We all know the importance of search engine optimization. Hence, we are always looking out for tools that can aid us in our bid to reach the pinnacle of the search engine result page. Well, recently I came across this piece of news in the searchenginejournal.com. Moreover, this piece was written by Loren Baker, the website’s editor. The article read, ‘Francesco Mapelli has launched a new SEO tool called the Supplemental Index Ratio Calculator which allows site owners to check the percentage of pages from their site that are included in the Google Supplemental Index.Supplemental Index Ratio Calculator uses a normal Google site search (with &filter=0 ) to find how many pages are in the total index (main + supplemental). Then with it adds the ‘+-inallurl%3Awww.yoursite.com’ extension to find the number of pages in the main index (at the end of this list there’s the “In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries …”).’
Well, whenever there is a new tool launched in the market, most of us just lunge towards it. In my opinion, it is always good to carry out waiting game. I feel that may be we can try out the options that are being launched in the market and try to gain an all-round view of the same. We should also wait and carefully listen as to what the search engines have to say about the new tool. I have often observed that whenever a new tool gets launched in the market, people just blindly start applying it to their site without giving any thought to the consequences.
The bottom line is that though I am not against the application of any new SEO tool or application, just practice a bit of caution.

Small [and at times medium] enterprises often question, “ Is it necessary for my organisation to make a space for itself on the virtual world? Will a website prove beneficial?” Well, if you are interested in getting maximum customers and increasing your sales, then you need to create a presence for yourself in the virtual world. This is because Internet is rapidly gaining popularity amongst the general population. So, you have an increasing number of people who are spending more time with the Internet rather than TV.

A report from Marketingvox.com perhaps underlines the above-mentioned fact. The report states that, The IBM Institute for Business Value survey of more than 2,400 households in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Australia covered global usage and adoption of new multimedia devices and media and entertainment consumption on PCs, mobile phones, portable media players and more. The global findings overwhelmingly suggest personal Internet time rivals TV time, IBM said:
· Among consumer respondents, 19% stated spending six hours or more per day on personal Internet usage, versus 9% of respondents who reported the same levels of TV viewing.
· 66% reported viewing 1-4 hours of TV per day, versus 60% who reported the same levels of personal Internet usage.
The above-mentioned report perhaps establishes the fact that an increasing number of people are getting hooked to the virtual world. A presence of website will ensure that your products and services are able to get the desired exposure.
In the opinion of ill Battino, Communications Sector managing partner, IBM Global Business Services, “Consumers are demonstrating their desire for both wired and wireless access to content: an average of 81% of consumers surveyed globally indicated they’ve watched or want to watch PC video, and an average of 42% indicated they’ve watched or want to watch mobile video.”
The report also highlights the importance of Internet marketing and search engine optimization. Internet marketing will ensure that your products and services get displayed in the virtual world. Similarly, trying out Internet marketing strategies like email marketing and banner advertising will ensure that the product stays in the minds of the customers. On the other hand, optimizing your site for the search engines will ensure that you are easily discoverable when people are using search engines.

Newsletters. Now, we must have heard about these. And why not? After all, newsletters are created by schools, colleges, and business organisations. In other words, most of the organisations do come up with newsletters. However, are you aware that newsletters can help you win a few points as far as search engine optimisation is concerned?

Now, you will ask ‘how can a newsletter help me out in the SEO process?’ Well, if you publish newsletters, then you can consider creating an archive out of them. If you are aware about the basics of SEO and operation of search engines, then you must also be aware of the important role played by content.

Search engine spiders display a particular affinity towards content. They love fresh content. So, if you keep updating your site with fresh content, they will keep visiting your site and this will improve the rankings of your site in a SERP [Search Engine Result Page].

If you do keep archiving your previous issues of newsletters, you will be providing the search engine spiders with new content. You can also consider including the newsletters that were published in previous years. According to Dianna Huff, “Search engines like to see sites with regularly update content. If you don’t have an archive, simply begin by adding your current issue to your site and archive the previous issues. If you publish monthly, you’ll have 12 new Web pages at the end of the year! If you have the time, see if you can archive previous years’ issues. You have no idea how much traffic these archived issues can send your way by virtue of people finding them in the search engines.”

Similarly, there are many sites that are on a look out for reprintable content. Now, if you allow people to use your newsletters, obviously, they will provide a link back to your site. In other words, you will be getting a sort of a free publicity and an invaluable inbound link. At the same time, people who read the reprinted content will visit your site. Thus, your site will get an exposure in the minds of the people as well as in the records maintained by search engines.

