Teoma Tools

I'm thinking more and more that Google really has nowhere left to go in search other than to become Teoma.
Why?
Because there are only so many parameters which a search engine may use to ascertain the popularity of a site.
Meta tags, it's tried them. Inbound links from anywhere, it's tried them. On-page content, it's tried that.
Every approach got gamed - them pesky SEO-sters done foo-barred all the rankings with their a-tinkerin' and a-pokin'.
So - what's a poor search engine to do?

Observe and respect recognition by one's peers. That's what. A return to the Hilltop algorithm. If I'm in your sphere or a related sphere and I'm linking to you, then you must be ok because it would be detrimental to me, as a business, to direct visitors from my business site to a site that was offering a below-par service. No matter how much you paid me (unless I was thinking of retiring very early indeed, in which case you'd have to pay me a very great deal and my site wouldn't retain any credibility for any appreciable length of time).

This philosophy is what Teoma (as I interpret it) already practices and has done for quite some time. So it could be that Google will be looking to either partner with Teoma in the future, or else buy it outright. Either way, if investment in Teoma is available, it could be an option worth considering.

As SEO's, then, how do we determine what kind of links will be favoured by the new/old regime? I'm slowly gathering a selection of tools, which may be added to or subtracted from as I see fit, which will maybe be of use in determining where we should be getting our links from in the future. In fact, getting them from these sources now would be good, too.

The Hubfinder!

And it works! The theory behind the Hubfinder is that, by entering urls of sites that are similar in nature, sites that link to both of them will be revealed.

The Google Blogoscoped Neighboursearch Tool

Searches for links including the anchor text you specify from sites you specify.

Wordtracker

Always useful, especially as a reminder of concepts related to your industry that will inevitably have you searching for links in avenues that, without it, you'd probably never have thought of. I suspect a lot of people will dismiss Wordtracker as being old news, there is however the recently created Wordtracker Academy which offers introductions to obscure functions of Wordtracker you may well not have previously come across.

Link Harvester Tool

Goes hunting for just the kind of links we like. Point and fire (then go to the pub for a bit...).

Myriad

Another authority site finder, rates them on a percentage scale.

If when and as I come across them and feel their inclusion to be appropriate, I'll be listing more Teoma Tools.

Teoma Tools

SEO Tools from Teoma (as was)

Teoma Tools