Profiting from Search Engines

January 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Businesses big and small are using the Internet to do business. Introducing their business using the Internet can broaden their customer base, which can lead to a bigger profit. Potential customers that may not have known about a certain company, business, service or product before can now have access to it. One way businesses are making this happen are through the use of search engines.

Profiting from search engines is a wonderful way to get a business out into the Internet. It is how businesses profit from search engines and become highly visible on the Internet. Even a small business can have their services and products purchased across the world. It would not be possible or as easily done without the Internet. How is this done?

Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a form of marketing for a business. It is how to introduce a product as well as a service. When someone does a search for something on the Internet they use a search engine. They type in what they want to find in the search engine then a long list of related items have been found. The user goes through the list to find exactly what they want. The more relevant the item the higher up it is on the list. Businesses want to be as high up on the list as possible to catch the eye of potential customers. Some search engines include:

  • Google
  • Bing
  • Ask or Ask Jeeves

Profiting from search engines means finding ways to be high on the list. Businesses do this by using SEO. It is when they place words frequently throughout their site that relates to their business, service or product. They use words that people could use in a search engine that relates to the business. If a business is not toward the top a search engine list it could be lost in the sea of other businesses.

Filed Under: Link Building Tagged With:

Silobreaker: A News Search Engine All Its Own

January 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Internet can be an overwhelming place when you’re searching for news. With every news outlet—newspapers, television stations, and large news organizations alike—running its own web site in addition to sending their articles to the masses through RSS feeds and social networking web sites, finding exactly what you need can be confusing. Many people want their news in one place, and while RSS feeds offer this convenience, they can be hard to understand and configure sometimes.

Silobreaker is a news search engine, but calling it that doesn’t really give justice to the site. It’s much more than just a simple search engine and offers a rich user experience. Some of the things you’ll experience include the following:

• As you type in the search box, suggestions pop up. Use them or don’t, it’s completely up to you.
• Searches produce basic facts and people with links to articles or biographies (if you’re searching for a person).
• YouTube videos on important new stories and people (constantly changes and updates).
• A list of top stories that is regularly updated over the course of the day for as long as the story remains popular. If you roll your cursor over the story, a box containing links to biographies of people involved in the story will appear.
• When you read a story, a row will appear toward the bottom of the screen that displays related stories.
• A section full of quotes related to your search or a specific story (depending on what you’re reading).
• Links to more content that is broken down into sections such as blogs, reports, audio, and video among others.

While Silobreaker is a paid news search engine, they offer a 30-day free trial. If you’re looking for something easy to get you the news you want, give it a try. You’ll find what you’re looking for.

Filed Under: SEO Tagged With:

Google Search Features

December 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Google isn’t just a place to research a project. There are many other search features that Google offers rather than the basic search box. Many of these specific search boxes you can add to your tool bar.

You can search the everyday essentials such as weather and sports. You can search the stock quotes, and you can see what time it is in any part of the world. Along with these everyday essentials comes music, where you can search for songs to listen to, and the precise times of sunsets and sunrises in many cities world wide.

Google offers many reference tools such as a calculator or a unit conversion program. You can also do special book searches and see information about recent earthquakes. Google also offers a person search where you can type in a person’s name and it will list people with that name.

You can look up local searches such as a store, restaurant, or another local business. Google also shows you show times and reviews for recent movies in your area.

There are several health related searches you can make. If you want to learn about a common disease or symptom, Google can tell you about that. You can also find information about medications and several phone numbers for various health related issues.

Google also shows searches in travel. You can search flights arriving and departing from the U.S. You can search currency conversions and see how much a dollar is worth in other countries. Google also has its own set of maps that you can search for locations or directions. Google Maps has a feature that shows up close pictures of certain locations. These pictures have proven to be useful.

Google offers many types of searches. You can add the Google search box to your tool bar. On the Google home page there is a list of specific searches if you want to narrow down your search.

Filed Under: SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Spinning Search Results With Blekko

December 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Move over Google and Bling, there’s a new search engine available to the masses. Blekko, which served some time in a limited beta phase, was released to the public back on November 1st, and offers a new way to search on the Web. Search results through Blekko are focused around content from professionals and content farms, rather than the sometimes outdated links that search engines like Google and Yahoo offer users.

Blekko also uses something that other search engines don’t—slashtags. These tags are entered after a search term within the search box and allow a user to skew the results to a certain point. An few examples of slashtags that could skew results are “/liberal” and “/christianity.”

If you were to enter something like “abortion /christianity” or “abortion /liberal” into the search box on Blekko, the results you receive would be skewed to either liberal beliefs and viewpoints or Christian beliefs and viewpoints on the topic of abortion. If you want to see the “green” views on a certain aerosol spray, you would type in the name of the spray and put “/green” after it.

