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The Google Toolbar and SEO
by Alec Duncan ©Copyright 2004

The Google Toolbar is a must have for any serious search 
engine optimizer and anyone who searches the internet on a 
regular basis. Here's why...

The Google Toolbar has improved significantly since its 
introduction and now offers a number of useful features. The 
main focus of this article, however, is on those that aid in 
search engine optimization. So without further ado, here's the 
Google Toolbar unfolded. 

PageRank 

Upon installation of the full Google toolbar you will notice 
a small bar near the center that may or may not be partially 
filled with a green color as displayed in the image below. 

http://www.lilengine.com/images/googletoolbar/toolbar1.gif

This is the Google PageRank indicator. PageRank is one of the 
ways that Google rates your website and plays a role in the 
position of your site in Google's search results. Site ranking 
is determined by several variables, including PageRank value 
and the number of inbound links. Sites with a higher PageRank 
generally have better rankings than other sites, all other 
factors being equal. I have personally noticed a significant 
improvement in the search engine placement of our Search Engine 
Optimization site (http://www.lilengine.com) whenever our Google 
PageRank has risen. 

The Google toolbar enables you, at a glance, to view the 
PageRank of your website as well as your competitors' sites. 
This feature can aid you in your link-building strategy since 
links from sites with a higher PageRank than yours help to 
raise your site's PageRank. Although some websites prefer to 
link only with those sites that have a PR 4 or higher, LilEngine 
accepts links from any useful and related resources. Links from 
sites with a PageRank of 4 and above are an added bonus. To 
initiate a link exchange with LilEngine, write to: 
info@lilengine.com .

A Side Note
----------- 
There are times when the Google Toolbar will display your 
website as having a PageRank of zero. If your site previously 
had a PR greater than 0 and you notice this, watch it for 
awhile or close your browser and reopen it to double-check. 
At times, this feature appears to be a bit buggy, possibly due 
to updates, etc. at Google. 
----------- 

Cached Version 

When Google spiders your site, it records the latest version 
of your site which can be viewed by using the drop down menu 
associated with the Google Toolbar Page Info button and 
selecting "Cached Snapshot of Page". To see the cached version 
of a specific page, your browser must be on that page when you
use this toolbar feature. 

http://www.lilengine.com/images/googletoolbar/toolbar2.gif

How Can This Help You With Your SEO Campaign? 
If you have optimized your website in the hope of increasing 
your search engine placement in Google, the "Cached Snapshot" 
will indicate whether or not Google has updated their database 
with the new version of your page. If the Googlebot visits your 
site regularly, the cached version of your site will be updated 
more frequently than otherwise. 

Backward Links
 
The Google Toolbar also has a pretty useful feature that displays 
all the web pages that link to your web page, which Google counts 
towards your PageRank. This information isn't regularly updated
and it may take between 1 – 3 months before changes are seen. 
Backlinks deal with quality and not quantity. A site with 1000 
mediocre backlinks may not have as high a Page Rank as a site 
with 800 high PR backlinks. 

Highlighting
 
You have the option of adding a highlight feature to your Google 
Toolbar that highlights all instances of your search term on the web 
page reached from your search. This can help you see how many times 
your competitors use specific keywords on their pages and you may 
modify your SEO campaign accordingly. You may also use this to check 
your own pages and see if you are or are not using enough of your 
target keywords on your page for optimum search engine placement. 
Besides those features listed above, there are also some other cool 
tools on the Google Toolbar such as: 

Popup Blocker: This only works in IE 5.5 or later but is a great 
addition as we all know that there are many sites on the web that 
bombard you with popups. Some of these even go as far as to 
prevent you from going anywhere else. Annoyance factor 10/10. 

Google Web Search: You can easily search the web using the Google 
Search Engine via the Google Toolbar by typing in your search terms 
in the search box area and then clicking enter or clicking 
the 'Search Web' button on the toolbar. 

Translate: Easily translate sites into English that you may be 
interested in for one reason or another. 

Unfortunately there is no version of the Google Toolbar for browsers 
other than Internet Explorer 5.0 and greater but hopefully they will 
be adding this in the near future. 

There are many more features available with the Google Toolbar. 
Learn more and download it here, http://toolbar.google.com/.

================================================================
Alec Duncan is the founder of LilEngine.com a Search Engine 
Optimization[http://www.lilengine.com] resource site. Visit 
http://www.LilEngine.com for search engine optimization tools and 
strategies. Get a free Google ranking tool
[http://www.rankdetective.com/free-ranking-tool.php] on your site.
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