However, when you are thinking about archiving your newsletters, just keep these tips shared by Dianna Huff. She states that, “When you create an archive page, don’t use drop-down menus search engine spiders can’t access. Instead, build pages of annotated links that the spiders can index and make it easy to people to find.”

So, when you are chalking out the SEO strategies for your site, do not forget about the humble ‘newsletter.’

The other day, when I was just browsing the Internet, I came across this interesting piece of news in ClickZ. This particular report makes mention of the statistics that were revealed by Oneupweb. The report by ClickZ reads like this: Online retailers are still not taking full advantage of search engine optimization (SEO) opportunities with their Web sites, according to a new study by search and interactive marketing agency Oneupweb. In the study, “Once Again… There’s Still Money on the Table: Internet Retailer Study 2007,” Oneupweb looks at the SEO efforts of the top 100 retailers as rated by Internet Retailer magazine. At the top level, Oneupweb found:
· 20 percent of retailers’ sites were well-optimized
· 20 percent of retailers’ sites were moderately optimized
· 34 percent of retailers’ sites were nominally optimized
· 26 percent of retailers’ sites were not optimized at all
Overall findings were similar to those Oneupweb found in studies in 2004 and 2005, though some of the players improved, while others stayed the same, according to Tim Kauffold, director of business development at Oneupweb.

Now, we all know that it is important for a website to be optimised. This is because most people use search engines to actually find and locate websites. According to figures released by Forrester Research, more than 80% of the netizens use a search engine to find a website.

At the same time, an increasing number of people are using the online medium to carry out their shopping. According to the report released by the US Census Bureau, “U.S. retail e-commerce sales reached a little over $93 billion in 2005, up from a revised $76 billion in 2004—an annual gain of 22.2 percent. Rapid growth in e-retail has been the norm. From 2000 to 2005, retail e-sale increased at an average annual growth rate of 27.3 percent, compared with 4.3 percent for total retail sales.” Similarly, a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau also paints a rosy scenario of the online shopping industry in UK. It points out to the data released by the IMRG, which states that 20 million people carried out their shopping via an online medium. It has also predicted that in the year 2007, £42 billion will be spent online by UK shoppers. It also stated that 860 million parcels would be shipped to the UK’s 26 million Internet shoppers. In addition, online shoppers will each spend £1,600 on average.

Therefore, if you do not have SEO friendly site, you might be losing out on a large number of prospective customers and at a time, when e-commerce is registering a strong growth.

Now, if you feel that you are not the proper person as far as implementation of SEO is concerned, then you can approach a web solution company. You can also think about training some of your staff in SEO. There are many institutions offering online SEO courses.

So, if you want to have really grab a share of the online market, then you need to optimise your site for search engines.

The general search engines have realized that not every keyword needs millions of links. Also many companies are not bothered with the competition that surrounds the top ten links scenario. These companies are local shops, salons, travel agencies, bookshops etc. With everything entering the web world, these local entrepreneurs have found a place in the internet. That’s why, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others are focusing on local, need specific search engine, which will help the users locate the nearest Thai restaurant or medical store in their locality or neighborhood.

Marchex Inc. is a Seattle based search and media company, founded in 2003. Lately, Marchex Inc. has launched 100,000 specific search sites/ engines. Its focus is mainly local search, search marketing and direct navigation. The reason why all the search engine companies are now involved in local search is because, it is a known fact that almost 30% of internet users are in search for local places. The main flaw with the general search engine is that, they only have millions of links for global companies, entertainment, social networking sites etc but when a user wants to find out about that one music shop where they stock “The Best of Carpenters” cd in plenty; such general search engines are useless.

Spock.com is another specific search engine company by Jay Bhatti. He feels that when a user wants to find out about his long lost high school friend, who then aspired to start a college where subjects such as dating, safe sex and the art of partying are taught like biology and trigonometry; that user should have a website where not only he/she can contact his friend, but also know all his details. Spock.com specializes in vertical search and finding an individual on the internet is no longer like finding a pin in a haystack.

Quite frankly, specific search engine is not a new phenomenon, it was in existence since 90’s, but it waited till people were comfortable with using the search engine for social networking and fixing an appointment with the local spa, simultaneously. Finally, it seems that people have caught up with technology and its time that the search engines go micro from macro.

Not only these specific search engines and sites are beneficial to the internet users, but also to those global companies who want to tap on the consumer requirements; for their improvement. For e.g. any multinational cosmetic company can invent a product that is a consumer need; but not in existence as a product. With the help of local sites and search engines they can derive a systematic statistics, which tells them exactly how many people in the world need that non-existent product. If the statistics favor it, then that company can go ahead and make that product. With that, one can say that specific search engine is reborn, and has attacked the market with vengeance.