Before Google came onto the scene with their links-based PageRank, doorway pages were the most effective of the search engine optimization techniques, because they didn't usually need any pages to link to them, and top rankings were relatively easy to achieve. But with PageRank and link popularity playing such a big role these days, are doorway pages still as effective as they used to be?
Doorway Pages Overview
A doorway page is a web page that is optimized to rank well for a particular search term. It is called a 'doorway' because people enter the website by clicking on the doorway page's listing in the search engines' search results.
It is common for a doorway page to be specially created as a doorway for a particular searchterm, but it is equally valid to select the site's most relevant existing page for the searchterm, and optimize it to rank highly in the search engines so that it becomes the doorway page for that term.
Back in the days when search engines based the rankings solely on a page's content, it was normal for one doorway page to be created for each search term. Each page was submitted to the engines and, if they were optimized better than the competition's pages, they would achieve top rankings. They could stand alone and didn't need to be a part of the 'normal' site. Therefore, they didn't need to be designed for users to see, and so they could include an instant redirect to the most relevant of the site's content pages. Search engine optimization was easy back then!
But times change, and search engines no longer base the rankings solely on a page's content. These days inbound links and inbound link text are both very important to achieving top rankings. An 'inbound link' is a link that comes into a page - from the receiving page's viewpoint it is 'inbound'. 'Inbound link text' is the text on the remote page that users click on.
For Google, inbound links and inbound link text are among the most important factors in determining rankings. It means that the traditional, specially created, stand-alone doorway pages are no longer as successful as they used to be because they need to be linked to from other pages on the web, and aquiring good links for them from other websites is just about impossible. What site would want to link to a doorway page?
But all is not lost for doorway pages. All that's needed is to rethink what they are and what they do. Here are two main strategies:-
http://www.webworkshop.net/doorway-pages-and-links.html
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Reviews of Two First-Rate Consumer Search Engines
In light of the current recession and rising unemployment, it is more important than ever to be an informed consumer. Consumer search engines can help you to identify high-quality items, gain access to product reviews and locate online merchants who sell the products. Two of the best consumer search engines are ConsumerSearch and Active Buyer's Guide.
ConsumerSearch - COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION ABOUT HUNDREDS OF PRODUCTS
You can get an education about hundreds of products using ConsumerSearch. This search engine not only provides valuable background information and reviews of products, it furnishes links to other product reviews which it rates for credibility. In addition it displays the names of online vendors who sell recommended products.
Full Story: For example, suppose you need a new refrigerator, but have no idea what criteria to use in judging this item. After choosing the category Refrigerator, click on Full Story and you'll get a complete description of the different types of refrigerators (e.g., freezer on top, on the bottom, side by side), various product features (e.g., adjustable shelves, icemakers), and an analysis of the price ranges for different models.
Also discussed in Full Story are the opinions of various reviewers and their consensus (if any) concerning the best models for different needs and situations.
Fast Answers: If you're familiar with the features of refrigerators and just want to find out which models are recommended, you can select Fast Answers. Displayed here are the top refrigerators in each category with a paragraph summarizing the research about them. In addition, you're presented with some general information about refrigerators.
All Reviews: To see reviews of refrigerators, click on All Reviews. Here you'll find links to reviews both on the Internet and in publications that you can buy (e.g., Consumer Reports). The reviews are rated by ConsumerSearch, and include discussions about the way the products are tested, and how reliable and informative the reviews are.
Where to Buy: Finally, you can click on Where To Buy to find links to approved online outlets that sell recommended refrigerators. In addition, there are links to several shopping search engines.
ACTIVE BUYER'S GUIDE - HELPING YOU FIND THE BEST PRODUCT FOR YOUR NEEDS
Active Buyer's Guide is like ConsumerSearch in that it contains a lot of information about the products it covers, however it encompasses far fewer products. Unlike ConsumerSearch, it also provides a search engine and an interactive buyer's guide that can help you find a product specifically suited to your needs.
Let's continue with our example of trying to find information that will be helpful in buying a new refrigerator. After selecting the category Refrigerators, you're offered three categories of information - Refrigerator Decision Guide, Basic Search, and Tips for Buying Refrigerators.
Tips for Buying: If don't know what to base your purchasing decision on, click on Tips For Buying Refrigerators. Here you'll find information about several features of refrigerators, (e.g., price, freezer location, shelves, bins, etc.), and a discussion of why they may be important to people with particular needs.
Basic Search: Your next step might be to search for products by selecting Basic Search . The Active Buyer's Guide search system provides two ways to search - by specific brand or model, or by using its menu to specify the features you want. For example in refrigerators, you can specify the price, brand, color, freezer location and size. I have found this search feature to be extremely useful and effective.
Each result includes a link to a picture of the product, a list of over 40 features (including color, capacity, yearly energy consumption, refrigerator shelf type, etc.) retail outlets selling the product, reviews of the product, and the price. (Of course, the list of features varies by product.)
