Website Marketing - Google Toolbar
The Google Toolbar is extremely helpful in finding information on pagerank and other important factors concerning Google, it's cache (last viewing) of your site, and directory information.
The Google Toolbar is free and can be downloaded here: http://toolbar.google.com
Website Research - Alexa Toolbar
The Alexa Toolbar seems to be a great tool for website related data such as site stats, user reviews, owner contact information, related links and archived copies via "The Wayback Machine" (Internet Archive).
Alexa tracks and collects users web browsing activity when they download and install the toolbar. The results it gives are based much on the data collected by millions of users. The toolbar itself is how Alexa estimates data on websites around the Internet. For those that do not already know, Alexa is a extremely popular website which reports popularity on other websites around the web. Some professionals doubt the accuracy of Alexa's reports considering the information is only gathered by users who actually have the toolbar installed on their computer and that Alexa cannot gather information from those who do not. In any event, Alexa is still the worlds commonly excepted method for measuring a websites traffic when the sites real stats are not available. The Alexa toolbar search feature is powered by Google.
The Alexa Toolbar is free and can be downloaded here: http://download.alexa.com
SEO - The SEO Toolbar
I am excited to report that SEO Incorporated, with two corporate locations based in California, has released a serious add-on to the search engine marketing field with their SEO Toolbar software. This first of its kind software enables a webmaster to simplify and enhance the difficulty of the everyday tasks of the serious marketing professional.
With one click of the "Get Data" button on the far right side of the toolbar, you are returned results of backlink data in multiple major search engines and directories. Secondly, enjoy the ability to do multiple keyword searches in multiple engines within one browser by using the search feature at left and selecting the target engine. It's truly an amazing add-on to the field itself.
For more information on this toolbar, it's features, and how to download and start using it, visit http://www.seoinc.com/toolbar/
Toolbar Disclosures
Be sure to take a look at any toolbar downloads privacy policy as they all are capable of transferring data to the software originators. Particularly, Google and Alexa both use this data to either advance their search technology and/or build statistical information on search queries, traffic and more detailed information.
I believe this is being used now more than ever to rank web pages. There is currently no proof of it, but many professionals now believe that sophisticated engines like Google will record how many times a website is bookmarked to a users favorites, saved as a users homepage, and/or how long a user actually stays on a website. The probability of this is high, and it's purpose is nothing short of amazing. Google knows that the more time spent on a website, the more likely that it is an asset, and should be ranked accordingly. The same applies to a site saved as a homepage or marked as a favorite site. It's got to be good, or these actions would not be taken.

About The Author

John Colascione is the owner of Searchen Networks Inc.,( http://www.searchen.com ) a search engine marketing firm located on Long Island. John is a professional at search engine marketing and is recognized around the world and is often spoken and written about outside of the United States.
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