| Google Site Search comments
The site search feature (above, with gdi-solutions.com
selected), provides a quick and easy way to access any content on the
hundreds of pages of this website according to the latest "crawling" and
indexing of this site by Google.
The search results are therefore limited to content
published on this site and indexed by Google, but of course that includes
pages with links to specific economic development organizations and
professional service providers, and especially to features such as
GUIDE Network Surveys,
GUIDE Area Profiles,
GUIDE Service Profiles, and other
content.
For example, a search for "Utah" will also turn up the
GUIDE Network Survey for Green River, Wyoming because there are references
to Utah in it (proximity to Salt Lake City). Similarly, the
Jacksonville IL listing should readily turn up in searches for St. Louis as
well as for Chicago or Springfield or Illinois, or for the highways or
railroads which serve the area.
This also provides a fast and easy way to validate that
Google has already crawled new pages or updated content, whether or not the
results are showing up at a high rank among Google search results on the
Internet at the time (given the far larger number of results).
Participants in our work now have an easy way to check
that our content about their areas is readily available through Google - not
only through our internal site search feature, but on the larger Google
internet searches (where, like anything else on the web, it may be harder to
find their specific content among so many potential matches, unlike the
short list of very relevant results on our site). Both search
results come from the same source. The Site Search is just a subset of
all Google results, limited to content on this website.
This also means that some content on this site, or new
content in particular, may not always show up on the Site Search. This
enables us to check for such omissions and, if necessary, request that the
relevant pages be crawled by Google again for the updates. We usually
find that Google picks up such changes already on our site within a matter
of days, without any need for action on our part, but this provides a simple
way to check. |
Unlike most
site-specific search features, this provides the same functionality and
"look and feel" as Google searches on the Internet, including the delivery
of ads by Google. We
do not exercise control over the Google ads which may appear with search
results, nor do we profit in any way by the
presence or use of such ads on this site. Such advertising is
controlled entirely by Google's handling of the search process and results.
Because of the extensive market knowledge and contacts we
have organized and openly shared through 3+ years of research work and 15
years of experience in this niche market, the net effect is like having a
Google search which is limited to the economic development organizations
(EDO's) and professional service providers or information resources which we
have identified. This provides highly relevant search results for any
visitors to our site.
The ads which show up with search queries should reflect
the current population of Google advertisers which are relevant to this
field, although irrelevant ads will also turn up as usual. This
complements our Ad
Recall and
Event Recall
services, which highlight known advertisers and trade show exhibitors or
sponsors of special events.
In any case, the key point is that this Site Search
feature makes it very easy to find any content on this site through a fast,
powerful, and very intuitive search engine interface. It should now be
very easy for any visitor to quickly find any content of potential interest.
We already provide many paths to find content by topic (region, professional
specialty, project announcements, available properties, etc.) or context
(such as US EDO's which are physically close to each other by simply listing
them in zip code sequence).
This also demonstrates the importance of careful selection
of content and keywords in the preparation of GUIDE Service Profiles, Area
Profiles, and Surveys. These one-page executive summary presentations
become a very easy-to-find focal point for content about the service or
location, with contact details and relevant links for more details.
For example, this can make it very easy to search for areas which may have
benefits of interest, without the traditional database screening methods
(demographic and other raw data). |
| Search Considerations
Note that some websites make extensive use of databases
which are difficult for search engines to process, because the user must
define a query to access the information. Text which is embedded in
clever graphics may also be missed.
Some publishers also provide restricted content which is
only available to users who register or subscribe. Once again, this
means that such content is generally not searched.
Given the enormous amount of information available on the
web, it can be difficult to find relevant content even with a tool as
powerful as a Google search.
We are testing additional tools to further enhance the use
of Google search capabilities by the executives and advisors we serve.
If this is of interest, please contact us directly as above, and we hope
that you will choose to participate and support the further development of
our services. |
Designed with search engine optimization in
mind
The content on this website such as regional tables of
contacts, professional contacts, Area Profiles, Service Profiles, published
Survey responses, project announcements, property listings, research
sources, advertising and event information, and more have all been designed
with Google and other search engine processes in mind. The simple
structure of the pages may not seem elegant from a graphic design
perspective, but the content is easy to search and navigate, and keeps
relevant content together.
This makes it very easy for Google and other search
engines to directly find the relevant content they are seeking on our
website. Users typically go directly to relevant pages, and then can
easily navigate to any other content from there, and especially any closely
related content. As more detailed information is added about specific
business locations and service providers, that will provide even more
relevant paths for users to find this website through search engines.
We also use Google AdWords to help us attract
relevant users as they search for information to support their investment
plans anywhere in the world. |
Add our site search tool to your iGoogle page
