It wasn't just a fad: The number of web sites continues to increase, growing by 20 percent in the past year alone. The nearly 7 million sites added this year equal the total number found throughout the entire web in 1999. Today, having a web site is a given - having a site that can be found is the key to success!

Although there are hundreds of so called 'search engines" the vast majority of web traffic is driven by a few major portals. It is important that your site place well on these select search engines and directories.

Google's global usage share increased to 56.4 percent in March and April of 2004, while usage of Yahoo!, the second most used search engine on the Web, was at 21 percent. During that same time period, MSN had 9.2 percent of search engine users, AOL had 3.8 percent, Terra Lycos had 2 percent and Altavista and AskJeeves each had 1.7 percent of users.

These are examples on four of the world's top search engines of the results that I have achieved for my own web sites FredLight.com and NashuaWebDesign.com, as well as one of my clients - Rudy Mayer, a New Hampshire real estate agent. (RudyMayer.com)

Please note that search engine results do fluctuate from one day to the next and none of these listings are a pay-per-click, sponsored or a paid directory listing!

Search Engine Results are always changing
Unfortunately sites that achieve good results on search engines today may see those high-visibility listings gradually go away. Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms that determine search results. Consequently, a search engine optimization program is something that must be implimented on an ongoing basis in order to continually pursue top rankings on your key search terms.

Although nobody can guarantee search engine placement, we can show you many strategies for achieving successful search engine rankings. Believe it or not, for small local businesses who primarily do business locally, getting ranked at the top of the search engines is actually quite easy - ask me about it!

More web site owners are discovering that fancy, cutting-edge sites don't convert as well as the competitor's informational site that gets right down to business. It's usually at that point that they become more receptive to doing what it takes to make their site the best it can be for their visitors as well as the search engines. [Good content + good sense makes for high rankings]

Services we offer to improve search engine rankings, leads and sales:

Free online tools to monitor your web site marketing...

Visit Google, find the search window and enter - site:yoursite.com inurl:yoursite.com replacing "yoursite.com" (in both places with your own web site address). You will find out how many of your web site's pages are currently indexed by Google and which pages are not.

SnakeT Multi-Search Engine Placement Check
Type in your search term.  On the bottom half of the screen, find your site in Google's return, then highlight it.  The top shows about 10 search engines and the green ball will be where you rank on each search engine (if you are in the Top 25, anyway. 

Yahoo - Google Comparison
Enter a search engine keyword and it displays the Yahoo Search engine results with the Google search engine rank right next to it.

Search Engine Scanner
Enter your site and four competitors, along with up to five keywords you would like to search, and the results show you where you and the sites show up in the major search engines.

Marketleap Keyword Search Results
Enter your URL and a keyword you want to check.  The results show search engines where you show up in the first three pages - and where you don't.

Google Ranking Check
Enter your search term and your web site/page.  Find out where you would come up on Google (provided you are in the Top 1000 sites).  It saves you having to search through pages and pages if you're not listed in the top results.

Google Dance Tool
Did your Google search engine performance suddenly go "wacky?"  Maybe Google is currently "dancing," which means they are doing an adjustment.  This tool can tell you where you are currently placed on the different Google servers.

Link popularity is a measure of how many sites link to a particular Web site. The more sites that link to your site, the higher your link popularity is measured. The less sites that link to your site, the lower your link popularity is measured. For best search engine ranking, it is important to have sites that already have high link popularity link to your site. This is like having an expert in your industry casting a popularity vote for your company. Google, the number one search engine on the web uses this method to determine your ranking - and it works! Most other search engines are adopting this practice. Test the popularity of your current web site or that of your competition below. You'll probably be very surprised at the results.

Marketleap LInk Popularity Check
Enter your URL and up to three competitors, then select "real estate" as your category in the drop-down menu.  Find out how you rank, not only among those competitors, but among various other sites involved with real estate.

Link Popularity Check by WebPosition
Checks the number of links to your web site for three search engines and compares it to three competitors you name, presenting the information in a graph format.

UptimeBot LInk Popularity Check
This tool tells you how many sites link to you (according to six search engines), plus your Google information about PageRank, sites linking to you, total pages indexed, and how many times your page is mentioned on web pages.

Mike's Link Popularity Check
You have to scroll down the page a little and find the "Submission Form" - then enter your URL.  It creates a link popularity report on a new page, but this is the cool part - you go back, enter another URL,  and the new report compares the results with the last one - so you can compare yourself and up to four competitors.

Widexl Link Popularity Check
Checks the number of links to a specific web page (as indexed by several search engines) and compares it with two competitors you name.

CGI Biz Link Popularity Check
Checks the number of pages linking to a specific web page as indexed by three search engines at a time.

Proogle - Google Search Engine Results with Page Rank

Enter a search engine term and Google's search engine results are returned - with PageRank.  Good for finding sites with high Page Rank to link to for your particular favorite keywords.  May be up only temporarily.

KeyWord PageRank Finder

Enter a keyword and a PageRank, then this tool searches Google for pages of that PageRank or higher.  The tool may help you find sites you want to get links from that have high PageRank.

Multiple PageRank Finder

List up to 25 of your web site's URLs to find out their PageRanks.  Or list URLs from other web sites, too. 

Yahoo WebRank Checker

The higher the number, the better.  Very similar to Google's PageRank.

PageRank Predictor

Predicts what your Google PageRank might be after the next update.  Doesn't appear to be a totally reliable tool.

Digital Point Keyword Suggestion Tool
Covers Google and Overture - enter a search phrase or word, click enter, and this tool not only suggests key search terms but tells you how many times they are searched in an average day.

Overture Search Term Suggestions
Same as above, except it covers only Overture, but it tells you how many times the search term was used for the previous month.