Double-checking that MyLongTail is working properly

If you suspect that something is wrong, you can double check that everything is working properly finding a page on your site that has some relatively unique text on it, which you know has produced search hits in the past. You homepage is always a good choice. Copy some text, then shut all your web browsers.

That's right! Shut every web browser. The reason is that you have to ensure that you're starting a new session. This is part of the MyLongTail magic that I may explain in more detail later.

Now open a new browser, visit the engine that the page CAN be found in (usually, Google), and paste that phrase into the search box. Be careful of line-breaks. Put double-quotes around the phrase. And submit the search.

You should see your page come up in the search results. If you don't, you may not be sufficiently along in SEO to benefit from MyLongTail. You need to at least be findable! If you see your page, click it. Now, log into MyLongTail, and you should see that hit as (probably) the top item under the Search Hits tab. This will confirm that everything is working.