SEO Tycoon

**Kushal** · 09:55 AM

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Guys you can see the image here, this is how I check the status of my website and I tally my website status with my competitors. This is the screen short of the tool called Good Keywords v2.01. I have found lots of bug in this tool, one is clearly visible in the image (the alexa rank status).
Do you guys use this type of tools?
If yes which one you think is the best. (FREE only please)
I also wanted to know from where this kind of tools queries the online since report.

Thanks in advance

**Sandman420** · 09-25-2007, 01:59 PM

My old roommate used crap like this. Google would give all computers on the same IP an antibot captcha for any queries made a few hours after he used it.

I prefer just to build sites right to begin with. The time spent analyzing a competitor could be used more wisely creating good content. If I do decide to analyze the competition, I can do it by using a search engine like www.google.com. SEO for firefox comes in handy now and then also.

**chrishirst** · 09-28-2007, 10:20 AM

You do know that watching what the "competition" is doing and then following suit is the best way of wasting time without doing a single thing to get in front of them.

**Learning Newbie** · 09-28-2007, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushal

Do you guys use this type of tools?
If yes which one you think is the best. (FREE only please)
I also wanted to know from where this kind of tools queries the online since report.

Server logs.

**ProvenSEO** · 12:53 PM

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**ADAM Web Design** · 09-30-2007, 10:18 PM

Wow...what a complete and utter load of monkey crap!

Hirst gave the only answer that made any sense to this question: there is no answer, nor should there be. Search engines (Google in particular) publicly provide a fraction of the information they have on sites so that people can't reverse-engineer and waste time worrying about competition; in particular, do a link: query on any competitor (if you really want to waste your time) and you'll see maybe 10-15% of the links big G knows about...if you're lucky.

PageRank checking = useless. Toolbar PageRank is infrequently updated and is constantly being manipulated (or attempts are constantly made to manipulate it) by idiots.

Search engine rank checking = useless. Different datacenters yield different results. Different servers in the same datacenter can yield different results. Geographic location can yield different results. Personalization can yield different results.

You want to beat your competition? Do something to set yourself apart from it. Don't follow the leader, be a leader. Worry about your own site, build it properly, be distinctive and unique, and you won't even have any real competition.

**ProvenSEO** · 12:53 PM

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**ProvenSEO** · 12:53 PM

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**Onat** · 09-30-2007, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushal

**********************
Guys you can see the image here, this is how I check the status of my website and I tally my website status with my competitors. This is the screen short of the tool called Good Keywords v2.01. I have found lots of bug in this tool, one is clearly visible in the image (the alexa rank status).
Do you guys use this type of tools?
If yes which one you think is the best. (FREE only please)
I also wanted to know from where this kind of tools queries the online since report.

Thanks in advance

Hi.. what tools is this? me i use google keywords tools for checking competition on a particular keywords.. thanks in advance..

**ADAM Web Design** · 10-01-2007, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProvenSEO

ADAM Web Design,

Wow, you sound like a real authority on SEO. It's very impressive how much you comment on other people's posts. That is a very "clever" way to get your numbers up.

I don't have many questions of my own. So I answer other people's. I fail to see how that's even relevant.

Would you rather I went to 3000 forums, dropped a link, then left?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProvenSEO

I bet a lot of potential customers read your posts and think, wow, that guy has great people skills.

If I were looking for customers, I'd be concerned. I'm not looking for potential customers, so I'm not concerned.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProvenSEO

That is a great theory that you can build a unique site and set yourself apart from the competition but it's not realistic. You still need good content and SEO. You can have a great site, but if no one sees it what good is it. And even if you get 750,000 page views, what good is that if no one buys anything?? You need to know what works and what does not--and you need to analyze your competitor's sites/business. Saying you don't have to is irrational.

And without their site statistics, their revenue totals, and their costs, how are you going to correctly and fully analyze anything?

The only information anyone would have to go by when analyzing a competitor is what is publicly presented.

Public metrics are useless (e.g. Alexa rank, PageRank) because they get manipulated.
Search engine ranking is useless, since it varies widely.
The components that make up search ranking are useless, since information is fractionally presented and infrequently updated.
Checking a competitor's site is at best marginally useful, because without the site stats and sales/cost/profit figures, there's no way to tell what is and isn't working for that particular site and its business.

There is no accurate way, nor should there ever be, of checking what a competitor is doing. Therefore, checking up on competitors is a complete waste of time, since nothing useful can be gained. So, by providing a fractured take based on fractional information on what a competitor is doing, you're providing your clients a disservice.