Selecting a result transports you to a page for that specific refrigerator which includes links to product reviews and online vendors who sell the item, plus links to general information about refrigerator features and a glossary of terms relating to refrigerators.
Side-by-Side Charts: A fabulous feature of Active Buyer's Guide is that you can compare all the features of an unlimited number of resulting models in a side-by-side chart by simply checking the Compare box included for each result.
Decision Guide: The Decision Guide (in this case Refrigerator Decision Guide) is an interactive question and answer exercise which is supposed to provide you with a list of the products that best fit your needs. You're asked to specify which features you care about most, rating how desirable a particular feature is to you. The "tradeoffs" are where it really gets tricky. For example, would you rather have an icemaker and one bin or three bins and no icemaker?
My attempt to use the Decision Guide did not result in a list of products appropriate for me. You may have a different experience.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/81237
ConsumerSearch - COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION ABOUT HUNDREDS OF PRODUCTS
You can get an education about hundreds of products using ConsumerSearch. This search engine not only provides valuable background information and reviews of products, it furnishes links to other product reviews which it rates for credibility. In addition it displays the names of online vendors who sell recommended products.
Full Story: For example, suppose you need a new refrigerator, but have no idea what criteria to use in judging this item. After choosing the category Refrigerator, click on Full Story and you'll get a complete description of the different types of refrigerators (e.g., freezer on top, on the bottom, side by side), various product features (e.g., adjustable shelves, icemakers), and an analysis of the price ranges for different models.
Also discussed in Full Story are the opinions of various reviewers and their consensus (if any) concerning the best models for different needs and situations.
Fast Answers: If you're familiar with the features of refrigerators and just want to find out which models are recommended, you can select Fast Answers. Displayed here are the top refrigerators in each category with a paragraph summarizing the research about them. In addition, you're presented with some general information about refrigerators.
All Reviews: To see reviews of refrigerators, click on All Reviews. Here you'll find links to reviews both on the Internet and in publications that you can buy (e.g., Consumer Reports). The reviews are rated by ConsumerSearch, and include discussions about the way the products are tested, and how reliable and informative the reviews are.
Where to Buy: Finally, you can click on Where To Buy to find links to approved online outlets that sell recommended refrigerators. In addition, there are links to several shopping search engines.
ACTIVE BUYER'S GUIDE - HELPING YOU FIND THE BEST PRODUCT FOR YOUR NEEDS
Active Buyer's Guide is like ConsumerSearch in that it contains a lot of information about the products it covers, however it encompasses far fewer products. Unlike ConsumerSearch, it also provides a search engine and an interactive buyer's guide that can help you find a product specifically suited to your needs.
Let's continue with our example of trying to find information that will be helpful in buying a new refrigerator. After selecting the category Refrigerators, you're offered three categories of information - Refrigerator Decision Guide, Basic Search, and Tips for Buying Refrigerators.
Tips for Buying: If don't know what to base your purchasing decision on, click on Tips For Buying Refrigerators. Here you'll find information about several features of refrigerators, (e.g., price, freezer location, shelves, bins, etc.), and a discussion of why they may be important to people with particular needs.
Basic Search: Your next step might be to search for products by selecting Basic Search . The Active Buyer's Guide search system provides two ways to search - by specific brand or model, or by using its menu to specify the features you want. For example in refrigerators, you can specify the price, brand, color, freezer location and size. I have found this search feature to be extremely useful and effective.
Each result includes a link to a picture of the product, a list of over 40 features (including color, capacity, yearly energy consumption, refrigerator shelf type, etc.) retail outlets selling the product, reviews of the product, and the price. (Of course, the list of features varies by product.)
Selecting a result transports you to a page for that specific refrigerator which includes links to product reviews and online vendors who sell the item, plus links to general information about refrigerator features and a glossary of terms relating to refrigerators.
Side-by-Side Charts: A fabulous feature of Active Buyer's Guide is that you can compare all the features of an unlimited number of resulting models in a side-by-side chart by simply checking the Compare box included for each result.
Decision Guide: The Decision Guide (in this case Refrigerator Decision Guide) is an interactive question and answer exercise which is supposed to provide you with a list of the products that best fit your needs. You're asked to specify which features you care about most, rating how desirable a particular feature is to you. The "tradeoffs" are where it really gets tricky. For example, would you rather have an icemaker and one bin or three bins and no icemaker?
My attempt to use the Decision Guide did not result in a list of products appropriate for me. You may have a different experience.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/81237
Review of InfoWar.com - A Search Engine Covering Terrorism
If after being barraged by the media with information about terrorism, you have more questions than answers, searching InfoWar.com can help. In addition to terrorism, Infowar.com is a specialized search engine that covers information warfare, national security, privacy, espionage, related law and legal issues, cyber crime, the military, weapons of mass destruction, electronic civil defense, etc.
Informative Government Reports and Other Materials
Many of the items included in InfoWar.com are the full texts of various government and agency reports, but there are also theses, newspaper and magazine articles, case studies, reports of conferences, etc.
