I will be the first to say that most SEO software is garbage. A complete waste of money. Most of what you want for SEO software is 100% free. This amazing find is no different.

Link Tree is a free web based link analysis software program which compares the links to other websites to your own. This is not a boring overly dressed up link tool (like what Marketleap offers), this tool is super duper cool. What does Link Tree Do?

Link tree looks for topical hubs which are not yet linking to your site.

How does Link Tree Work?

Enter the URLs of up to seven of your competitors and then your own URL at the bottom. Any page that links to at least two of your competitors which does not link to your site will display on the results.

What does that do for my site?

It shows you where some potential easy link opportunities are. If you have done a good job concentrating on creating quality content, then getting the links should be a snap.

Give Link Tree a try!

Creative ways to use Link Tree

• If one of your competitors moves websites you can tell the people who were linking to them that the site is no longer there. You can also state that you have a wonderful resource they may want to link to. People are more likely to help you after you have helped them.

• Find where link popularity is comming from if you have a couple competitors who are building bogus link popularity in kahoots. Perhaps you can also rent some quality inbound links to level the playing field.
• Find quality resources you did not know about by viewing the pages that link to many resources in your field.
• You can also set one of the test URLs to an extremely popular topical website, which will aid you in viewing the hub links which go into any one competitor at a time.
• You can set one of the URLs to a really popular site. It will act as an overly generic catch all to make it easier to find hidden smaller hubs in your field. After you have completed your task you can then switch to another generic link to find more micro hubs.

I originally found Link Tree from Larry Chase.

I also use OptiLink, but if you can not afford the $224 fee then Link Tree is probably the best link software on the web.

SearchFeed Fraud

Ouch, that sounds hard doesn't it? Earlier today over at SearchGuild a new member claimed SearchFeed is not fairly compensating its affiliates. A user by the name of sebans is claiming that he is not getting paid any credit from SearchFeed for his more expensive keywords.

Wether or not his claim are legitimate, this shows why I recommend creating a pay per click account on Google AdWords or Overture and then scaling out the account.

If you are advertising on low quality networks, low quality traffic, or limited distribution you may find yourself changing your site over and over again when the problem was not even on your site.

To be fair, fraud occurs on the largest engines too, but if you choose your keywords carefully and stay away from bidding wars you should be fairly safe.

Successful businesses have fast feedback loops. The largest pay per click networks provide the fastest pay per click loops.

Typically many sites could improve their indexability by having a static home page or by minimizing the number of variables used in their dynamic databases. Many search engines also have problems following java. A good way to tell if a search engine can crawl your page is by using a Lynx viewer.

The best ways around this are to create a static home page and to have a static site map which links into most of your primary pages.
Some sites designers think about the search engines after they are built. This is part of the reason directories like GoGuides are far more popular than Illumirate. A huge part of the value of a directory listing is the value of the spiderable text link. Each additional page in the index is one additional page that can be found in the search results.

Some good general tips

• Use a static page as the home page if possible

• If you use dynamic pages do not force feed the spiders cookies.
• If you use dynamic pages keep the id # at 10 or less digets per string.
• If you use dynamic pages use 3 or less variables if possible.
• Use a site map to give search engines a second path through your site.

An additional bonus with owning a site map is that it can provide keyword dense anchor text links into pages when site design prevents some of the links from being optimized through the regular navigation.

There are many places on the web where you can buy links. The problem with buying all your links is that in many industries it would be exceptionally expensive to compete if you were forced to buy all of your links. Via quick link keyword research we are able to see that all of these terms are getting over 20 searches each day.

• link me all over

• links
• link me up
• link rama
• business link
• realty link
• add a link
• link o rama.com
• link exchange
• link popularity
• link o rama
• greenguy link o rama
• link page
• link site

Even if you use extensive keyword research and link analysis software, there are still a limited number of places where you will be able to find links. A more effective long term solution is to provide content people are interested in linking to.

The Missing Link: Selling the Link

Are Inktomi Results Appearing on Yahoo?
Yes, I have seen them for a few days at my house. Yahoo is testing Inktomi results on their website. Yahoo said they will be switching from Google to their own search technology in Q1 of 2004.
How do I see Inktomi Search Results on Yahoo?
If you are one of the lucky test subjects you will eventually just run into the Inktomi search results. There is also a trick you can use to view Intomi search results on Yahoo.

By adding "&tmpl=E088" at the end of a regular Yahoo Search URL you will be able to see Inktomi results on Yahoo. Example Yahoo Search Searches
Search Marketing:
Regular Yahoo Search Results (Google)
Test Yahoo Search Results (Inktomi)

SEO Book
Regular Yahoo Search Results (Google)
Test Yahoo Search Results (Inktomi)
(found on Abakus Blog, originally from WMW)