Category Archives: SEO Tools

Lessons Learned: Building Simple SEO Tools

By richardbaxterseo | Published August 2, 2010

Almost a month ago, we released the anchor text tool, a simple URL by URL anchor text analyser that plugs in to the Anchor Text Linkscape API.

tomatoes are unrelated to SEO tools

Image credit: arclients

If I’m honest, the tool was as much a learning device for future tool development as it was an opportunity to give something back to the community. I definitely think there’s a ton of scope for other SEO folks out there to experiment with building their own SEO tools without any formal development skills, and I think that they should!

On that note, let me share some learning and explain how the tool was built.  Read the full post...

Analyse Your Anchor Text With The SEOgadget Anchor Text Tool

By richardbaxterseo | Published July 17, 2010

There hasn’t been as much blogging activity on this site in the past three weeks. For good reason, I’ve been on a (much needed) holiday after a mind blowing first 6 months of the year and, upon my return, I’ve been building a new toy.

picture of pretty cubes

Image: Jared

You can now analyse your anchor text with the SEOgadget anchor text tool.

Analyse your top 10 anchor texts and image links to a page, domain or subdomain

The public version of the tool is free to use and if you find it useful, please give feedback.

anchor text tool  Read the full post...

Powered by LinkscapeFeatures

  • See your top 10 anchors to any URL

Http Status Reports With Open Site Explorer, Xenu and VLookup

By richardbaxterseo | Published May 10, 2010

Open Site Explorer is a really nice tool to enable quick and easy reviews of your best inbound links, most linked to pages and most frequently occurring anchors in text links. One of my favourite tools in OSE has always been the classic “Top Pages” report, allowing for deeper visibility on your most linked to pages.

server

Image credit: Br1dotcom

With the top pages report, you may find that lower authority sites with many pages get less crawl bandwidth than sites with higher authority. This can lead to URLs in the report with “No Data” in the HTTP status field. No problem, here’s a tip to get the most out of that data using Xenu’s Link Sleuth and a simple VLOOKUP in Excel.  Read the full post...

How to Make a Pivot Table and Chart in Excel

By richardbaxterseo | Published March 8, 2010

For SEOgadget clients, most of the SEO work they receive from me is delivered at the end of a heavily data driven process. If you’re feeling a shift towards data driven SEO too, then the chances are using pivot tables and charts in Excel is a near daily part of your SEO consulting activity.

table

Image by: Incase Designs

At some point we all have to up our game, especially with Excel and general analysis skills, so at the SEOmoz Pro Training Seminar late last year, I gave a step by step tutorial on how to make a beautiful chart based on an Excel Pivot Table.  Read the full post...

SEOmoz Launch a Brand New Toy: Open Site Explorer

By richardbaxterseo | Published January 20, 2010

In the last hour, SEOmoz have launched a new tool Open Site Explorer, driven by the vast wealth of data collected by their Linkscape product. I’ve been playing with the tool and I’m already excited about some of the actionable insights the tool can deliver. Here are my tips for making the best use of Open Site Explorer:

Optimise your most authoritative internal links

 Read the full post...

Tools to Speed Up Your Site – Ready for 2010

By richardbaxterseo | Published November 23, 2009

Matt Cutts recently referred to a movement inside Google to begin using page load times as part of the organic ranking algorithm, describing the factor as one of his ‘what to expect in 2010? bullet points in a presentation at PubCon Vegas 2009.

Two cars driving in a 60 mph speed limit
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License Photo by: lrargerich

Most webmasters and SEO’s have seen this as a positive change, and Google have already started doing a lot to support webmasters in their quest to pursue a faster, more efficient website. They’ve even begun developing a new protocol, “SPDY” to improve upon the “HTTP” protocol to create a “2x Faster Web”. Google’s make the web faster project provides background reading and resources as part of their mission to “improving the web for all“.  Read the full post...

Linkbuilding Tool Tip – SEOmoz Link Intersect + Top Pages on Domain

By richardbaxterseo | Published November 7, 2009

Arduino Workshop
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License Photo by: m4rlonj

Here’s a quick and handy (and headsmacking) link building tool tip you should try the next time you’re link building for a client by using competitor back links data as a starting point.

We know that the “Competitive Link Finder” tool (or, “Link Intersect Tool”) offered by SEOmoz Labs offers insightful comparison on your competitors most powerful back links, with a useful notification if any of those back links are missing from your link graph. My tip involves using two tools offered by Labs to get the most out of your link building strategy.  Read the full post...

Fun with Godaddy's GeoDomainMap [Domain Buying]

By richardbaxterseo | Published November 2, 2009

godaddy geodomain map search

Looking for inspiring ways to come up with domain names you’re probably never going to use? Today I learned that sellbuenosaires.com remains unregistered thanks to Godaddy’s local domain search service, GeoDomainMap.

Godaddy’s new service asks you to set a location and a keyword you’re interested in. Next, the tool combines nearby location names and the keywords you supplied and “checks the GoDaddy database of available domain names and returns those that are available”.

Sadly, the tool didn’t seem to be working quite so well for the UK this evening, though there’s still a very long list of domains ending with “SEO” available in the US for those people looking to emulate the good work of our friends at LondonSEO.

Google Keyword Tool [External vs Beta] – What’s the Difference?

By richardbaxterseo | Published October 8, 2009

Testing keyword research tools from Google in the lab

On the 24th September 2009, Google announced a revision of their Keyword Tool, the imaginatively titled “Keyword Tool (Beta)”.

As Barry reported that morning at Search Engine Roundtable,

Google has a beta version of a new keyword tool available in the AdWords console. To get to it, login to adwords.google.com, go to a campaign, click on opportunities (if you have that tab), then on the left bar, click on keyword tool. A “beta” link should be available for you to click on in the top paragraph.  Read the full post...