Advanced Search Operators and SEO
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In this article we’ll share with you a couple of cool hacks to use in search engine optimization called advanced search engine operators. To use this article you must already be aware of your core keywords (the main keywords for which you're trying to rank). If you’re not sure which keywords you want to target, use the Google Keyword Tool or Wordtracker for some research.
Using Advanced Search Operators - Intitle, Inurl, Inanchor
First, go ahead and open Google.com or Yahoo.com in a new window. Just follow the steps in the article and you'll learn some new, helpful tricks. Use both to compare their usefulness.
NOTE: Keep in mind that Google doesn't share much data with SEOs, while Yahoo is more open. Google is well aware that mainly SEOs use the commands described below, so it limits results on purpose. Take this information with a grain of salt.
Intitle: Command
intitle:keyword
intitle:"keyword phrase"
With this command, you will only see search results with your keyword phrase in title. The title tag is a crucial SEO element, and all pages targeted to a particular key phrase have targeted keywords in the title tag. With this command you can estimate the approximate number of competitors fighting over a specific keyword. Search both Google and Yahoo to get an average number.
As an example, a regular Google search for mortgage broker gives 7,440,000 results. A search with intitle:"mortgage broker" gives 251,000 results, which is a better representation of your competitors.
Search in Yahoo with this command gives 1,250,000 results. Yahoo's results tend to be three to five times bigger than Google's.
Inurl: Command
inurl:keyword
This command shows websites that have your keyword phrase in their URL. The keyword may be located in the domain name, as with www.examplekeyword.com, or in the filename (URL), as with www.example/yourkeyword.com.
For example, if you search with inurl:"mortgage broker" you'll see 102,000 results for sites that have "mortgage broker" in their URL. Chances are, the sites on the first three pages are your competitors.
Yahoo shows 408,000 results.
Inanchor: Command
inanchor:keyword
inanchor:"keyword phrase"
inanchor:keyword1 inanchor:keyword2 inanchor:keyword3
With this command you can see websites that have a specific keyword in anchor text pointing to the domain. Usually this means that the site did link building with this keyword phrase. Google shows 7,020,000 results for inanchor:mortgage inanchor:broker, which is not likely to be a real number, while a search for "mortgage broker" gives 7,450,000 results. As mentioned above, Google distorts this data.
Yahoo is a little bit better when it comes to the inanchor command. Its index shows 118,000,000 for "mortgage broker" and 982,000 results for inanchor:mortgage inanchor:broker, which is a more accurate. You'll notice that Google's search count is a lot smaller than Yahoo's, so don't trust those numbers too much.
The inanchor command is very important, but unfortunately search engines don't share this information with SEOs for obvious reasons. Linkscape and Majestic SEO keep their own indexes of the web and allow SEOs to see the anchor text of links. You need to pay for both, but it's worth it.
Also, keep in mind that Google is now putting a lot of weight on domain trust, rather than anchor text. Anchor text is still an important factor, but domain trust is just as important.
Next: Combining Intitle and Inanchor Commands >>
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