Central Perk: SEOptimise

sâmbătă, 14 ianuarie 2012

SEOptimise

A Collection of 47 Helpful Google Search Operator Queries

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 06:19 AM PST

To be honest, from my school days of using Google right up to today, the search engine giant has not once stopped impressing me. From its algorithmic updates for a better user experience to its cloud based computing services, Google has captured my life and sadly, probably my soul.

Today I will be sharing with you a collection of my favourite Google search operator queries, not only to help open your mind to the powers of Google being much more than a search engine, but also to show you that knowing some of these queries will help you become better in the art of SEO.

6 Starter Operator Search Operator Queries

These queries are particularly helpful because they’re generally quick and easy short cuts in narrowing your search results:

Query	What does it mean?
"best practice seo"	Searches for this exact phrase within “”
mobile -phone	Inclusion of – means searches for the word mobile but nothing following after phone
seo ~glossary	Brings up a glossary of information regarding that word
define:seo	Definition of that word or phrase
OR / \|	Returns search queries with one of the given terms
related:	Helps list web pages related to the URL

5 Basic Mathematics Search Operator Queries

Google search provides users with the ability to calculate simple maths without the need for your calculator:

Query	What does it mean?
+ / – / * //	Simple mathematics rules
% of	Percentage of a number
^ / **	Raise to the power of a number
square root of number	Find the square root of a number
reciprocal of (number)	Find the reciprocal value of a number

4 Advanced Mathematics Search Operator Queries

Surprisingly, Google does not stop at the most simple of mathematics and is there for the more complicated algorithmic-based equations:

Query	What does it mean?
sin, cos, tan	You’re able to use the trigonometric functions within a search
ln(number)	Utilises the natural logarithm of the number
log(number)	Utilises the base 10 logarithm
number!	Returns a factorial number

7 Converting Tool Search Operator Queries

Google offers users the ability in search to convert various units:

Query	An example, search in Google:
Currency converter	36 yuan to dollars
Data converter	Convert 81 Mb to Gb
Distance converter	68m to cm
Speed converter	38mph in kph
Temperature converter	18 Celsius in Fahrenheit
Time converter	89 days in minutes
Weight converter	8 stones in kg

7 Everyday Helpful Search Operator Queries

I find these operator queries particularly useful everyday, and maybe you will too:

Query	What does it mean?	An example, search in Google:
file:	Results show various file type extensions	file:linkbuilding.pdf
movie:	Results show movies in your local area	movie:oxford
weather:	Current weather forecast of that area	weather:oxford
time:	Local time in that country	time:china
sunrise:	Sunrise in that area	sunrise:oxford
map:	Map of that area	map:oxford
safesearch:	Search without any adult content	safesearch: sex education

2 Google News Search Operator Queries

These search operator queries are restricted to only Google News – very useful when you want to find news from a particular country or source-specific articles:

Query	What does it mean?	An example, search in Google news:
location:	Discover news posts from a location	Location:china
source:	Discover news posts from a source	Source:search engine land

4 Blog Search Operator Queries

When searching for particular blog-related links, these operator queries can help you search by author, post type and blog title:

Query	What does it mean?	An example, search in Google:
inpostauthor:	Search for this specific author	inpostauthor:”kevin gibbons”
inblogtitle:	Search for this specific blog title	inblogtitle:seoptimise
inpostitle:	Search for posts with these titles	inpostitle: on page optimisation
blogurl:	Search for blogs under a specific URL	blogurl:seoptimise.com

12 SEO Operator Queries

As an SEO practitioner, one of my most powerful search tools has to be Google itself. Just knowing these search operator queries exist is only quarter of the battle. But understanding how they work and best practices is where you can excel:

Query	What does it mean?
site:URL	Search only one site or domain
site:URL (image search)	Shows results for images on that website
allintitle:	All search results must appear in the title of the page
intitle:	The following keywords must appear in the title of the page
allintext:	The following must appear within the text page
intext:	The search term has to appear in the title of the page
allinurl:	The search term appears in the URL
allinanchor:	The following search terms must all appear in anchor text links with the page
inanchor:	All the following search terms all must appear in anchor text links with the page
cache:	Displays Google's cached version of a webpage
info:	Provides information on that specific page
link:	Finds the pages that link to that URL

Top Tip to Remember: In Google search you are not restricted to just one query per search. For example, you could have multiple queries in one search – e.g. site:seoptimise.com “web trends” -ppc

Thanks for reading this and please do share some of your favourite search operator queries!

