Having fun with Search Engines

I often see people with a Google toolbar still installed or typing in the address to get to Google. Both of these are no longer necessary. Both Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox now contain the search feature built into the browser at the top right of the browser window. However adding new search engines can be a bit tricky, so I decided to create a few links to make things a little easier.

You can find the links for installing the search engines on the JustLocal search page at the bottom left. Installing the search engine is as simple as clicking on the link. You are given the option to make the search engine the default search engine. Naturally I make JustLocal Search my default search engine, but many people may wish to make JustLocal Google search engine their default search engine.

JustLocal search

Many people have asked to be able to search across all JustLocal friends and so I created the JustLocal Search Engine.

The interesting result with the JustLocal search feature, is all of a sudden it becomes apparent the major players in the market, who are keen to get business and appear at the right in the Google sponsored listing. As a JustLocal friend these advertisers are most likely your keenest online competitor. Even if you aren't a JustLocal friend, searching for the product or service your business sells, and seeing the competitors, will provide great marketing information.

JustLocal Google

This search engine will allow you to quickly search www.google.com.au. I created this because most new Windows computers arrive with Microsoft Live as the search engine and most people want to use Google. By selecting the JustLocal Google search engine, you can quickly switch to Google Australia as your search engine with a couple of clicks.

Did you know you can do the following with Google?

• Find out the time in another location. Thinking of going to Paris, then search "Time in Paris".
• Find out the weather in a location. If you want to find out the weather currently in Paris then search "weather in Paris".
• Find out how much your money can buy in another country. Now if you want to know what does that 30 Euro item in Paris cost in Australian dollars then search for "30 EUR in AUD". It looks cheap in euros doesn't it;-)
• Need a calculator, then just type the calculation into the search field such as "4 x 30", and now all your family can have that item from Paris, or not!

JustLocal World

Most people in Australian think when they search Google for pages from the world they see what everyone else in the world sees. This is not so. Google presents pages it feels is relevant to the location the person who is searching. The JustLocal World search engine shows you the results as though you are searching from another country outside of Australia. I don't know which country or servers exactly, but I suspect it may be somewhere in the USA.

How can this knowledge be useful you might ask.

Many less experienced SEO professionals will tell you they can get you first page presence in Google worldwide. But what these SEO marketers don't realise is the results in Australia are only what is seen when you are in Australia. If your business is selling worldwide, you want to see what the rest of the world sees when they search. The sad truth is your product may never be seen by someone in another country. This search engine has been provided to help educate people on the difference between searching when in Australia and when in another country. You can't easily get Google to search as though you are in America when you are in Australia, because if you enter www.google.com you are redirected to www.google.com.au automatically. The JustLocal Word search engine gives you an idea of what others might see.

If you find these search engines of interest let me know. I have a few more search engines to come and I think you will find them to be quite handy.

Enjoy - Kelvin