For example, the government reports retrieved in a search using the keyword bioterrorism included Biological and Chemical Terrorism: Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response, Recommendations of the CDC Strategic Planning Workgroup, published April 21, 2000 and 2001 Combating Terrorism: Considerations for Investing Resources in Chemical and Biological Preparedness, Testimony Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, Wednesday, October 17, 2001.
The category Articles Submitted (link on the left side of the home page) and its three subcategories, Class I Privacy, Class II Espionage, and Class III Terrorism contain the most current material.
Some of InfoWar.com's other categories are Law and Legal Issues, Military and C41, and WMD (weapons of mass destruction) among others. Included in the documents listed in the latter category were several long, chilling but informative documents on anthrax.
There is also a Security Store selling software, hardware and books. One of the books is being sold is titled Usama Bin Laden's AlQaida: Profile of a Terrorist Network, published in April, 2001. Unfortunately, it seems expensive at $44.00 but it sounds interesting.
Search Tips
InfoWar.com's search page displays two search boxes that access two different databases, InfoWar.com and InfoSec.com. The top search box corresponds to Infowar.com's database which contains material about national security, terrorism, etc. It's menu-based, using the Boolean search operators AND, OR and NOT.
Even if you don't use the menu, all the search words you type in the search box will appear in each document by default. If you want to indicate that a word is not preferred but not required without using the menu, you can insert a comma after the search word.
You can also use quotation marks to indicate a phrase, and an asterisk to search for different endings of a word root (e.g. invest* will retrieve items containing investor, investment, invested, etc.)
The bottom search box corresponds to the InfoSec.com's database containing material about computer and Internet security.
Results: Each item resulting from a search includes the title and url as well as a relevance rating.
Features: There are many other features at InfoWar.com. For example, there's a list of more than 20 publications with archives that are available for viewing. And there are several categories relating to InfoSec.com that contains material about cryptography, access control and identification, viruses, operating systems, etc.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/83889
Informative Government Reports and Other Materials
Many of the items included in InfoWar.com are the full texts of various government and agency reports, but there are also theses, newspaper and magazine articles, case studies, reports of conferences, etc.
For example, the government reports retrieved in a search using the keyword bioterrorism included Biological and Chemical Terrorism: Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response, Recommendations of the CDC Strategic Planning Workgroup, published April 21, 2000 and 2001 Combating Terrorism: Considerations for Investing Resources in Chemical and Biological Preparedness, Testimony Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, Wednesday, October 17, 2001.
The category Articles Submitted (link on the left side of the home page) and its three subcategories, Class I Privacy, Class II Espionage, and Class III Terrorism contain the most current material.
Some of InfoWar.com's other categories are Law and Legal Issues, Military and C41, and WMD (weapons of mass destruction) among others. Included in the documents listed in the latter category were several long, chilling but informative documents on anthrax.
There is also a Security Store selling software, hardware and books. One of the books is being sold is titled Usama Bin Laden's AlQaida: Profile of a Terrorist Network, published in April, 2001. Unfortunately, it seems expensive at $44.00 but it sounds interesting.
Search Tips
InfoWar.com's search page displays two search boxes that access two different databases, InfoWar.com and InfoSec.com. The top search box corresponds to Infowar.com's database which contains material about national security, terrorism, etc. It's menu-based, using the Boolean search operators AND, OR and NOT.
Even if you don't use the menu, all the search words you type in the search box will appear in each document by default. If you want to indicate that a word is not preferred but not required without using the menu, you can insert a comma after the search word.
You can also use quotation marks to indicate a phrase, and an asterisk to search for different endings of a word root (e.g. invest* will retrieve items containing investor, investment, invested, etc.)
The bottom search box corresponds to the InfoSec.com's database containing material about computer and Internet security.
Results: Each item resulting from a search includes the title and url as well as a relevance rating.
Features: There are many other features at InfoWar.com. For example, there's a list of more than 20 publications with archives that are available for viewing. And there are several categories relating to InfoSec.com that contains material about cryptography, access control and identification, viruses, operating systems, etc.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/83889
Medical Search Engine Reviews: WebMD and OMNI
Human cloning, anthrax and other medical issues are at the forefront of the news right now, and the decision of whether or not to get a flu shot must be faced. Confused? WebMD and OMNI are two excellent medical search engines that can help you find understandable, reputable information about these and other health-related subjects.
WebMD - AN EXCELLENT, COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL SEARCH ENGINE FOR CONSUMERS
WebMD is one of the best all-around consumer medical search engines. It contains information about an extensive range of subjects approached from many orientations (e.g. news, informational articles and reports, transcripts of interviews and chats, and shopping sites with relevant products). Many of the reports contained in WebMD are written by its own journalists and reviewed by board-certified physicians.
There are a wide variety of special features and sections on WebMD. For example, there are special sections on 65 of the most common diseases and conditions, with information on symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, etc. There's a very useful drug and herb database which provides information for consumers (e.g. usage, warnings, side effects, dosage) about hundreds of drugs. In addition there are also links to lists of clinical trials (research) being done on specific diseases and newly approved drugs to treat various conditions.