*Image credit: niknack on Flickr.

30 SEO Resolutions for 2012

Posted: 13 Jan 2012 06:05 AM PST

Like most people, SEO practitioners reflect on the past year and attempt to improve their skills in the new year.

If you haven't made up your mind what exactly you want to change in the coming year, check out these suggestions for 30 SEO resolutions for 2012 that draw on modern industry best practices and growing trends.

Content Creation

I will create less shallow content and more quality “one of a kind” pieces of content.
I will create more content using multiple rich media such as images, audio, videos and the like.
I will write shorter, more readable postings instead of long, hard to read ones that nobody can follow.
I will create more content on site and waste less time on third party sites that require me to give away "User Generated Content".
I will provide less average sales copy and create more outstanding content for inbound marketing purposes.

Link Building

I will perform fewer tedious tasks such as contacting unwitting webmaster about link exchanges and provide more appealing incentives for people to link to me voluntarily.
I will go after more citations and fewer links to get traction on local search and Google Places instead of just the organic index that gets less exposure.
I will make sure my old inbound links are still there and also fix 404 errors on my own site.
I will link out more, not only to get noticed and more links back, but to reach out honestly to like-minded industry professionals – after all, we don't compete most of time.
I won't sneak in "free links" anymore on unsuspecting sites that would not voluntarily link to me.

Social Media

I will market less and contribute more in order to become a valuable contributor to social media.
I will get organised while social networking and not just waste time drifting from update to update on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
I will follow fewer hypes and not just jump in on every social site that web celebrities want me to. I will go where the real value is.
I won't just share links all the time on social sites but instead use them in a balanced way, adding networking and conversation to my daily habits.
I will schedule times for my social media activity instead of just dropping in and getting distracted all the time during work hours.

Blogging

I will blog more regularly instead of just updating my social media profiles on third party sites.
I will guest blog on other blogs, both the already important ones and the not yet very well known.
I will focus my blog writing on the desired outcome – not just blog for the page views and social shares.
I will socialise with other bloggers both online and in real life to establish lasting relationships.
I won't check web analytics daily or more often and obsess about metrics that only make sense to check in the long term or every other week.

Tools

I will use fewer tools and more techniques. SEO and SMO are still about how you use them, not how many tools you use.
I will use the tools I prefer more in-depth instead of just scratching the surface of the features.
I will take more time for social media analytics and monitoring and find out what real humans say about me, my contributions and why.
I will not trust tools with everything and make sure to cross check data and compare with other outcomes.
I will recommend only the tools I truly use, not the ones I'm an affiliate of.

SEO

I will perform more SEO tests and publish the results to the benefit of the SEO community, no matter how vague the outcomes are.
I will provide more advice to educate the clients and their teams and make them more self-sufficient.
I will share my techniques, tools and case studies, not just to show off but to get recognition from the SEO community.
I will rant and complain less about Google, other SEOs and bloggers and instead keep on improving my own arsenal.
I will build a recognisable brand instead of just relying on generic rankings on Google.

These resolutions are written in the first person to make it easier for you to identify with them and to apply them yourself. They are not necessarily my personal resolutions.

On a side note: this is my last post on SEOptimise after more than four years. I hope you liked my posts. If you did, you can keep on reading my own blog over at SEO 2.0.

The SEOptimise team will take care of this blog completely from now on, so there won’t be any shortage of posts.

* Creative Common image by Aftab Uzzaman.