Number of Google search results – Ubiquity Firefox extension

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Getting the number of Google search results

Update (July 16th 2009): I’ve updated the command for the new Ubiquity 0.5 Parser (Version 2)

For us SEO practitioners out there, we often need to check how many pages are returned by Google for our search term. We do this to find out what the competition is, and whether or not a particular term is worth optimizing for. Too many pages (in the millions) and it may not be worth the effort.

To find this, we’ve always had to open up a new page perform a Google search and wait for the results, which can be time consuming, as well as involve a lot of tab jumping. Since I began to use Ubiquity, I began to think – why should I manually have to go to a new tab? I should be able to do it right from Ubiquity!

For Firefox Ubiquity users, the pop up on the top should have already appeared asking you to subscribe. Once you install, here’s how to use it:

Ubiquity number of Google results
Ubiquity number of Google results

Using Ubiquity to get the results

Just call up results-google and type the search term. You can also have it selected on the page you’re on. You can use quotes as well to search for the exact phrase. In a few moments, the number of results should be on your screen. It’s that simple!

Please feel free to comment below if you have problems using this tool. Suggestions for improvements will be welcome. I’m not a professional JavaScript programmer, so I’ll do my best :)

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12 thoughts on “Number of Google search results – Ubiquity Firefox extension”

  1. Hi Bhagwad,

    Can you please provide clarity on:
    -Path to download Ubiquity
    -Steps involved in the installation of this plugin in Firepox (for novice)
    -How to interpret the results. By interpretation I mean, you recieve some numbers (xxxxxxxxx results found) then what is the threshold limit over which the keyword is found to be overwelming.
    -You get some results even at the end of google then how this is more useful.

    My intention is to learn more out of your knowledge on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
    Sajid

    Reply

  2. @Sajid
    Hey Sajid,

    You can download ubiquity here: https://ubiquity.mozilla.com/xpi/ubiquity-latest….. Just click on the link in Firefox and you should be presented with the install option.

    This script allows you to see how many pages Google returns for the keyword entered. There is no limit on the number of results. Or maybe I haven't understood your question…

    View this blog post again after restarting Firefox and you should see a bar on top asking you to install and confirm the script. Let me know if you have any problems.

    Reply

  3. Hi Bhagwad,

    Thanks for sharing the good news.

    My second question was: Let's say you recieve 100 pages after you search for a keywird. And for another keyword you get 150 something…and so on. Now does their exizt a formulae or a threshold value that says that if there exist this many (for example 200) pages then the word is worth optimizing.
    I think you understand now, I mean to say that how you find out that this is a good term as it shows 100 or 150 or 200 pages.

    Thanks for your help
    Sajid

    Reply

  4. @Sajid
    Dear Sajid,

    The number of results that show up in Google are only one side of the equation. The other side is how many times is that keyword/phrase being searched for.

    Whether or not you decide to optimize for a particular keyword depends on the relationship between those two variables. Usually you have to look at hundreds of keywords and their statistics to decide which ones you want to optimize for. It's quite exhausting really…

    Personally I like to divide my keyword sets into Long term, medium term, and short term. That way, my clients know what to expect. I also write on an SEO blog for one of my clients. You can perhaps glean some info from there. Here is the link: http://seonotes.com/

    Reply

  6. Hi bhagwad.

    I'm using your pagerank command and it is working great. I would like to try results-google but when I subscribe to this page's feed it actually contains a torrent search command. Where can I get results-google?

    Thanks in advance.

    Reply

  9. Pingback: Ubiquity Commands updated for Ubiquity 0.5 | Expressions - Bhagwad Jal Park

    • In reply to Rafa

      Hi Rafa…sorry about that. I moved my hosting to a new provider and forgot to copy the scripts along with it – that’s why you can’t see it anymore. It looks like that script is lost forever :( …sorry.

      Reply

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