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Search Engine Optimization, Inc. unveiled a first-of-its-kind toolbar that provides instant access to detailed information on backward links to any website for all the major search engines, giving marketing professionals a powerful new aid in their efforts to maximize company Web rankings.

The SEO Inc. Toolbar Lite, available now as a free download, enables users to research inbound links for Yahoo, Google, Google indexed pages, AOL, DMOZ and MSN. Users can determine the total number of inbound links to their own URLs and/or those of competitors in real time, plus the number of links used individually by each search engine in ranking a given site. This eliminates the time and effort involved in researching each search engine separately while also enabling users to conserve screen real estate that otherwise would be occupied by multiple proprietary toolbars.

The SEO Inc. Tool Box Pro/Enterprise, a paid product scheduled for early 2005 release, will raise the bar -- literally -- by listing all backward links to each specified URL in order of importance. The Pro version will also add research capabilities for Teoma, Hotbot, DMOZ and Jayde, as well as trend analysis tools enabling users to save reports and trace fluctuations in link popularity and Google page rank for any site over time.

Marketers can use this information to track their own inbound links as well as those of competitors, keep an eye on the behavior of the most authoritative external sites to ensure that they remain link partners, and map strategies to address losses or deficiencies in their link popularity.

"These toolbars provide easy visibility into backward links for the first time," said Garry Grant, president of Search Engine Optimization, Inc. "Given the importance of the number and quality of inbound links in a site's rankings, this information can make a vital difference in search engine optimization campaigns."

The toolbars were announced at the AD:TECH Show in New York.

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