So, you’re pretty new to the Internet. And all the SEM gurus, the online reputation managers and all other techy web geeks on the planet are raving about this thing called SearchStatus. But you don’t have the foggiest clue what it is that they’re all on about; what this elusive SearchStatus is, why it’s so important and what it can do for you. Never fear - you are not alone.  

And now I have a confession to make. (Please note: despite my almost annoying penchant for guilt and resultant honesty, I am not in fact Catholic.) Opportunities like this are rare: Rob is attending a conference in Greece and Craig is newly married. Neither of them is thus likely to resort to violence as a result of my upcoming declaration of guilt. Here goes: I still don’t know what SearchStatus really is and I still don’t really know how to use it. Fortunately, off the back of this confession, is a resolution; I’m now going to learn. And even better than that, I am going to share my newfound knowledge with online Noobs everywhere. 

1). Get your head around what SearchStatus actually is… 

SearchStatus is a toolbar extension for your Mozilla Firefox browser. It is an open source project and anyone can choose to modify it at any time. Not you, though, or me for that matter… baby steps! In summary, it gives you a bunch of important and useful information about any website that you visit.  

2). Install SearchStatus

This might seem too obvious. But when it comes to software, you can never underestimate how clueless someone could be. My mother, for example, wouldn't know where to start if looking for SearchStatus, let alone know how to actually get it from the download page and into her browser.

So, here goes. SearchStatus can be downloaded from the Quirk website or directly from the Mozilla Firefox Add-ons catalogue. The instructions below are for the Quirk site, but the process is much the same for the latter source.

From the Quirk site, clicking on the download button will take you to the privacy agreement. Perusing this and scrolling down a little will leave you with two options: downloading the Mozilla version or the Firefox version.

• Make your selection based on which browser you're using.
• You will be asked to 'Install now' or cancel. No prizes for guessing which one to choose.
• Once the download is complete, you will be asked to restart your browser to implement changes.
• Once Firefox has reloaded, look for the toolbar. If you can't see it immediately, click on the 'Tools' tab in your browser. Click Add-ons.
• Find SearchStatus and click 'enable'. The tool should now show in your browser.

3). Find out what SearchStatus can tell you about websites you visit 

If I’m to believe what I’ve read, the techno geeks out there all think that SearchStatus is pretty damn useful. But why? I have this little bar in my browser and it’s been sitting there for months. I still don’t know what purpose it serves. So I did some reading.

Turns out, I’m the moron. First up, SearchStatus can give you a whole pile of information about where the site stands in the eyes of the search giant Google, including info on PageRank. In addition, this nifty little plug-in gets information from Alexa too as a result of an agreement between Alexa and SearchStatus. But wait… there’s more…

With SearchStatus, you can also see information about the site’s faring in Compete.com rankings. 

Other than rankings and the associated information, SearchStatus also reveals NoFollow links, as well as making it quick and easy to check the domain registration details for any visited domain. It has the functionality to execute a quick count of the total links on the page and provide a breakdown of how many are external, internal, NoFollow and secure links there are on any given site. There is also a tool to calculate keyword density - this function calculates the ratio of the keywords you have selected to the total number of words on the web page.  

4). Get a handle on the hidden benefits

SearchStatus is usually punted primarily as an SEO tool. Its usefulness in this area should not be underestimated – the functionality it has makes it the ideal tool to help both aspirating and expert search engine marketers. But, that said, SearchStatus has uses that go above and beyond this purpose.

SearchStatus can help you derive a whole lot of information about your competitors. It can also help you to analyse the progress of a client’s website if you’re in the web design or marketing industry. Moreover, installing this nifty little toolbar will likely to have a positive impact on your own Alexa ranking. For individuals or companies who monitor their online reputations, SearchStatus is also exceptionally useful. For example, if you have some indication of the popularity of a website on which you have been slated, you will have a better idea about the appropriate magnitude of your response.

5). Take advantage of the obvious benefits 

None of this make any sense to you? When one of my tech-illiterate family members is trying to get a handle on some new and ‘complex’ piece of software (like Microsoft Word), I usually tell them to play around with it a bit to get the hang of it. With SearchStatus, this is easy. First of all, it’s free, so this little exercise in experimentation need not be an expensive one. The other great thing about it is that is sits quietly on your browser, unobtrusively minding its own business. The only time you’ll know its there is when you want to try out your new found skills with it.  

Here’s hoping that this brief exploration of SearchStatus helps you in your endeavors. In the meantime, I must scurry off. Not only is the crowd of SearchStatus-loving-web-geeks outside my building with pitchforks, actually quite scary, but I have to prepare a lecture (fortunately not on SearchStatus!) and just like geeks, I have theory that students can smell fear.