To help you compare the different search results pages, I have designed a tool called the Keyword Dashboard. The Keyword Dashboard allows you to see the search results of the major search engines side by side. Figure 18-1 shows how the Keyword Dashboard looks as of this writing.

Figure 18-1. SEO Warrior: Keyword Dashboard

To run the Keyword Dashboard, all you need is a web server supporting PHP. There are no database requirements. In the search form at the top of the page, enter a keyword to compare. Click on the search engine button of choice (Google, Bing, or Yahoo!) and observe the results.

Results containing your keyword are also highlighted. If you click on each result, you will see the preview pane change on the far right. The preview pane contains additional information for the selected site, including the full URL, title and meta tags, and so forth.

You can download the latest version of the Keyword Dashboard at http://book.seowarrior.net. I plan to add additional features in time. I welcome any suggestions as well as any bug reports.

To see how SearchWiki works, you need to have a Google account. If you don’t have an account, you can sign up for one at https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount. Once you log in to your Google account, you should start noticing three icons that are a part of every search result. Figure 18-2 highlights the SearchWiki icons.

Figure 18-2. SearchWiki icons

Figure 18-2 shows the first search result on Google when searching for the keyword basketball shoes from Toronto. When you click on a result and then click the “promote” icon, you are effectively moving the result up one place.

Clicking on the “remove” icon hides the search result. Once you move any item up, the “remove” icon changes to a down arrow that still shows a “remove” tool tip. This is a bug in the tool tip text, since when you click on the down arrow it just moves the result down as opposed to removing the search result.

When you click on the “comments” icon, a small text box opens where you can add your comments. Now, what if you made a mistake or changed your mind? You can fix this by clicking on the “See all my SearchWiki notes” link at the bottom of the Google results page, as shown in Figure 18-3.

Figure 18-3. SearchWiki options

On the “See all my SearchWiki notes” page, you can simply click on the Restore link to get the result you want back on the SERP. To add another URL to the current SERP, simply click on the “Add a result” link.

The most interesting part of SearchWiki is the fact that your comments are made public and your username is displayed next to your comments. For an example, see Figure 18-4.

Figure 18-4. SearchWiki comments

It remains to be seen whether SearchWiki will be used by the masses. Most people, when searching Google or other search engines, are there to find information quickly and don’t have time to add comments or reorder search results.

Where SearchWiki might come in handy is in academic research projects. Other than that, it looks like a tough sell in the age of instant search gratification.

In November 2008, when SearchWiki was publicly announced, many people in the SEO industry were propagating the false rumor that SearchWiki would spell certain doom to SEO as we know it.

The fear was that since users can essentially grade and rerank each search result, Google would somehow use the SearchWiki data as one of its ranking factors. Since users can grade each search result, this would seem like a conceivable proposition.

The problem with Google using SearchWiki data is multifold. Just as some people will use it for what it’s meant to be used for, others will abuse it by adding the sites they want to see for particular search queries.

If a regular link looked like the following:

<a href="http://www.mydomain.com/page.html">Great Site</a>

the link that should be “not followed” would be in this form:

<a href="http://www.mydomain.com/page.html" rel="nofollow" >
Great Site</a>

According to the W3C:

So, it is entirely possible to have mixed rel values separated by a space, as shown in the following code fragment:

<a href="http://www.mydomain.com/page.html" rel="next nofollow" >
Great Site</a>

If you use the nofollow attribute, ensure that your comments are either moderated or submitted through the CAPTCHA mechanism. If your comments are automatically approved when submitted, ensure that your site has a clearly defined “acceptable use policy” document. Also make sure to check that your policy is honored by inspecting your comments.

One easy way to check your comments is to run some queries in your database, such as:

SELECT userid, comment FROM comments WHERE comment LIKE '%sex%'
SELECT userid, comment FROM comments WHERE comment LIKE '%viagra%'
SELECT userid, comment FROM comments WHERE comment LIKE '%buy%'
SELECT userid, comment FROM comments WHERE comment LIKE '%great site%'
SELECT userid, comment FROM comments WHERE comment LIKE '%http%'
SELECT userid, comment FROM comments WHERE comment LIKE '%www%'
SELECT userid, comment FROM comments WHERE comment LIKE '%.com%'

The idea is to obtain user IDs and their comments containing poison words such as the ones in the examples. In addition, you also want to see all comments with embedded links. The SQL used here is for the MySQL database.

Utilizing the nofollow attribute can also send signals to search engines and your competitors that your site is using SEO. This is especially the case if your site does not exhibit URL patterns of commonly known CMS, blog, or forum software. The main reason for this is that the nofollow link attribute is mostly known to the SEO community.

Search engines also make statements about SEO. Google is the most vocal and provides the most information. Read what the big search engines are saying on their sites:

There are many SEO blog sites. One of the most popular is run by Google search quality engineer Matt Cutts. Here is a list of the most popular SEO blogs on the Internet:

All of these sites provide lots of SEO information. However, not all of the information will be useful. Ultimately, finding the “buzz” is relatively easy; deciphering between quality, factual information and hype that carries no weight can be time-consuming.