The ability to access almost any search engine right from your browser is awesome:
- you have all engines in one place;
- you can switch from engine to engine with one mouse click;
- you save time and space: easy-to-use drop down menu to choose the engine you need;
- you can enjoy quick and easy installation (besides, most of these search plugins work for both FireFox and Internet Explorer);
- you get plenty of search options without making your browser work slower (unlike with many of extensions).
FireFox search plugins for SEOs:
1.
Google and Yahoo (if you don’t have their dedicated toolbars installed);
2.
Urban dictionary – to search for your keyword slang and urban synonyms and definitions.
3.
The Free Dictionary – to research your keyword related terms, definitions and synonyms.
4.
Whois Look-up – to quickly find a domain registrant’s details.
5.
Summize – to get instant access to Twitter live conversation search.
6.
Facebook search – to find people and build connections.
7.
Google unpersonalized search – to turn off personalized search in Google.
8.
Google without Wikipedia – to get rid of wiki results in Google SERPs.
9.
Alexa – search to access any website traffic details instantly.
10.
Del.icio.us – tag search to expand your keyword research with del.icio.us related tags and to find recent valuable information.
11.
Geoip lookup – to find out geo location of any IP address or domain name.
12.
Internet Archive Wayback machine – to learn how the site previously looked like.
13.
Smart Page Rank – to get plenty of aggregated data (Alexa traffic, registration date, backlinks, etc) on a given website (note: PR function isn’t working).
14.
Quantcast – to access any website traffic and demographics stats.
15.
Reddit – to search recent popular submissions.
16.
TinyURL – to quickly and easily create short URLs.
17.
W3C Markup Validator – to check any page HTML errors.
18.
Wordtracker – to run quick keyword research with WT free version.
19.
Technorati – to quickly check any blog reactions.
20.
LinkedIn – to search people related to your business.
21. Any more? Sure! They are numerous – just think which sites you often search (e.g. Flickr or Yahoo Answers) and check if they have a search plugin available.
How to add a new search plugin?
There two easy ways to do that:
- Navigate to the site you need and click “Add engine” from the drop-down menu;
- Search the huge directory of available search plugins and click the one you want to instantly install it.
How to create a search plugin?
Here are 2 valuable easy to use guides on creating a search plugin:
Thanks Ann for the great list of SEO Firefox Plugins, my personal favorites is the Wordtracker plugin!
Don’t forget Groowe.com, which provides many of this in one single toolbar.
Wow. I don’t use any of those, yet I have lots of things installed that I use every day…
Closest I get is the HTML Validator that gives a tick mark at the bottom of the screen for valid pages, and an exclamation mark for warnings or red cross for errors. Clicking on that opens Firebug and YSlow to look at code etc.
ShowIP shows the IP of visited websites, and with one click does various whois related stuff, but these are traditional extensions, rather than toolbars.
Yeah, I don’t have any of them either, and don’t need them frankly. You used an interesting headline with the word:
must-have
Good list. Tbh, I’ve never used the Firefox search option, but I guess I should get used to it.
Great list, Ann. I didn’t even realize you could add search engines in there …
@Danny Sullivan: yeah, great addition… but I still think search option allows for more customization.
Fantastic list, I need to give some of these a try.
I also use Netvibes it also has some excellent search engines that you can add.
Regards.
Jeff.
I’ve created this feature with predictad.com. Not only do they provide it for free, it also comes with a custom auto-complete that matches my websites content.
I think this is an extremely important features for webmasters wanting to keep a tight relationship with the visitors that matter the most – the ones that are loyal and trust your content.
An interesting list of toolbars bars, but I think installing all 20 in FireFox would be unworkable.
@John, CMMIW, they’re search plugins not toolbar plugins. I don’t think it will clutter your Firefox current toolbar
Yeah Ann, It’s must have!
Amazing List. Will Be Really Helpful…
Good info.
You seen the new PPCWebSpy from Brad Callen? Firefox plugin that allows you to steal your competitors keywords. Free version gives 10 keyword results. Got some other neat stuff too.
Firefox is a must have for SEO. I didn’t know about the GeoIP look up plugin. I’m going to add that one to my search bar.