Use these search shortcuts to turn your favorite search engine into a high-powered SEO research tool!

Google

Search for sites linking to a URL: [note: Google does not list all linking sites. For a more fun list, sign up for Google Webmaster Tools and view links to your site within the tool.]

link:http://www.yourseoplan.com try it now

Search for pages with a certain phrase in their HTML Page Title:

allintitle:”Handy Search Shortcuts” try it now

Search for related sites:

related:http://www.yourseoplan.com try it now

Search for all pages indexed within a website:

site:http://www.yourseoplan.com try it now

Search for all pages with a certain word in their URL:

inurl:search try it now

See more Google Search Shortcuts on Cyberwyre.

Yahoo!

Search for sites linking to a URL: [note: this search and the site: search below will be redirected out of standard Yahoo! search results and into Yahoo!'s Site Explorer]

link:http://www.yourseoplan.com try it now

Search for pages with a certain phrase in their HTML Page Title:

allintitle:”Handy Search Shortcuts” try it now

Search for all pages indexed within a website:

site:www.yourseoplan.com try it now

Or you can do this the “old-fashioned” way and stay within standard Yahoo! search results rather than going to Yahoo! Site Explorer: go to Yahoo! advanced search, enter your domain as yourdomain.com in the box next to “only search in this domain/site:” and enter a word that you know you have on every page of your site into the search query box (we use “SEO”). try it now

See more Yahoo! Search Shortcuts on Yahoo

Bing

Search for pages linking to a URL:

site:http://www.yourseoplan.com try it now

Search for outbound links from an entire domain:

linkfromdomain:http://www.yourseoplan.com try it now

Search for pages with certain words in their HTML Page Title:

intitle:”Handy Search Shortcuts” try it now

Ask

Although Ask has a relatively robust menu of advanced searches, it has some restrictions that make it slightly less handy for the average SEO trying to learn more about their own site. Notably, there are no search options for linking sites, and you have to include a term along with the advanced search query. So, for example, you can’t just search for all the indexed pages on your website — you have to search for all the indexed pages on your website that contain a specific term . (Here, we use the word “seo” because we know that every page has that word on it.) Here is an example:

Search for pages indexed within a site:

site:www.yourseoplan.com seo try it now

Search for pages with a certain phrase in their URL:

inurl:”yourseoplan” try it now

Search for pages with a certain phrase in their title:

intitle:”your seo plan ” try it now

Search for pages containing a certain phrase that have been updated within the last week (the “last updated” searches available on the other big search engines start at 3 months):

“seo” last:week try it now

Q: I would like to create an area for our customers to read articles or news about our industry and our company. Should I institute some kind of blog format so that customers can comment on stories or articles? Will this be complicated to set up? Is there any advantage over standard web pages for posting articles?

A: Many people wonder whether to use a blog format for posting articles online, or whether a classic, tree-structured website navigation is better. We’d look at this situation from a few angles: where it fits into your conversion goals, your available labor, inbound link potential, and target audience preferences. Here’s a bit more on each of these:

Conversion Goals
If you are developing content that is clearly helpful in driving conversions, such as “Perfect sizing tips for your baseball cleats” or “Which is the right softball for you?” then we’d argue that it belongs on your site as an article. This is our gut feeling, because we think this type of content is generated less frequently and tends to appeal to a newbie audience, so it’s just better suited for a static page within your global navigation.

On the other hand, if you have “newsy” content – promotions, events, etc., that is meant to engage interested visitors and spark return visits, then it would be perfectly reasonable to post the content in a blog format. Similarly, if you often post brief commentary and observations, industry notes and links, rather than longer, essay-like research and articles, a blog would provide a better venue.

Do you have both conversion-minded articles and news items? You can always create a hybrid situation in which you use the blog primarily for news, but create a post on the blog containing a “promo” for, and a link to, every new article you create.

Your Available Labor
You sound concerned about technical work involved, but what about writing work? Do you have the writing staff to keep a blog current and populated with compelling content? Is blog-style content generation realistic for your particular industry and company? A lot of companies use blog authoring software to post their press releases, which is perfectly kosher, but that kind of arrangement rarely comes close to using the blogosphere to its full potential.

