The 'site:' tool on Google and Yahoo

When optimising your website it is important to keep track of the changes that you have made and when the search engines first noticed these changes. Both Google and Yahoo support the 'site:' function. Simply type 'site:www.mysite.ie' and click 'Search'. Google/Yahoo will then return all the pages it has indexed for that domain. (Be aware that some search engines use more than one 'database' so the results may vary somewhat depending on which 'database' is being queried when you run the search.) Along with every result returned you will usually see a link called 'cached'. If you click on this link you will see what version of your page the search engine is currently using to decide where you will rank for searches. On Google you will also see what date the page was indexed. If you are keeping a close eye on the position of your pages for important search terms, this tool allows you to see which changes resulted in the improvement that you see. This is important if you want to learn and improve your SEO skills.