The current list of slashtags is at 3,000 and is steadily growing. Specificity in search results is what the creators have aimed for. No other search engine employs slashtags as part of the search method, which makes Blekko the first to do so. While these tags (and this method of searching) aren’t perfect, the results they yield are much more to the point than what you may get through a search on Google, Bing, or Yahoo.

Users can create their own slashtags, or they can browse the quickly growing list of tags already created. In addition to the “specialty” tags, a regular set is available that includes “/news,” “/people,” “/blogs,” and “/forums” among others. If you’re searching for something specific, try Blekko and put a new spin on your research.

Filed Under: SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Wolfram|Alpha: A New Kind of Search Engine

December 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Most of us have one or two search engines that we use multiple times every day—Yahoo, Google, and Bing, among others—but few of us really look into the other types of search engines that are out there and available for use. There are many different types of search engines out there—web crawlers, directories, and pay-per-clicks to name a few—but one that most likely never comes to mind for anyone is the computational knowledge engine.

Wolfram|Alpha, developed and owned by Wolfram Research and Stephen Wolfram, is that search engine. Announced in March 2009 and released to the public on May 15, 2009, Wolfram|Alpha can answer factual questions (including mathematical equations) from structural data instead of offering a list of web sites that may or may not have the answer to the question.

Examples of questions and calculations/formulas that can be entered into the search engine include:

• How old was Queen Elizabeth in 1970?
• lim(x->0) x/sin x
• What is the life expectancy of a 10-year-old female in Congo?

These questions are answered with charts, graphical analyses, and of course, regular textual information if the question calls for it. The name of any web site can be entered and “searched,” and the results will be information concerning that web site, such as the number of visitors each month and where the site is hosted from.

Wolfram|Alpha runs on any up-to-date Wen browser and is also available for mobile platforms such as iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and Android. The search engine also runs on the Opera Mini mobile browser for people not using iOS (Apple) or Android devices.

The current data sets that the engine gets its answer from was assembled over the last few years. Those data sets will continue to grow, as will the range of questions the search engine will be able to answer.

Filed Under: SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Using Keywords in Web Copy

December 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment
screenshot of then OSL Desktop Search engines ...
Image via Wikipedia

When writing blogs or articles on your websites to catch the eye of the search engines and to hopefully be ranked high, it is important to use SEO techniques. However, it is more important to write text that flows and makes sense.

All too often articles and blogs are bombarded with keywords. This is called keyword stuffing. Some believe that this technique of maximum keyword saturation is what will enable your site to rank higher than others. These sites seem to forget, however, that people actually read their blogs and articles. If an article is so ridiculously stuffed with keywords, then it is not going to read well at all. In fact, some articles that are keyword stuffed are just off-putting due to the lack of content and obvious tactics.

Like searching for apartments for rent in Seattle, search engines will crawl over your site looking for the keywords, so they are in fact important. On the other side of the fence are the people who believe that using the keyword only once or twice will suffice in attracting the most attention from the search engines. The fact of the matter is that nobody knows for sure what sort of algorithms the search engines like Google use to rank sites.

The best course of action is one that uses the keywords in a logical and judicious manner. Content is more important than using the keyword in every other sentence. Stick to having current and relevant articles on your site with no more than a 1% or 2% keyword saturation. As long as the article reads well and makes good sense, then you’ll be sure to have appeased both your readers and the great search engine gods. Treat your readers like the intelligent beings that they are and you’ll have won an audience and great rankings.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Content Tagged With: , ,

Charity Search Engines

December 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for a way to “give back” but don’t have the means to do as much as you would like, there’s another option you should consider—charity search engines. These search engines donate anywhere from 30-100% of their revenue to specified charities. Some even let you choose a charity, then donate the money that is earned each time your ISP address clicks through that engine.

Charity search engines function like any of the regular search engines you may use, such as Bing, Yahoo, or Google. Advertisements will be displayed alongside the search results, and that’s how the money is made for charity. If you use the Internet (and nearly everyone does these days), then you’ve probably clicked on an ad or affiliate link at least once. Charity search engines are no different than the regular ones.

When you’re searching for something, you’ll be clicking on at least one of the results. Each of those clicks—and in some cases, even the searches themselves—bring in money for charity. It’s simple, really. The more you click when using these search engines, the more money goes to charity.

There are more of these search engines out there than some may think. Below is a small list of charity search engines that you may want to consider using:

1.) EveryClick (http://www.everyclick.com): Donates 50% of its revenue among a number of different charities.
2.) MagicTaxi (http://www.magictaxi.co.uk): Donates 50% of its revenue to a different charity each day.
3.) SearchKindly (http://www.searchkindly.org): Donates 100% of its revenue to charity.
4.) ClickNow (http://www.clicknow.org.uk): Donates 50% of its revenue to the charities registered with the site.
5.) Clicks4Cancer (http://www.clicks4cancer.com): Donates 70% of its revenue to cancer foundation charities.

