Last entry, I wrote a little about using Google search as a tool for digging into the background of a website or document. Given Google is the #1 place to seek placements SEOs need to know how Google views, ranks and co-relates unique documents.

Joost de Valk, a Dutch webmaster (and avid WebmasterRadio listener) posted an Acrobat document (PDF) listing 31 specific Google websearch parameters.

Open a new window and perform a search using Google. I used the phrase, SEO News and Opinion. Check out the URL string the search produced:

http://www.google.com/search

?hl=en&safe=off&q=seo+news
+and+opinion&btnG=Search

The bolded letters represent parameters Google uses to know a bit about me or the webdocument I am looking at. In this instance, hl=en indicates I am an English language user. The safe=off indicates I do not have any content restrictions in my search preferences and btnG indicates a general search.

Fooling around with URL strings can teach SEOs a lot about a site or about how Google ranks documents. Next time you perform a search using Google, try altering the URL string to see what you can learn about the index, a document or related content.