Inbound Link Potential
We think it’s reasonable to assume that a well-written, interesting blog will generate more links than articles, because you can generate more discussion on a compelling and dynamic blog than in a static article.

Notice how we went overboard with the adjectives there? “Well-written, interesting, compelling, dynamic?” Just a friendly reminder that content is king no matter how you add it to your website.

In order to gain the full benefits of integrating a blog into your existing site, you should make sure it is part of your domain, i.e. yoursite.com/blog. Then, start linking out to other relevant blogs. The blogosphere is a two-way street: you should link out if you want to get links in.

Target Audience
Think about your target audience and how comfortable they would be with your choice. Would your internet-savvy audience find a classic navigation boring and old-fashioned? Or would your more traditional or newbie audience get lost trying to use page tags as navigation? Keep a clear eye on your target audience and your long-term business goals, and make your choice accordingly.

Q: I know I have a lot of other sites linking to mine. But when I do a Link:mysite.com search on Google I only see a couple. What’s going on?

A: We’ve probably received half a dozen emails this year asking the same question. The answer is simple: Google does not show all of the links to your site (also called backinks and inlinks). It doesn’t even show all of the links that it knows about.

Adding to the confusion, MSN stopped showing backlinks in early 2007 – in fact MSN Search no longer supports the “link:www.mysite.com” format at all.

But don’t despair! There are several ways that you can gather intelligence about links to your website (and that of competitors):

• Using the Yahoo! search engine, search for “link:www.mysite.com” (no quotation marks). Here’s an example. Yahoo! will take you to its Site Explorer, where you can review inlinks to an entire domain or to a particular page. Site Explorer is Yahoo!’s equivalent to Google Webmaster Tools, where you can submit a site map, view last crawled date, and a other features.
• Speaking of Google Webmaster Tools, sign up, get verified, and this fab tool will provide a comprehensive list of inlinks to your site. Google’s popular engineer Matt Cutts has posted an explanation of how you can use Google’s Webmaster Tools to view all of your backlinks.
• A few geeks in shining armor have built backlink checking tools that you can use online. Try these on for size: We Build Pages Backlink Tool, SEOMoz Page Strength tool, Aaron Walls’ backlink analyzer, Backlink Watch.

Lastly, to answer another commonly asked question: Are links really all that important? You bet they are. Shun Google and MSN — and use more accurate tools for backlink checking — to know just where you stand.

Q: In your book, you mention the benefit for “non-commercial” content as a way to gain visibility in the search engines. Could you provide me some examples of commercial websites with non-commercial content? I’ve really never seen any at all.

I’m afraid of looking “weird” by putting philosophical beliefs, etc. on the site.

A: What we really mean by “non-commercial” is this: informative and helpful, with little or no sales-speak. Of course this content should be related to your product and we don’t recommend going off on a philosophical (or, heaven forbid, political) tangent. Here are a few ideas and examples:

• Resume tips on an executive recruiter’s website
• Wine reviews on a site that sells wine cellar management software
• Case studies, white papers, how to, or troubleshooting tips related to your product
• Q & A, “ask the experts” or answers to common questions in your industry
• Free tools or downloads
• “Area Sights” on a hotel website (but only if this is really unique – not like the generic ones we usually see!)

Some “real world” examples are:

• Author Rhonda Abrams provides expert advice, a newsletter, and several other pathways into her realm of authority.
• Stevens Creek Software, which sells athletic software among other things, has a target heart rate calculator.
• Search engine expert Aaron Wall offers free online SEO tools

Inlinks are great, not only because they bring traffic directly to your site, but also because search engines notice them and use them to measure the authority of your pages. Notice how, in the three examples above, we used keywords to link to the content. These links will give Ms. Abrams a little boost for ranking well when people search for “Rhonda Abrams,” the software site a boost for “target heart rate calculator,” and Mr. Wall a boost for “free online SEO tools.”