There are many more charity search engines than just the five listed above. If you’re truly interested in giving back this way, take the time and search for more. You’ll find plenty!

Filed Under: SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

How to Give Your Content Keyword Lovin’

December 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
GoodSearch home page
Image via Wikipedia

While hitting a specific percent for keyword density is now a defunct technique, that doesn’t mean that keywords are no longer important. What it does mean, however, is that repetition will no longer suffice to make the search engines aware of your content. So, how can you give your keywords some love, and make sure the search engines notice it?

Use exact matches.

If your page contains the exact phrase that a searcher looks for, you’re much more likely to be seen as a “relevant result” by the search engines. As such, if you want to appear under any specific words or phrases, be certain to include that exact phrase at least once in your content. You will want this to be a word for word, letter for letter rendition of the search term that you’re expecting people to use.

Use related terms.

In addition to having the exact keywords, you will want to use terms that are related. The Google Keyword and Sets tools both provide an opportunity to find words and phrases that Google thinks are connected. The more you use related terms, the more appropriate Google will think the content is.

Be Bold (and Italic)

When you use your keyword in the content, don’t be afraid to put it in bold or italics. While the amount of weight given isn’t significantly different, these stylistic changes do help the keywords stand out to your visitors, both organic and robotic.

Organize Your Content

Use headers and sub-headers, along with the appropriate HTML tags, to organize the content on your page. When you do so, be certain to place appropriate keywords in the different headers of your content.

Provide a Shiny, Shiny Title

Google has come right out and said that meta titles and descriptions are an important part of how they rank results. As such, using important keywords and key phrases in your title and meta description will help your relevance.

Make a First Impression

Words used in the first paragraph, or about the first seventy-five words of content, will be seen as more relevant than keywords placed elsewhere, so be sure to include your important key phrases here

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Content Tagged With: , ,

Silobreaker: A News Search Engine All Its Own

December 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Internet can be an overwhelming place when you’re searching for news. With every news outlet—newspapers, television stations, and large news organizations alike—running its own web site in addition to sending their articles to the masses through RSS feeds and social networking web sites, finding exactly what you need can be confusing. Many people want their news in one place, and while RSS feeds offer this convenience, they can be hard to understand and configure sometimes.

Silobreaker is a news search engine, but calling it that doesn’t really give justice to the site. It’s much more than just a simple search engine and offers a rich user experience. Some of the things you’ll experience include the following:

• As you type in the search box, suggestions pop up. Use them or don’t, it’s completely up to you.
• Searches produce basic facts and people with links to articles or biographies (if you’re searching for a person).
• YouTube videos on important new stories and people (constantly changes and updates).
• A list of top stories that is regularly updated over the course of the day for as long as the story remains popular. If you roll your cursor over the story, a box containing links to biographies of people involved in the story will appear.
• When you read a story, a row will appear toward the bottom of the screen that displays related stories.
• A section full of quotes related to your search or a specific story (depending on what you’re reading).
• Links to more content that is broken down into sections such as blogs, reports, audio, and video among others.

While Silobreaker is a paid news search engine, they offer a 30-day free trial. If you’re looking for something easy to get you the news you want, give it a try. You’ll find what you’re looking for.

Filed Under: SEO Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Using Your Search Engine to Download Programs

December 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
LeapFish Search Engine Screenshot
Image via Wikipedia

The best search engines help you find things that are relevant to your interests and business goals. People use search engines multiple times per day to find things that they need, to shop, to research topics or to do their homework. You may even have a favorite search engine that you use all of the time because it gives you exactly what you’re looking for in a format that appeals to you.

Many of the search engines that are quite popular will give search results containing extra information that appeals to an even larger segment of the online population. Many users turn to search engines to download programs or to find links to good software that they need to do their jobs more effectively. While this may not sound like something that you thought search engines could do, these functions are very important reasons that search engines are so effective and popular.

One smart strategy in using search engines is to save searches when the results appeal to you. That way, you don’t have to go back to the search engines each time and launch a new search. You are essentially customizing the search for your tastes and preferences so that you don’t have to go back time after time and “build” it all over again.

Maximize your use of your Internet options and let those searches work for you. Share your findings in chat rooms and also find out what other people are doing to make searches easier. When you download programs that work well, share that information with your social network groups as well. Trading that information back and forth can be a rewarding feeling and a great resource. Search engines become more valuable to users as they learn how to use all the features and tools that the engines offer.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Filed Under: Link Building Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »