Consider it a budding SEO learning center. In fact, the latest SEOBoise.com post deals with how to avoid duplicate content penalties.

Best, Jtree.net

And, when I say cheap, I mean free.

There is a plethora of free, web-based tools out there these days. Some quality, some not so quality. With that in mind, I thought I would focus on one particular offering which provides Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Marketing information to site and blog owners.

Compete offers a set of both free and paid tools aimed at providing valuable Internet Marketing information to site and blog operators. It matters not if you are a SEO pro or just someone with a vested interest, Compete is easy to use and understand.

Compete is compromised of three primary areas; Site, Search and Referral Analytics.

Site Analytics

The core Compete service; focused on traffic history and competitive analytics. Plug in your competitors URLs and see how they stack up to your website.

Here’s the unique visitors graph; comparing myspace.com, twitter.com, facebook.com, delicious.com and linkedin.com:

Here’s a look at the average stay time (in minutes) – look at myspace plummet!

Compete also provides additional graphs, a list of top keywords that drive traffic to each of the sites being compared.

Search Analytics

In addition to Site Analytics, Compete offers a handy set of analytical search tools which track keywords that send you traffic, identify which sites/blogs are getting the most clicks from a keyword and compare keyword rankings against competitors. In SEO speak, these are important keywords and phrases to pay attention to in both the organic and paid realms.

Referral Analytics

Referral Analytics are just that; aimed at revealing the origins of site traffic; its location, where it’s going and compare the results to that of your competitors. In regard to SEO, the more you know about your traffic, or your competitor’s traffic for that matter, yields higher quality of optimization targeting.

The above information is related to the free SEM/SEO tools offered by Compete. The paid set both expands on functionality, features and options of the already useful free set. Visit Compete

Defined: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

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There are many different types of web-based SEO tools that will generate a quick analysis of a website/blog. These free, basic SEO tools are great for initial observations, but it is important to take note of the high potential for skewed data results. Such is the plight of automated analysis in a world of ever-evolving objectives, rules and Search Engine algorithm updates. Hiccups could even arise due to something as simple as the service not being able to connect to Google or Yahoo!.

Three Free Web-Based SEO Tools

Website Grader

One popular auto-gen website analysis tool is Website Grader. I received a score of 96 when grading Jtree.net. Although some of the information presented is relevant, other parts either contain skewed or omitted data. Overall, a good tool for approximation and benchmarking. Grade a Website

Search Engine Saturation

Compare the number of pages indexed versus that of related websites or competitors in the major search engines. Check SE Saturation

Keyphrase Ranking

Another way to benchmark your own website or blog is to simply type in what you are looking for in a search engine and compare who comes up near the top. This tool simplifies the process: Compare Keyphrase Ranks on Multiple Domains

Comparatively Speaking

The above tools can also be utilized to compare potential SEO/Internet Marketing service providers since they help determine a website’s rank compared to that of another. Which makes them a good fit for analyzing the growing crowd of Internet Marketers.

View Jtree.net’s current search rank by clicking on the links below.

Search Rank Updates

As of May 15th, 2008, Jtree.net ranks #1 in Google for the following phrases:

• idaho internet marketing
• boise internet marketing

The #2 position for ‘idaho internet marketing’  is held by Idaho Online Marketing, which is actually not based in Idaho, but is an out of state company targeting Idaho. The #2 postion for ‘boise internet marketing’ is utilizing blatant keyword stuffing/loading, you can tell based on their listing in Google. I would imagine their position won’t last much longer. (see below updates)

May 22nd, 2008 Search Rank Update

As of 05.22.08 the above rankings from 05.15.08 remain the same. Jtree.net continues to hold the top organic positions for both phrases.

May 29th, 2008 Search Rank Update

When checking ranks today for Jtree.net something immediately caught my eye. After clicking on the ‘search’ button I noticed that the results had changed. However, despite the reshuffle, Jtree.net continues to maintain the top positions for both searches.

June 13th, 2008 Search Rank Update

Another reshuffle – the result is the same; Jtree.net remains in the #1 positions for both phrases.

June 14th, 2008 Search Rank Update

Same as the 13th: #1 in both searches.

July 23rd, 2008

Jtree.net continues to rank in the #1 positions on both searches despite a continuous reshuffeling of page one positions below #1.

In addition, Jtree.net also ranks #1 for the following search on Google:

“pay per click boise“

Jtree.net ranks in the #2 position for:

“seo boise“

As of October 13th, 2008, Jtree.net still ranks #1 in Google for the following phrases:

• idaho internet marketing
• boise internet marketing
• pay per click boise
• ppc boise

And, #2 for:

• boise seo

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