Just so that it's clear to everyone else out there, and let there be no confusion:

There is no accurate way for anyone to analyze a competitor's SEO efforts and determine how successful they are, without inside access to information that only a competitor could have.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProvenSEO

Just curious...what qualifies you shoot down other people's SEO advice? And please, document your opinion with facts. I look forward to the wonderfully witty and insightful post I know will follow from you.

The fact that, unlike pretty well anyone out there you're going to meet, I've built e-commerce, retail, and environmental-based websites that have generated 10fold traffic and sales increases almost overnight for people (mods, I'd be more than willing to provide you with the links, but I'm not dropping them here since there's no reason to do so.) I don't bring it up often, because I don't like waving my own unit around in the air, and since bringing it up doesn't really serve any useful purpose, but there are people out there who have been there, done that, have the T-shirt, and can prove it if they so chose.

You obviously have something to learn, Christina. Fortunately for you, there are people like Chris Hirst and Forrest Croce and others who can teach you. You just have to be prepared to receive the lessons.

**ForrestCroce** · 10-01-2007, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProvenSEO

That is a great theory that you can build a unique site and set yourself apart from the competition but it's not realistic.

This isn't going to be a popular question, but if it's not realistic to build a unique site that's going to attract people of its own accord, why build one at all? That's really not web specific, actually.

It's completely realistic to expect a web site to do well on its own with a minimal push ... it just happens slowly. Web marketing only speeds that up, and only really works in the end when there's some reason for the visitor to stay. A lot of people trade stumbles; I found out about the company from awstats.

Adam is right, though: if you really want to study your competition, you need their financial, and understand their intangible assets along with their short and long term goals. Have a look at my blog; I come up #1 for the model name of a $200 tripod, ahead of Ritz, Wolf, Amazon, shopper.cnet.com, shopping.yahoo.com, and others. That's great, except I don't sell the things, and I don't run affiliate programs. I just reviewed three popular tripods I've used, as a post for the blog.

More important, the exact name of the tripod is about 1/30th of the keywords that bring people to that article. The long tail thing is great ... I see almost as many search phrases as Google referrals, excluding their image search, and most of it is for things that I haven't optimized for, or one word used entirely differently.

Quote:

So....why would you perform SEO w/o knowing it?
And if you're not performing this strategic analysis for clients ADAM Web Design then you're doing them a disservice.

I'm my own client ... as the saying goes, I'm a pretty good seo, but I have a fool for a client. That being said, I just don't agree with your conclusion. I think in most cases it's a good way to charge a client for unnecessary work. No offense, I don't know your business or your clients. I'm talking about in general.

If you have a unique, great product, or a good price on something in demand, it will spread by word of mouth. A friend tells me every time he buys a computer part, in case I want in on the good deal he found. Keeps me up to date on all the new software and where to get it. My photos spread out across social networking sites, particularly Stumble.

I don't sell prints, and the commercial photo work I do is a drop in the bucket compared to my IT work. Sadly. But the more people see my stuff, the easier it will be to get a book deal like Art Wolfe. Technically, he's a competitor of mine, if a mouse can go up against an elephant. It's a friendly competition, though; there's room for two gods in Seattle. So while I might go up against different people for plenty of keywords, I have entirely different plans for the traffic I get for them. Some of it works to my advantage, some doesn't. Without understanding the back story, the little bit of data you can find on the web about my targeting of night photos really doesn't give any competitive advantage.

Don't get me wrong; there's definitely use for intelligent marketing. But that's really the last step, not one of the first.

**suchitra** · 10-01-2007, 03:56 AM

searchengine.com is the best checker tool
thank you very much

**Learning Newbie** · 10-01-2007, 01:31 PM

Wow, people just don't read, do they?

**ADAM Web Design** · 10-01-2007, 01:43 PM

Readin'? Is that anathang like ritin' and recitin'?

**ForrestCroce** · 10-01-2007, 11:02 PM

Ah, so I took the time to try to explain a more realistic approach, for deaf ears...

**Learning Newbie** · 10-02-2007, 04:34 PM

Sorry, guys. I think Proven SEO got embarrassed by the spanking, and edited her posts to destroy the evidence. Whenever you see < link drop removed > in a post, underneath it says "Last edited by ChrisHirst" but check these all out?

**Douglife** · 10-03-2007, 11:27 AM

Well thanks guys for that. I need this sort of information, so I can keep from stumbling under the weight of a new SEO emergence. Wish me luck and thanks!