Search Tips
WebMD is not the place to do highly detailed searches. No search operators are available. You can search using any number of keywords.
Results
Search results are divided into four categories - Library (articles and reports), News, Boards and Chat, and Shopping.
Each result contains the title, a description of the document, and its source (e.g. Web MD, ADAM encyclopedia, etc.). After every result you can select the link to related documents to obtain a list of documents similar to that item.
OMNI - FOR HIGH QUALITY HEALTH AND MEDICAL WEBSITES
OMNI calls itself the "United Kingdom's gateway to high quality Internet resources in health and medicine," and it lives up to this description. It was created by the University of Nottingham Greenfield Medical Library, in partnership with organizations in the UK and beyond. Although its database is heavily weighted toward UK sites, many of the sites stem from the United States and other English-speaking countries.
While OMNI is aimed at students, researchers, academics, and medical practitioners, the sites retrieved by most searches can be understood and used by the general public.
OMNI is one of the BIOME group of databases, which also includes VetGate (animal health), BioResearch (biological research), Natural Selection (resources relating to the natural world) and Agrifor (resources in agriculture, food and forestry). You can search any or all of these databases.
OMNI is especially useful for finding reputable sites (e.g. government agencies, nonprofit organizations, journal articles, research projects, etc.) that can be used to get an overview of a subject. In a search that I did entering the keyword cloning some of the eight documents I retrieved were from the sites of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania (US), Human Genetics Advisory Commission (UK), AIDS reagent project (UK), and the Society, Religion and Technology Project (Scotland).
Search Tips
In OMNI's Simple Search mode, you can use quotation marks to indicate a phrase and the Boolean operators AND and OR .
The Advanced Search mode allows you to choose additional search parameters and lets you specify how you want your results to appear on the page. For example, there are menu choices for searching only specific types of resources (e.g. reports, position statements, news services, etc.). And you can select use truncation, in order to search for other endings of your search words (e.g., the search word invest will retrieve investment, investor, investing, etc.)
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/86161/1
WebMD - AN EXCELLENT, COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL SEARCH ENGINE FOR CONSUMERS
WebMD is one of the best all-around consumer medical search engines. It contains information about an extensive range of subjects approached from many orientations (e.g. news, informational articles and reports, transcripts of interviews and chats, and shopping sites with relevant products). Many of the reports contained in WebMD are written by its own journalists and reviewed by board-certified physicians.
There are a wide variety of special features and sections on WebMD. For example, there are special sections on 65 of the most common diseases and conditions, with information on symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, etc. There's a very useful drug and herb database which provides information for consumers (e.g. usage, warnings, side effects, dosage) about hundreds of drugs. In addition there are also links to lists of clinical trials (research) being done on specific diseases and newly approved drugs to treat various conditions.
Search Tips
WebMD is not the place to do highly detailed searches. No search operators are available. You can search using any number of keywords.
Results
Search results are divided into four categories - Library (articles and reports), News, Boards and Chat, and Shopping.
Each result contains the title, a description of the document, and its source (e.g. Web MD, ADAM encyclopedia, etc.). After every result you can select the link to related documents to obtain a list of documents similar to that item.
OMNI - FOR HIGH QUALITY HEALTH AND MEDICAL WEBSITES
OMNI calls itself the "United Kingdom's gateway to high quality Internet resources in health and medicine," and it lives up to this description. It was created by the University of Nottingham Greenfield Medical Library, in partnership with organizations in the UK and beyond. Although its database is heavily weighted toward UK sites, many of the sites stem from the United States and other English-speaking countries.
While OMNI is aimed at students, researchers, academics, and medical practitioners, the sites retrieved by most searches can be understood and used by the general public.
OMNI is one of the BIOME group of databases, which also includes VetGate (animal health), BioResearch (biological research), Natural Selection (resources relating to the natural world) and Agrifor (resources in agriculture, food and forestry). You can search any or all of these databases.
OMNI is especially useful for finding reputable sites (e.g. government agencies, nonprofit organizations, journal articles, research projects, etc.) that can be used to get an overview of a subject. In a search that I did entering the keyword cloning some of the eight documents I retrieved were from the sites of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania (US), Human Genetics Advisory Commission (UK), AIDS reagent project (UK), and the Society, Religion and Technology Project (Scotland).
Search Tips
In OMNI's Simple Search mode, you can use quotation marks to indicate a phrase and the Boolean operators AND and OR .
The Advanced Search mode allows you to choose additional search parameters and lets you specify how you want your results to appear on the page. For example, there are menu choices for searching only specific types of resources (e.g. reports, position statements, news services, etc.). And you can select use truncation, in order to search for other endings of your search words (e.g., the search word invest will retrieve investment, investor, investing, etc.)
