Google has quietly slipped a redesigned UI and some new features into it Keyword Tool.
Matthew Carter has written this nice review of these features over at the Affilorama blog
Categories » ‘Tools’
Google Webmasters Tool | Top search enquiries
August 24th, 2009 by PeteTop Search Enquiries is highly useful data that can provide valuable insight into how well your website is performing.
At a simple level it shows how you site ranks for various recent searches in different countries’ Google.
The data is displayed in two sections; Impressions and Click Throughs
Impressions
• % shows the portion of the top 100 searches this represents
• Query is the search that someone used
• Position is the highest Google ranking averaged over a week
So in this case 15% of searches for internet marketing featured the Succinct Ideas site and in those searches on average if ranked #15.
Click Throughs
Click Throughs shows how many searchers then visited your site, and confirms the proportion, keyword and ranking
Filtering
This report can be filtered to individual Google country of origin and for a selection of time intervals.
Interpretation
Top Enquiries provides a harsh reality check about search results that your site is being listed in, and begs the questions:
Keyword selection
Do these searches represent business opportunities for your business ?
- Are they unrelated to your business
- Are there too few searches to attract viable traffic volumes?
Ranking
Is your site’s ranking too low to attract viable traffic volumes ?
Conversion
If you site appears in search results why does no-one click on your SERP ?
PageRank extension for Google Chrome
July 4th, 2009 by PeteIf like me you’re a Google Chrome fan and want to see PageRank quickly & easily you will be releived to know that there is finally a solution you can download from Vasanth Dharmaraj’s blog
Note that you will need to add additional params to the Chrome start link to force it to start allowing extensions, at least in the interim anyway… Read more here
Google WebMasters Tools update
May 17th, 2009 by PeteIt must be update time at Google with the new AdWords interface migrating into production, and now I see Google’s WebMasters Tools is also being updated too!
Apart from a neater layout, the major enhancement is the ability to view more of the site’s serach queries and the ability to email alerts.
Read more here or view it on YouTube
Google gadgets are more accessible than you might think
May 1st, 2009 by PeteGoogle Gadgets have a stunning range of functionality.
I love the fact that despite their sophisticated internals, you can simply copy & paste them into your website.
Check out some of the gadget functionality on offer.
Ive added the Google gadget for Google’s Insights for Search into the right hand column in this blog so you can marvel at what South Aussies are currently searching for…
OK so maybe you’re not that interested in what we do in little ‘ol Adelaide, but look closer at the Insights for Search Gadget and you’ll notice you can even filter the display to particular search terms.
This example shows global searches relating to internet marketing in the last 30 days
Insights for search evolves
March 25th, 2009 by PeteInsights for Search is a valuable keyword research tool, but who does keyword research ?
If you are able to take time to view the video below you will get a glimpse of how keyword research should be a significant contributor to your online and even offline marketing efforts.
A series of enhancements to Insight for Search announced in Inside AdWords today also signals its continuing evolution, with Google adding additional data sources, categories and greater granularity although sadly only in the US.
Viewing PageRank
November 17th, 2008 by PeteGoogle Toolbar
The easiest way to view Google PageRank is to use the Google Toolbar search bar which you can download and install for free from http://toolbar.google.com
After you install the Google Toolbar you may have to explicitly enable the PageRank display by going to Settings; Options; More and enabling PageRank and Page Info.
When installed, a small gauge displays PageRank in your toolbar, with a mouse-over tooltip showing the PageRank for the page you are currently visiting.
You will note from the Privacy Notice in the toolbar installation, that it sends to Google ”…the addresses or other information about sites when you visit.” www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/static.py?page=privacy.html&hl=en
I think this is a very small price to pay for such empowering information, however if your view is different you may like to take advantage of one of the many websites that kindly provide this information for free and presumably without consequence.
Chrome – Elegant simplicity
October 28th, 2008 by PeteAs someone who spends his day inside a browser I strongly recommend Google Chrome, their new browser.
Its simple, uncluttered and it works. What more can I say.
Well it would be nice to be able to display PageRank like I can from the Google Toolbar in IE & Firefox, although a nifty script from www.chromefans.org does provide the info in a popup window albeit a little clunky.
Anyway after years of being an IE user I think Im convinced. I think….
Hmm should I change my default browser settings to Chrome ?
Wow that’s a big commitment.
Ill try it for a few more days but Im tending to think I will…
Google Insights for Search – An interesting Keyword research tool
August 11th, 2008 by PeteIf doing keyword research is important to you, then Google’s new keyword tool Insight is well worth a look at http://www.google.com/insights/search
Insights for Search is an interesting extension to Google Trends functionality showing the relative volumes of searches regionally in geographical ‘heat diagrams’ as well as Trends original time based graphs
Google Alerts – Who's watching who ?
March 21st, 2008 by PeteGoogle Alerts is a fascinating tool that allows you to monitor particular phrases (keywords actually) that GoogleBot encounters when trawling cyberspace. If the phrase is detected, Google will email you an alert telling you where and when the phrase was detected.
This is a great tool to confirm and monitor the exposure of new and previously unknown websites and products on the internet.
I encourage you to setup a Google Alert for your website’s URL and your businesses’ primary keywords – you will find the results interesting!
Hint: Use Google Alerts to closely monitor your digital competitors as well