Search Engines and Algorithms: MetaSearch Engines, A Tool for SEO - Using MetaSearches for SEO
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Using MetaSearches for SEO
Just as a website designer knows that developing a website to be compatible across multiple browsers is a good idea, so in the same way does an SEO know that cross referencing search engines for the median results for keyword phrases is vital to doing their job correctly. It doesn’t really matter which MetaSearch Engine you use in your cross referencing, but it does matter that you are optimizing for multiple search engines. MetaSearch Engines are good tools to use to accomplish this task. There are many reasons for using MetaSearches in your SEO efforts. While this list is not all-inclusive by any stretch, you will probably see some overlap in the following points.
1. Varying Results
While it doesn’t matter which engine you use, I would recommend using a Raw MetaSearch Engine for this task, since you will see the unadulterated results a person employing a search query would see. No two search engines return the exact same results of any search query. When you see the information available in SERPs across several search engine platforms can be an effective teaching tool to help you learn about the individual search engines, and the way they perform in the course of a search query.
A study by the University of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania State University and Dogpile.com took a look at how diverse search engine results actually are. In an article written by Mike McEwan, entitled "Search Engine Overlap and Divergence", he references this study. The results indicate that 1.1% of results for a search query are shared by the top four search engines (Google, Yahoo!, MSN Search, and AskJeeves).
A similar study in May of this 2005 showed still a different figure. With a sample of more than 10,000 queries, 86% returned a different #1 ranked algorithmic result in each search engine, and 32% of these queries did not return any overlapping results in the top three algorithmic positions. So in a few months time, search engine results have diversified greatly, and show no signs of stopping the trend.
Using MetaSearch Engines to give you an overview of your search query can better help you optimize your website for multiple search engines.
2. Keywords and Key Phrases
Another good reason to use MetaSearches in your SEO is when doing keyword research and analysis. Choosing keywords for your website is sometimes a time consuming task, but being able to have an overview of potential results in the information available over several search engines is highly useful.
3. Becoming Familiar with Individual Search Engines
Being able to see how different search queries are handled over multiple engines is a great way to not only decide what keywords you should be using, but it is also helpful to see what kind of competition you will have. Because no two search engines are alike, as every search engine has its own algorithms, it is important to know how each search engine operates. For an SEO, this is a full time job; especially since search engines are changing constantly. By using MetaSearch Engines, you can help reduce the monumental task of learning about each search engine’s behaviors.
4. Minimizing Your Work Load
As I mentioned before, cross comparing search results in multiple search engines can be time consuming. MetaSearch Engines can help you by compiling the results of multiple search engines into one query, versus having to do the same search over and over in different search engines.
Next: Disadvantages of MetaSearch Results >>
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