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/86161/1
Home » Technology » Search Engines » Articles » Reviews of Two Legal Search Engines for Consumers
--Hi Paula, this is Janice, your SME. You accidentally posted two copies of this article today. I've dated the second copy into the distant future as a fix. I haven't made any other changes to the copy.----
I'm a believer in the old adage "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," but not when I need the services of a lawyer. I find that when I'm familiar with the basic legal facts about a matter, my lawyer and I can accomplish my goal with a minimum of confusion, in the shortest time possible.
For example, if I'm drawing up a will, it helps to know who can be chosen as an executor, what a living trust is, and how property can be divided, so that I can mull over my own preferences about these issues before seeing my attorney.
Of course, if my legal facts are not accurate, they will be less than worthless. Two specialized search engines that provide access to reputable legal information for consumers are USLaw.com and FindLaw for the Public.
USLaw.com - CLEAR, COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL INFORMATION FOR CONSUMERS
USLaw.com is without a doubt the best place to go for consumer information about legal matters. The information you'll find here is consistently well-organized, well-written and informative. Although the articles are not overly long, they are amazingly comprehensive, and touch on the major issues relating to a topic.
There are about 2,000 articles in USLaw's database. The main areas it covers are family law, employment, immigration, real estate, finance, health and injury, crime and the courts, commercial issues and small business. Most seem to have been written specifically for USLaw.com by professionals in various fields of law, or have been excerpted from books.
Although the number of documents in the database is not large, its scope is relatively limited - the common legal concerns of individuals and small businesses - so most searches result in a fairly long list of relevant, helpful articles.
Search Tips
No search operators are available in USLaw.com. Entering one or two search words having to do with your subject will usually retrieve the best results. For example, if you are withholding your rent payments because your landlord is not providing heat and you want to find information about the legal ramifications, you might enter
withhold rent
This would retrieve 13 articles, most with direct relevance to your subject (e.g. Landlord and Tenant: Solutions for Breach of the Warranty of Implied Habitability and Landlord and Tenant: When Payment of Rent is Excused).
Each search result includes the title of the item and a short description.
Special Features
Special features at USLaw include a search engine for locating USLaw.com prescreened attorneys in your area, plus two fee-based services - access to the advice of a staff lawyer either in real time or by e-mail, and a service enabling you to create your own legal documents.
FindLaw FOR THE PUBLIC - RETRIEVES LEGAL INFORMATION FROM MANY SOURCES
FindLaw for the Public is part of FindLaw, a very large site that is geared to providing information for legal professionals. A particularly useful feature of FindLaw for the Public are the legal "guides" covering many areas of law that are of special interest to consumers. These guides contain links to various types of information and resources, including articles, FAQ's, legal forms, message boards, etc.
Search Tips
FindLaw for the Public gives you a choice of 10 databases to search (on its drop-down menu) - FindLaw, document library, legal dictionary, legal news, legal websites, all websites, US government sites, US Supreme Court, all Circuit Courts, and the US Constitution. For the average consumer, searching the legal websites will provide the most useful information.
When searching the legal websites, you can use the minus sign to exclude a word and quotation marks to indicate a phrase.
Results
The format of the items retrieved differ among the databases. Items resulting from a search of the legal websites contain the title, a description and the url.
Special Features
You can find lawyers in many specialties using FindLaw's extensive search engine. In addition, you can get information and advice relating to your topic, and read many sad stories at FindLaw's message boards.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/88088
I'm a believer in the old adage "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," but not when I need the services of a lawyer. I find that when I'm familiar with the basic legal facts about a matter, my lawyer and I can accomplish my goal with a minimum of confusion, in the shortest time possible.
For example, if I'm drawing up a will, it helps to know who can be chosen as an executor, what a living trust is, and how property can be divided, so that I can mull over my own preferences about these issues before seeing my attorney.
Of course, if my legal facts are not accurate, they will be less than worthless. Two specialized search engines that provide access to reputable legal information for consumers are USLaw.com and FindLaw for the Public.
USLaw.com - CLEAR, COMPREHENSIVE LEGAL INFORMATION FOR CONSUMERS
USLaw.com is without a doubt the best place to go for consumer information about legal matters. The information you'll find here is consistently well-organized, well-written and informative. Although the articles are not overly long, they are amazingly comprehensive, and touch on the major issues relating to a topic.
There are about 2,000 articles in USLaw's database. The main areas it covers are family law, employment, immigration, real estate, finance, health and injury, crime and the courts, commercial issues and small business. Most seem to have been written specifically for USLaw.com by professionals in various fields of law, or have been excerpted from books.
Although the number of documents in the database is not large, its scope is relatively limited - the common legal concerns of individuals and small businesses - so most searches result in a fairly long list of relevant, helpful articles.
Search Tips
No search operators are available in USLaw.com. Entering one or two search words having to do with your subject will usually retrieve the best results. For example, if you are withholding your rent payments because your landlord is not providing heat and you want to find information about the legal ramifications, you might enter
withhold rent
This would retrieve 13 articles, most with direct relevance to your subject (e.g. Landlord and Tenant: Solutions for Breach of the Warranty of Implied Habitability and Landlord and Tenant: When Payment of Rent is Excused).