Of course you could delve even further into the realm by building content primarily designed to gain links, and that would be what we call “linkbait.” This is one of the most talked-about subjects in SEO today – for more on Linkbait you may wish to read:

• Matt Cutts’ SEO Advice: Linkbait and Linkbaiting
• Search Engine Journal with an article on linkbait
• Problogger on “What is Linkbait?“

The important question is not “is this material non-commercial” but rather: “is this material linkable?” Information that is not readily available elsewhere on the web, or which provides a new and different perspective, can serve to be quite linkable. It will also help you build your credibility and relationship with your potential customers. And that’s your real bottom line, isn’t it?

Q: I have a question about links. I have been researching other SEO sites and a few discuss a process of authoring and submitting articles to hundreds of article submission sites. Because each article has a link back to my site I would be creating hundreds of links to my site with each article I publish.

Is Article authoring a strategy you have an opinion on? Pros and Cons? I keep reading about the pros but no cons so far.

A: We love the idea of writing articles as part of your link building process. There are several approaches you could take:

1. The approach you mention, writing articles and submitting them to copyright-free distribution services
2. Creating a blog and posting your articles there
3. Writing articles and posting them on your own website
4. Writing articles and submitting to online or offline publications

Different strategies will work better for different people. Our own strategy has been #3, writing articles and posting them on our own website. We primarily promote these through social networking like digg and del.icio.us and naturally developed inbound links. You might want to look at our article about “Head Trauma: The Movie” for some ideas about social media marketing. We think that #2, posting articles to blogs, is also a very valuable option. If you work on becoming active in the blogosphere, having a lot of good articles on your blog will ultimately build your inbound links and credibility. Of course, you have to be willing/able to commit to regular posts. Option #4 has the advantage that you can target the audience.

The cons of option #1 – submitting your articles to free distribution websites such as Articlesbase or a zillion others – are that your content will be posted on websites that you can’t control, and some may not be of your choosing. This could detract from your credibility. You may not want your “sweat and blood” poured into an article to create Adsense revenue for others. And these articles don’t work for you in building your own blog content, reputation, and “trustrank.” Another obvious con is the time and effort involved in the writing and submittals. But yes, option #1 can be a good strategy if you are comfortable writing articles. Just be sure that you follow the advice inour SEO bookwhen we discuss this subject: make sure your content is going to be cited properly and will include a link back to your site.

So you want to start a link building campaign? You need a good link request letter, one that’s friendly and professional, and that won’t be offensive or annoying to site owners or webmasters.

Inbound links to your website are one of the most important factors in search engine ranking algorithms today.  In our book Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day, we tell the story of how one of our link requests got into the hands of a vengeful blogger, and how his attempt to humiliate us fell flat because we wrote a “bulletproof” link letter.

Here’s a sample link building letter that you can adapt to your own needs:

Dear Ms. Alphabeth, [always use the person’s real name if you have it],

I’ve greatly enjoyed looking through your pet plankton website, especially the “Plankton of the Month” photos.  I have a website on a related subject and I think it might be of interest to your readers.  It’s “Care and Feeding of Pet Plankton” on ZappyCo.com.  This page provides a detailed plankton care plan, including homemade algae snacks, tank maintenance, and even a section on how to set up a trust fund for your plankton. The page is located at http://www.zappyco.com/planktonics [use the exact URL that you want the site to link to].

I thought a good place on your site to link from would be on your “links” page, here: http://www.planktonlove.com/links [use the exact URL that you hope the site will link from].

Here is a description that you can use if you like:

ZappyCo’s Plankton Care and Feeding Tips
Recipes, tank cleaning instructions, and tips for keeping plankton pets happy.

I hope you find this link appropriate and useful.  We at ZappyCo would certainly appreciate a link from your site.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Sincerely,
Harlan Zappy
Web Marketing Manager, ZappyCo
[Use your full name, title, and if possible, use an email address from the site requesting the link.]

What’s good about this letter? For starters:

• It doesn’t employ hard-selling techniques.
• It’s personal and specific. It doesn’t require any guessing or composing should the recipient want to provide a link.
• It doesn’t promise a link exchange.  If the link is appropriate and your site has high-quality content, you shouldn’t need a link exchange.

In Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day we give additional pointers on writing a bulletproof link letter and making your site more “linkable.” We also walk you through the steps of starting and maintaining a long-term successful link building campaign.  Follow these pointers and you’ll be sure to bring in those red-hot inbound links that your website needs and deserves!