This is the second part of an article series in which you'll find many tools that you can use to monitor your site's search engine position and see how your do-it-yourself search engine optimization efforts are coming along.
The following tools are for monitoring your search results in the three major search engines. It isn't an all-inclusive list, but rather a highlight of some of the tools you can use. (I'll point you to one of the master lists when we get into more general tools in part three.)
Using Your Google Site Information Page
I've covered this in an earlier article, but just in case you missed it, we'll go over it again briefly here. (If you need more help following along, you can listen to one of my recent podcasts for a convenient audio walkthrough.)
Open up your browser and go to Google's home page. Type in info:yoursitenameandsuffix. So if your site was ExactSeek.com you'd type info:exactseek.com. You can also use site:yoursitenameandsuffix to find out which pages have been indexed by Google's search engine spider.
This search will tell you pages that Google considers similar to yours. It will also show sites that it considered linked to you, and show sites that carry your full url, hyperlinked or not. It's not 100% accurate as far as telling you all the sites that are linked back to yours, but what you can learn from this is which backlinks matter.
From here you can also see the last day Google spidered your home page.
To see this in action, click on the first group of information links, "Show Google's cache of yoursitename.com" If you look next to the word "cached" one the first line, the date is expressed also.
Sometimes it seems that the cached time for yoursitename.com and www.yoursitename.com are different, so be sure and check both.
Finding Information About Your Site In Yahoo
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/tips/tips-08.html
This document will tell you how to find out what sites are linking to you, give you the results for how many pages of your site are in Yahoo, and more. Once you get to the results page, you'll be able to view your cached pages, etc.
Discovering Your Site's Status on MSN
http://search.msn.com/docs/siteowner.aspx
As the page in the help section states, you can use site:www.yoursitehere.com to find out if a document at your site has been indexed. The results page will also give you the date of last caching.
Google Rankings
http://www.googlerankings.com
You'll need a free Google API key for this one, and the site has the direct link telling you where to get one. You'll have to enter this key in order to query the site for information on Google.
With Google Rankings, you'll be able to see where you rank within the top 40-1000 results in Google for a given keyword. I recently noticed that it also displays results for MSN and Yahoo, with links to each search engine.
They also have some other tools that will track your keywords over time, as well as one they call the "Ultimate SEO Tool" that will measure your site's keyword density.
Google Backlinks Checker
http://lilengine.com/tools/backlinks-tool.php
LilEngine.com's Backlink Checker will measure the number of links you have pointing back to your site against competing sites. Handy if you just want a quick comparison of how many links you have versus others, though how much getting more links back will help varies, depending on other factors.
Yahoo Search Rankings
http://www.yahoosearchrankings.com/
From the same folks who brought you Google Rankings, using Yahoo Search Rankings, you'll be able to see where you rank within the top 1000 results in Yahoo for a given keyword. If you just want to see your Yahoo rankings, it's quite helpful.
You can find more Yahoo tools that use the Yahoo Web API at their developer's site : http://developer.yahoo.net/wiki/index.cgi?ApplicationList..
In the next part of the article, we'll take a closer look at other tools that give you more specific information about the links pointing back to your site, keyword research, and more.
Tinu is a website promotion specialist who can teach you many do-it-yourself ways to bring more traffic to your site in addition to DIY SEO. Subscribe to her ezine at http://www.freetraffictip.com/thebook/ for more details.
The pursuit of online information has become an increasingly dynamic... Read More
With search engine algorithms changing seemingly daily, the quest to... Read More
Everyone is looking for "secrets" about how to get more... Read More
About 80% of website traffic comes through search engines. And... Read More
1) Title Tag - The title tag is the most... Read More
The following are a list of mistakes can ensure that... Read More
In very simple words, the link popularity of your site... Read More
As I waded into the 'Make Money Online' waters on... Read More
Have you ever stopped to think how much time is... Read More
Nowadays, there is so much talk about SEO (search engine... Read More
Once you have your web site complete and ready to... Read More
Yesterday you should have read the first course out of... Read More
November 2003 might go down in history as the month... Read More
Its a matter of here today, gone tomorrow at the... Read More
Launching a new website with enough acceleration to rise above... Read More
At One Time Local Searches were reserved for services like... Read More
What is Search Engine Optimization?Search Engine Optimization or SEO for... Read More
Ever see a website that seems to speak a foreign... Read More
News broke this week that Yahoo has purchased the Inktomi... Read More
As a search engine optimization specialist I often optimize existing... Read More
IntroductionThe Google Sandbox is a term applied to the phenomenon... Read More
It's unfortunate that many website owners are so hung-up on... Read More
A good link building strategy has become an essential part... Read More
Search Engine traffic has always been and continues to be... Read More
Why get into Search engines and directories?Increase backlinks of your... Read More
Does Creating a Google Site Map and Telling Google About... Read More
"Owning your business category online is more than just a... Read More
Getting your site noticed by the search engines and rewarded... Read More
The objective of all search engine providers is epitomized by... Read More
As with any good web developer, the ability to time... Read More
Most people do not think of SEO as a game.... Read More
Search Engine Optimization is a widely misunderstood industry. Many webmasters,... Read More
Blogging software is really a simple Content Management System (CMS)... Read More
For beginners, link exchange campaigns can be a minefield of... Read More
By now, virtually every webmaster has heard or read that... Read More
Google's sweeping changes confirm the search giant has launched a... Read More
In the fall of 1990, the musical group Snap had... Read More
If you're a webmaster, you've probably spent almost as much... Read More
As you have seen throughout the guide, search engine optimization... Read More
A good link building strategy has become an essential part... Read More
For the uninitiated, searching for web pages can seem a... Read More
In today scenario when we talk about Search Engine Optimization,... Read More
What is link popularity?Link Popularity is simply the total number... Read More
For your web site to succeed, you must use is... Read More
Previously...In our article on Understanding Google's Algorithm,... Read More
When you want your brand new site to be indexed... Read More
6: The hidden benefits to having the right links. Every... Read More
That's right - I dreamt of a World Wide Web... Read More
Search engine optimization is on every webmaster's mind these days.... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) must be considered a process and... Read More
Chances are you have been on the Internet and have... Read More
There has been endless webmaster speculation and worry about the... Read More
There is a lot of competition to get good spots... Read More
Would you like a checklist of the important steps to... Read More
When it comes to search engine optimization strategy, there are... Read More
Every webmaster would like to see his/her website to be... Read More
PageRank - an exclusive technology developed by Google which can... Read More
With the ever evolving internet market for just about anything... Read More
Getting listed in Yahoo! (The Very Top Search Engine/Index) is... Read More
Anybody who has their own website or is involved in... Read More
It doesn't matter what kind of marketing you are involved... Read More
When it comes to promoting your website, you might think... Read More
Search engines will be a way for you to generate... Read More
So how do you get a top listing in Google... Read More
If you are a webmaster and you review your logs,... Read More
Think about the first thing you ever heard about "marketing... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) |