Each search result includes the title of the item and a short description.
Special Features
Special features at USLaw include a search engine for locating USLaw.com prescreened attorneys in your area, plus two fee-based services - access to the advice of a staff lawyer either in real time or by e-mail, and a service enabling you to create your own legal documents.
FindLaw FOR THE PUBLIC - RETRIEVES LEGAL INFORMATION FROM MANY SOURCES
FindLaw for the Public is part of FindLaw, a very large site that is geared to providing information for legal professionals. A particularly useful feature of FindLaw for the Public are the legal "guides" covering many areas of law that are of special interest to consumers. These guides contain links to various types of information and resources, including articles, FAQ's, legal forms, message boards, etc.
Search Tips
FindLaw for the Public gives you a choice of 10 databases to search (on its drop-down menu) - FindLaw, document library, legal dictionary, legal news, legal websites, all websites, US government sites, US Supreme Court, all Circuit Courts, and the US Constitution. For the average consumer, searching the legal websites will provide the most useful information.
When searching the legal websites, you can use the minus sign to exclude a word and quotation marks to indicate a phrase.
Results
The format of the items retrieved differ among the databases. Items resulting from a search of the legal websites contain the title, a description and the url.
Special Features
You can find lawyers in many specialties using FindLaw's extensive search engine. In addition, you can get information and advice relating to your topic, and read many sad stories at FindLaw's message boards.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/search_engines/88088
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Search Engine Metrics… Organic Search vs. Paid Placement
Let me preface this report by citing advertisers in 2004 have spent 4 Billion dollars on search engine marketing according to (SEMPO) the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization.
Website marketers cited Search engine positioning was the top method to drive traffic to their sites (66%), followed by email marketing (54%). Source: Direct Marketing Association. Accordingly, the most cost effective way to market your web site online is to obtain several top 10-search engine rankings in the major search engines for your keywords.
According to a recent Jupiter Research Survey, searching on the search engines is one of the main uses of the Internet among 79% of users. Source: September 2002 Jupiter Research Survey. So that being the case, whatever your promoting you’ll want to make sure it can be found on the first page of the search engines results page.
The reason is numerically simple. An Iprospect Survey in 2002 reported that 78% of web users abandon their search if the first 3 pages don't provide an answer to their question, and 28% don’t scroll past the 2nd page of results. Source: Media Post article reporting results of Spring 2002 IProspect survey.
Combine those facts with the Internets explosive growth rate of 1.8 Million people worldwide going online every week for the very first time, Source: Official Guide To Internet Promotion and you can soon appreciate what a top 10 ranking can mean to you.
Google receives approximately 39.4% of all search engine traffic. Yahoo receives approximately 30.4%. They’re simply the largest search engines being utilized online today.
Bringing up the rear is MSN at 29.6%, and AOL 15.5% then Ask Jeeves with 8.5%. Source: Nielsen//NetRatings January 2004
How much traffic is that? Well, Google and its partner sites were reporting a whopping 250 million searches a day in February 2003.
Overture and its partners were reporting over 167 million searches per day. Inktomi reported 80 million followed by LookSmart with 45 million per day.
FindWhat reported 33 million while Ask Jeeves reported 20 million, Alta Vista reported 18 million and finally Fast reported 12 Million searches per day. Source: Searchenginewatch.com 2004.
With all said, you can easily see how your search engine rankings are directly proportional to the traffic your web site receives, and your site traffic is directly related to your potential to profit online.
Oh, and in case your wondering how much money is spent online; a recent Forrester Research Report indicated that online spending reached $95,700,000,000 million in 2003!
That's a cool 95.7 billion dollars. Projected online spending is estimated to grow to $229 billion in 2008! A whopping 139% increase in online spending! Source: Forrester Research
Now with these facts in mind I’m confident you can clearly see what a top 10-search engine ranking can mean for your bottom line. Although it does leave a question unanswered in my mind, what has a higher ROI… organic search engine optimization or paid search?
According to SEMPO’s key analysis, the U.S. & Canadian SEM Industry Size Estimate by tactic in 2004, organic SEO accounted for 12% of the market share or $492,057,200 while Paid Placement accounted for $3,341,878,176 or 81.8%.
Interestingly, 9 out of 10 respondents are actively engaged in organic SEM marketing programs accounting for 89% of the respondent advertisers. This trend can be contributed to the average cost of popular keywords continuing to escalate.
If the escalation continues to rise it could make paid search engine advertising exponentially cost prohibitive for all but the largest advertisers… the 900lb gorillas!
Simply put, ROI is outpacing inflation: SEMPO’s key analysis indicates advertisers could afford to pay on average 33% more for their keywords and remain profitable, while they say prices have gone up 26% on average in the last 12 months. That’s leaves a 7% advertising margin to maintain current profits for 2005!
SEMPO’s data also noted that advertisers will get smarter about managing their paid placement programs before they cut back on spending.
