competitors are out there.

4. How to make SERPs show the pages that include search terms in the title?

Type; intitle:"internet marketing blog" for Google and Teoma.

Type;title:"internet marketing blog" for AltaVista, AllTheWeb and MSN.

This tip is powerful if you want to write web content about your targeted keyword. The benefits are :

* You'll know which web sites have the pages that compete you.

* You'll find what are they doing in their pages.

* As a consequence, you'll know what you can learn from them and more importantly you'll find what they are missing. Hence, you can find the way to beat them.

5. How to make SERPs show only PDF file?

Suppose you want to offer a free e-book, say "Greatest Marketing Secrets" which is in PDF format, you may want to know how many web sites are offering this free e-book.

In Google can this be easily done by typing "greatest marketing secrets" filetype:pdf. You'll see how many web sites are offering that e-book and which web sites as well. Google has an ability to show another 12 non HTML file, such as Word, Lotus files.

For Yahoo!, digging into advanced search tips link, you can achieve similar result.

6. How to know whether your newly uploaded page is listed on search engines?

Type; allinurl:yourhome.com/uploaded.html or site:yourhome.com/uploaded.html in Google.

For AltaVista, Yahoo! Search, MSN, Excite and Northern Light, use url instead of allinurl. But unlike Google, you may have to place http:// in front of domain name in other search engines. For AllTheWeb and Lycos (for AllTheWeb results only) use url.all, and for Inktomi originurl.

If you don't see any result or see something like "... did not match any documents", try again include "www" in front of domain. Both result can be different. If both results fail to show matching page, it means that page is not listed yet.

7. How to make SERPS show only in certain web site?

Suppose you want to see the pages includes exact keyword phrase "internet marketing blog" within a certain web site, you can achieve this by typing "internet marketing blog" site:anyhome.com in Google, Yahoo! Search, MSN, Excite and Netscape. For Altavista, use host instead of site, for AlltheWeb and Lycos use url.host and for Inktomi domain. You may use this tip to figure out what your competitor is doing with this keywords.

8. How to know how many pages of your sites are listed?

The search tip 7 can be extended for this purpose.

That is, type: yourhome site:yourhome.com in Google. This shows all the indexed pages in yourhome.com because all your pages include "yourhome". For other search engines use appropriate search command, for example, host instead of site in Altavista.

9. How to know which web sites linked your site?

You may wonder which web sites are linking to your site. To find out which web sites and how many, type; link:yourhome.com in Google, Yahoo! Search, and Altavista. But you may have to place http:// in front of domain name for the search engines other than Google.

For Inktomi use linkdomain instead of link and for AlltheWeb use link.all.

10. How to know when search engine crawled your site?

One way to know this is to see log file on your server. But what if you want to check how often the 'spider' crawl your competitor's site?

Every search engine spider takes a snapshot of the web sites when it visited. And it records the date when it takes a snapshot. Because of this you can know when the spider crawled your site or your competitor's site.

Type the search command explained in search tip no. 8, for example, yourhome site:yourhome.com, and then you'll see the SERPs listing your web pages. In the result page, you'll see "Cached" or "Cached Page" link for each page. Choose one of them, click it and then you'll be leaded to the snapshot of that page. Around top, you may find the date when it was took and that's the date when the spider crawled your site.

Now you have ten search tips. Some of them you already knew and some of them you might not recognize. Hope you find some tips that are of help.

Ryen Kim is an MBA, specialized in marketing research and analysis. His current focus is the "Affiliate Business" as a work-at-home scheme. He's running Home Based Affiliate Business.

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Choosing Effective Programs for Your Internet Marketing Plan

Objectives, strategies, and tactics (i.e. programs or action plans) -... Read More

Trust, the Key to Success

Not everyone is comfortable putting their personal information online. It... Read More

Building An Effective Banner Campaign

Banner advertising can dramatically help you increase traffic to your... Read More

7 Simple Steps To Web Wealth

A lot of people and companies have websites. They also... Read More

Internet Marketing is Changing Right Before Your Eyes!

There's no doubt about it . . .Big changes are... Read More

Growing Your Business In CyberSpace

A synopsis of Philippa Gamse's Presentation to the National Speakers... Read More

The 3 Big Points to Selling Successfully on the Web

Building a home internet business on the web can seem... Read More

Googles Own AdSense Tips

Google is at least as interested as you are in... Read More

Internet Marketing Help

If you're looking for Internet marketing help you've come to... Read More

What Great Online Advertising Really Is!

Many business people have a distorted view about the distinction... Read More

How to Start a Successful Import Business Using the Internet

The Internet has opened up a whole new era of... Read More

Online Sales: 10 Incredible Online Sales Tactics To Make Your Sales Soar

Are you interested in making your online sales soar like... Read More

How To Write Effective Safelist Headlines

Your headline is the gateway to your advertisement. It will... Read More

Finding The Right Internet Marketing Technique For You

Finding the right Internet marketing technique that works best for... Read More

Using Autoresponders In Your Online Business

Autoresponders return previously stored messages or sets of messages in... Read More

Internet Market Selection

The advent of the Internet has made this world an... Read More

Internet Marketing Solution - Content, Content, Content

If you're looking for the number one, hot Internet marketing... Read More

Free Internet Secrets That Will Instantly Drive Up Your Traffic and Sales

The following 3 secrets revolutionized my life. For years I... Read More

The Power Of Cross Promoting

Cross promotion is, without doubt, a powerful technique used by... Read More

Fast Forwarding Your Business with Instant Messaging

Instant Messaging is rapidly becoming accepted in the business community... Read More

Experience the Benefits of an Internet Business

The Internet industry is booming and offers opportunities galore for... Read More

Double Your Revenues with Joint Ventures

The best way I know of to multiply your online... Read More

Why Online Business - The Harsh Reminder Why Online Business Is For You

Many people want to achieve financial freedom and they know... Read More

10 Scorching Ways To Heat Up Your Sales

1. Email each visitor a satisfaction questionnaire after they purchase.... Read More

What Businesses are Succeeding on the Net?

The most basic question any Internet business owner will have... Read More

Online AD Tracking ? An Ongoing Process

Without tracking, your online advertising is just a shot in... Read More

Internet Marketing Strategy: Online Joint Venture Ideas To Increase Your Business

A joint venture is when two or more businesses join... Read More

Web Marketers - Get Some Professional Help!

There is lots of freelance help available on the internet,... Read More

Website Marketing: 10 Proven Uncommon Tactics Ways To Accelerate Your Profits

Would you like to accelerate profits at your website?Here are... Read More

Is Your Web Site Ready For Its Visitors?

There's a great interest among the Internet entrepreneurs about how... Read More

A New Way to Profit From Your Content-Based Website

"It's a labor of love." That's how I've always described... Read More

Top Ten Ways to Attract Targeted Local Customers With Online Marketing

Does your business have a Web site? Have you missed... Read More

Physical and Mental Fitness for Internet Marketers

As you may have already read in our article "Health... Read More