Conducting Competitive Intelligence Using Search Status: A Search Extension for Firefox
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If you read Rich Schefren’s latest free e-book – The Final Chapter (aff) – you will have come across a link he provided to a great tool called Search Status for the Firefox browser.
You can download Search Status here
It’s a neat little Firefox extension that provides you with some handy shortcuts for things like PageRank, AlexaRank, backlinks, keyword density, link reports, whois and a bunch of other search engine marketing related tools.
Rich mentions this tool in his section of the Final Chapter as a resource for conducting competitive intelligence. You can use it to find which sites are linking to competitor sites so you can find out their likely JV partners, affiliates and traffic sources, which is valuable information. Rich had discussed some great points in the e-book about performing research on your competitors and I have to admit he takes it to a new level, I never thought to do some of things he suggests.
Personally I very often use backlink checks and the various tools provided by Search Status when I am evaluating a site I am thinking of buying or monitoring my own sites. Having all the tools available from my browser window makes these jobs just that little bit more efficient.
If you are obsessed with backlinks, PageRank, AlexaRank, and all the other search engine metrics, this tool is a must. Thanks to Rich for bringing it to me attention.
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[...] I have a confession to make. Ever since I installed the SearchStatus extension into my FireFox browser I have discovered a new addiction to go right along with my healthy love for PageRank – it’s close cousin, AlexaRank. In this case the bar is blue, and unlike PageRank the statistic AlexaRank represents has more to do with traffic and reach than search engine ranking authority or incoming links, but like PageRank is probably best interpreted as a “fun tool” rather than a definitive way to evaluate a website. [...]
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[...] As Blaine Moore pointed out in a comment made to my previous AlexaRank article, it is easy to – as he put it – “game” the AlexaRank if you have a tool that checks AlexaRank installed on your computer, and that doesn’t have to be just the toolbar, it can be for a FireFox extension like SearchStatus, which I recently installed on my browser. These tools send data to Alexa, and when Alexa receives any data about your surfing habits it will raise the traffic rankings for the sites you provide data for – and if you visit your own sites often you can raise your ranking. [...]
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention – the Search Status extension also provides a nofollow highlighting tool which you can use to see what links on pages are not passing on any search engine ranking – it really opens your eyes when you start browsing around and see how many links don’t count in the eyes of the search engines.
This is also a very useful tool for finding backlinks. I always check a competitor’s backlinks, many times you can find more directories, exchanges, etc simply by looking where other people are headed to get the links.
Ohhh… the nofollow highlighter sounds like the best part! This toolbar will be a nice addition to my collection, right up there with “Web Developer Toolbar” for checking the source and css and other cool stuff.
Thanks for letting us know about that firefox extension. Really needed that, cause I got tired of opening IE7.
Hi Yara,
Very interesting article. We (a two man business) are just getting started in the field of SEO and web design in Limerick Ireland.
Needless to say, we found your article to be very intersting and quite an eye-opener. All too often, we have found ourselves unable to explain to clients and or potential clients, why competitors seem to know exactly why they are performing well in the major search engines.
We would never have guessed, that a free browser extension could reveal such a wealth of information so simply. Are there any more bits and bobs or free tools we could try? We have just begun looking at wordtracker but the phrase “too much information” comes to mind…
All the best from Ireland
Mark Hayes
Are there any more
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