This is also consistent with a report released by Nielsen/NetRatings indicating that the growing demand for search engine advertising is outstripping the supply of currently available advertising space.
These findings seem to indicate the inventory of keywords is approaching a critical demand problem however; most advertisers felt they still have some degree of price flexibility in their paid placement programs before they will reach the threshold of diminishing returns.
Is there any wonder why organic search engine positioning has gained popularity for online marketers in 2004? Could it be higher (ROI) return on investments?
SEMPO also cites that 43% of advertiser respondents have shifted their budgets away from other marketing programs for Organic SEO.
So what does it all mean? Let the numbers speak for themselves.
Organic SEO is undeniably gaining favor over the lower ROI paid advertising. This is evidenced by virtue of the fact that paid advertising is becoming less profitable.
Although paid advertising will continue to hold a large portion of the market shareFree Web Content, as paid advertising returns diminish and keyword costs soar my early 2005 forecast is for the materialization of a progressive organic SEO market trend to facilitate the need for advertising space.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lawrence Deon is an SEO/SEM Consultant and author of the popular search engine optimization and marketing model Ranking Your Way To The Bank. http://www.rankingyourwaytothebank.com
Website marketers cited Search engine positioning was the top method to drive traffic to their sites (66%), followed by email marketing (54%). Source: Direct Marketing Association. Accordingly, the most cost effective way to market your web site online is to obtain several top 10-search engine rankings in the major search engines for your keywords.
According to a recent Jupiter Research Survey, searching on the search engines is one of the main uses of the Internet among 79% of users. Source: September 2002 Jupiter Research Survey. So that being the case, whatever your promoting you’ll want to make sure it can be found on the first page of the search engines results page.
The reason is numerically simple. An Iprospect Survey in 2002 reported that 78% of web users abandon their search if the first 3 pages don't provide an answer to their question, and 28% don’t scroll past the 2nd page of results. Source: Media Post article reporting results of Spring 2002 IProspect survey.
Combine those facts with the Internets explosive growth rate of 1.8 Million people worldwide going online every week for the very first time, Source: Official Guide To Internet Promotion and you can soon appreciate what a top 10 ranking can mean to you.
Google receives approximately 39.4% of all search engine traffic. Yahoo receives approximately 30.4%. They’re simply the largest search engines being utilized online today.
Bringing up the rear is MSN at 29.6%, and AOL 15.5% then Ask Jeeves with 8.5%. Source: Nielsen//NetRatings January 2004
How much traffic is that? Well, Google and its partner sites were reporting a whopping 250 million searches a day in February 2003.
Overture and its partners were reporting over 167 million searches per day. Inktomi reported 80 million followed by LookSmart with 45 million per day.
FindWhat reported 33 million while Ask Jeeves reported 20 million, Alta Vista reported 18 million and finally Fast reported 12 Million searches per day. Source: Searchenginewatch.com 2004.
With all said, you can easily see how your search engine rankings are directly proportional to the traffic your web site receives, and your site traffic is directly related to your potential to profit online.
Oh, and in case your wondering how much money is spent online; a recent Forrester Research Report indicated that online spending reached $95,700,000,000 million in 2003!
That's a cool 95.7 billion dollars. Projected online spending is estimated to grow to $229 billion in 2008! A whopping 139% increase in online spending! Source: Forrester Research
Now with these facts in mind I’m confident you can clearly see what a top 10-search engine ranking can mean for your bottom line. Although it does leave a question unanswered in my mind, what has a higher ROI… organic search engine optimization or paid search?
According to SEMPO’s key analysis, the U.S. & Canadian SEM Industry Size Estimate by tactic in 2004, organic SEO accounted for 12% of the market share or $492,057,200 while Paid Placement accounted for $3,341,878,176 or 81.8%.
Interestingly, 9 out of 10 respondents are actively engaged in organic SEM marketing programs accounting for 89% of the respondent advertisers. This trend can be contributed to the average cost of popular keywords continuing to escalate.
If the escalation continues to rise it could make paid search engine advertising exponentially cost prohibitive for all but the largest advertisers… the 900lb gorillas!
Simply put, ROI is outpacing inflation: SEMPO’s key analysis indicates advertisers could afford to pay on average 33% more for their keywords and remain profitable, while they say prices have gone up 26% on average in the last 12 months. That’s leaves a 7% advertising margin to maintain current profits for 2005!
SEMPO’s data also noted that advertisers will get smarter about managing their paid placement programs before they cut back on spending.
This is also consistent with a report released by Nielsen/NetRatings indicating that the growing demand for search engine advertising is outstripping the supply of currently available advertising space.
These findings seem to indicate the inventory of keywords is approaching a critical demand problem however; most advertisers felt they still have some degree of price flexibility in their paid placement programs before they will reach the threshold of diminishing returns.
Is there any wonder why organic search engine positioning has gained popularity for online marketers in 2004? Could it be higher (ROI) return on investments?
SEMPO also cites that 43% of advertiser respondents have shifted their budgets away from other marketing programs for Organic SEO.
