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Firefox Extension from SEO Quake

Last updated on August 28, 2006September 21, 2007 by topcat

The second Firefox extension I tried was SEO Quake’s tool. This tool can be installed from Firefox’s extensions page at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/3036/. By the way, previously I had been using the term “plugin”, but it appears that “extension” is the proper term, so I’ll use “extension” from now on.

The highlights for this extension include:

1. Works on Yahoo, Google, MSN, and Russian search engines Rambler and Yandex by supplementing search results with key SEO statistics for each result.

2. For other web sites, a SEO Quake toolbar appears just above the page to indicate key SEO statistics for that page.

Below is the screenshot of how the extension looks on a Google search results page:

1: Extra space taken up by SEO Quake, quite possibly for its own sponsored search results later.
2: Information related to each term.
3: The SQ symbol on the status bar means the SEOQuake extension tool has been installed.

Below is the screenshot of how the extension looks on a non-search results page:

4: A toolbar showing SEO statistics for the site you are viewing.

Below is the score for each category:

Ease of installation: 5
Ease of use: 4
Amount of time for the information to appear: 5
Usefulness of information presented: 4
Amount of real estate taken up: 4
Documentation: 3
Total: 25

Ease of installation: Installation was quick and problem free.

Ease of use: It’s about at the same level as the SEO Book extension.

Amount of time for the information to appear: Data loads quickly.

Usefulness of information presented: The only thing missing is query-level information for web searches.

Amount of real estate taken up: On search results pages, only the metrics user specified show up. This avoided wasting valuable space. The toolbar showing site-specific SEO data took up a bit more space than I’d like to see.

Documentation: Adequate documentation is available at http://www.seoquake.com/index-en.php.

Wish List

1. I did not like the fact that the SEO Quake message appears in the sponsored search listings area.

2. Better documentation. It took me a bit of time to find out Yandex and Rambler are both Russian search engines.

Firefox SEO Plugin from SEO Book

Last updated on August 27, 2006September 21, 2007 by topcat

Over the next several days, I will review the Firefox plugins available for the SEO community. The first is the SEO plugin produced by Aaron Wall of SEO Book. The plugin is not available at the Firefox extensions section, but can be accessed at the SEO Book site.

The highlights for this plugin are:

1. Requires no additional real estate on the toolbar. The presence of the plugin is indicated on the right side of the status bar.

2. Works on Google and Yahoo search results pages (not on other pages); displays information related to the query term and sites on the web page itself.Below is a screenshot of how the tool looks like when I search on Google:

1: Information related to the query term.
2: Information related to each site.
3: The SEO symbol on the status bar means the SEO plugin tool has been installed.

Below is the score for each category:

Ease of installation: 5
Ease of use: 4
Amount of time for the information to appear: 3
Usefulness of information presented: 5
Amount of real estate taken up: 3
Documentation: 5
Total: 25

Ease of installation: Go to the site, click on the link to start the install, and restart Firefox. Very easy and straightforward.

Ease of use: I was slightly confused at the very beginning as to how best to leverage the tool. However, everything became clear after a little reading and playing with the tool.

Amount of time for the information to appear: It does take a bit of time for all relevant data to show up for each link.

Usefulness of information presented: Information shown is very useful, covering both the site and the query term.

Amount of real estate taken up: Due to amount of information shown, this tool does take up a fair amount of real estate on the web page.

Documentation: A good documentation is available at the download site.

Wish List

1. I hope the extension only lists the information the users wish to see. For example, as the figure shows, I only want to see 3 data points for each link, yet all data points were listed, occupying valuable real estate unnecessarily.

2. Right now, the way the information is updated for links is that one set of data points is populated first, and then the next set. For example, PR info for all sites are updated before Age info. It would be great if information can be updated by link — i.e., all data points for the first result are shown before any data point for the second result is shown, and so on. I tend to want to see all information for a single site at once, and naturally I’ll be looking at the results for the top-ranked sites first. Currently I have to wait a while before I can see the complete result for any site.

3. Inclusion of additional search engines, such as MSN and Ask.com.

MicroStrategy 8

Last updated on April 13, 2005September 21, 2007 by topcat

I had the chance recently to attend a session where MicroStrategy representatives discussed the new features implemented in the new MicroStrategy 8.

There were basically two improvements over the prior version:
1. MicroStrategy 8 added plenty of features for users to generate nice-looking reports.
2. MicroStrategy 8 added additional data source connectivity capabitilies.

That was pretty much it. When I first saw MicroStrategy 7, I was very impressed as it represented a big step forward from their earlier versions. With 8, I was not as impressed. One thing that was interesting was the absence of any new, more power OLAP features. I am wondering if this means that the OLAP tool vendors have pretty much included all the features that can be added, and now can only improve their product by expanding into other areas of data warehousing such as reporting, data mining, and ETL?

IBM is buying Ascential for $1.1 Billion

Last updated on March 14, 2005September 21, 2007 by topcat

IBM is spending $1.1 billion in cash to buy Ascential Software, maker of the popular DataStage ETL tool.

This is another sign that the BI industry is undergoing consolidation. Now, all three big players in the data warehousing field (Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM) have a capable ETL tool to offer to the business intelligence crowd. In terms of filling a void, IBM did a good job. However, if I am a DataStage customer, I’d be a little worried.

Why? Because 1) IBM is gradually becoming a services company, and buying Ascential does not exactly fit into this mode. 2) The fate of a standalone tool that got bought into a big company usually isn’t very good.

If I were a DataStage customer, this might be a good time to review your investment in DataStage. Is the software being used to capacity? Are there cheaper alternatives? Also, another thing worth considering is whether if you are already an IBM shop. If you are, you’ll probably be fine, as IBM will definitely make sure DataStage continues to support the IBM product family. If you are not, there is always the risk that IBM will make DataStage such an integral component of its BI suite that support for other platforms becomes lackluster.

What Do I Look For In A DW Resume

Last updated on February 20, 2005September 21, 2007 by topcat

Let’s say I am looking for a hands-on position in a data warehousing team (this is very different from looking for a project management, which requires a very different set of skills). How do I screen for resumes?

First, I scan for the Technical Skills section to see if the candidate has the relevant experience with the proper tools. Depending on the specific position we have in mind, this could be ETL tools, OLAP tools, data modeling tools, etc. Let’s use ETL as an example. I would looke for someone who has used Informatica, DataStage, Ab Initio, or something else. A big bonus is if the candidate states on the resume he or she has done ETL without using a third-party tool. I always believe that a person who has had to done something in the data warehousing world without a third-party tool would no question have the deepest understanding of all the possible complexities that may come with the job (and this is especially true with ETL).

Then, I look at the type of work done in this person’s previous two jobs. At least one of the positions need to be very related to what we are looking for. In the data warehousing world, because of the speed of the technological change, being out of the industry for 2-3 years would essentially mean you are out of the loop.

Finally, I look for signs of attention to detail. Are there any spelling mistakes in the resume? Does the candidate spell the product/company names correctly?

That’s it! This simple process, though, weeds out about 2/3 of all the resumes I receive. If you are sending out a resume for a DW position, please make sure you cover these three points.