So what does it all mean? Let the numbers speak for themselves.
Organic SEO is undeniably gaining favor over the lower ROI paid advertising. This is evidenced by virtue of the fact that paid advertising is becoming less profitable.
Although paid advertising will continue to hold a large portion of the market shareFree Web Content, as paid advertising returns diminish and keyword costs soar my early 2005 forecast is for the materialization of a progressive organic SEO market trend to facilitate the need for advertising space.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lawrence Deon is an SEO/SEM Consultant and author of the popular search engine optimization and marketing model Ranking Your Way To The Bank. http://www.rankingyourwaytothebank.com
Website Search Engine Positioning
Search Engine Positioning Does Not Have to Be a Complicated Process! Find Out How I Have Gained Top Search Engine Spots in Google with Little to No Optimization...
The greatest thing about getting high ranking positions in the major search engines is that it's 100% free. This is also the reason why it's difficult to attain the top positions in markets outside of very tight niches.
Search engine optimization can seem a very complicated process and if you want to make it that way, you can. You can spend a lifetime studying the search engine logarithms and every little keyword trick to position your website higher, but the problem is - the major search engines, like Google, keep changing the rules.
Anything I write here may not even apply 6 months from now but what I have learnt from my own experience, getting top search engine placement is a simple process. That's right - Simple!Simple does not mean that you do not have to do any work. Like most of my other online strategies I have to work hard to gain top placements. Also my experiences apply to only Google. I really don't care about the others at this point as Google provides high quality traffic and the lions' share of it too.
I have proven through my own methods that only two things matter -
1. The title of your page.
2. The backlinks to your sites.
I would even go as far to say that the title does not even matter all that much. The backlinks are the things that drive you up the search engines more than anything else. If you concentrate on this area above all others, you will do well.
When I refer to backlinks, I mean one way backlinks. Reciprocal linking used to be the main thing but I have found that this strategy has lost much of the power it would have had a few years ago. I still use reciprocal linking BUT my main concern are links from site where I do not have to link back.
A backlink with your keyword phrase in the linkback text is worth it's weight in gold.
I have taken many of my sites to the top of Google with numerous highly competitive keyword phrases. I have not optimized the main content of the pages, nor have I messed with the title much either, other than to put some keywords in the six word title tag.
So it can be done, and it works. If I could put images in this article I could show you the top postions that I have achieved. Feel free to get in touch with me and I can show you proof.
Apply the simple process of getting one way backlinks in a niche market and the strategy becomes all the more powerful and rewarding.
You can believe that search engine optimization is for the elite only, and never get started. OrBusiness Management Articles, take the jump now and do some testing for yourself. You will find that the only things that search engine experts are doing that you aren't is putting in the hours. There is nothing complicated about it!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
To find out the Two Proven, Powerful Strategies that I use to Propel my Sites to the Top of the Search Engines Check Out Affiliate Article Marketing and SEO Elite Review
The greatest thing about getting high ranking positions in the major search engines is that it's 100% free. This is also the reason why it's difficult to attain the top positions in markets outside of very tight niches.
Search engine optimization can seem a very complicated process and if you want to make it that way, you can. You can spend a lifetime studying the search engine logarithms and every little keyword trick to position your website higher, but the problem is - the major search engines, like Google, keep changing the rules.
Anything I write here may not even apply 6 months from now but what I have learnt from my own experience, getting top search engine placement is a simple process. That's right - Simple!Simple does not mean that you do not have to do any work. Like most of my other online strategies I have to work hard to gain top placements. Also my experiences apply to only Google. I really don't care about the others at this point as Google provides high quality traffic and the lions' share of it too.
I have proven through my own methods that only two things matter -
1. The title of your page.
2. The backlinks to your sites.
I would even go as far to say that the title does not even matter all that much. The backlinks are the things that drive you up the search engines more than anything else. If you concentrate on this area above all others, you will do well.
When I refer to backlinks, I mean one way backlinks. Reciprocal linking used to be the main thing but I have found that this strategy has lost much of the power it would have had a few years ago. I still use reciprocal linking BUT my main concern are links from site where I do not have to link back.
A backlink with your keyword phrase in the linkback text is worth it's weight in gold.
I have taken many of my sites to the top of Google with numerous highly competitive keyword phrases. I have not optimized the main content of the pages, nor have I messed with the title much either, other than to put some keywords in the six word title tag.
So it can be done, and it works. If I could put images in this article I could show you the top postions that I have achieved. Feel free to get in touch with me and I can show you proof.
Apply the simple process of getting one way backlinks in a niche market and the strategy becomes all the more powerful and rewarding.
You can believe that search engine optimization is for the elite only, and never get started. OrBusiness Management Articles, take the jump now and do some testing for yourself. You will find that the only things that search engine experts are doing that you aren't is putting in the hours. There is nothing complicated about it!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
To find out the Two Proven, Powerful Strategies that I use to Propel my Sites to the Top of the Search Engines Check Out Affiliate Article Marketing and SEO Elite Review
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