I know, I know…another gadget review post.  But, this is a must-read.  If you are a “dyed-in-the-wool” Firefoxer like me, then you probably have more than a few of your favorite add ons for various tasks.  One of my favorite add ons for blogging and web research is Similar Web, and frankly, I can’t imagine surfing the Internet without it.

Similar Web works like this:  Let’s say you are researching a topic and you already know of one website that deals with it.  Unfortunately, that’s not enough.  Perhaps, the topic demands more results, or in order to be thorough or authoritative, you need to review more information.

For example, this evening, I was researching blog directories for listing my blog Cyber-Esq. I already knew of Technorati, Bloglines, and Blog Catalog, but listing one’s blog with 3 directories may not get it noticed. Enter Similar Web - with one click of a neat and tidy toolbar icon, Similar Web opened up and provided the following list of sites that were “similar” to Blog Catalog:

<!– @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

1. Technorati

2. bloggernity.com

3. blogarama.com

4. blogsearchengine.com

5. globeofblogs.com

6. Bloghub.com

7. Blogtoplist.com

8. getblogs.com

10. Blogdirs.com

11. blogtopsites.com

12. blogsearch.goog.com

13. today.com

14. bloguniverse.com

15. weblogalot.com

16. bloggingfusion.com

17. topblogarea.com

18. bloghop.com

Not bad for a single click of a single Firefox add on, huh?  These results are not atypical either.  Similar Fox consistently delivers good results with a minimal amount of effort on my part.

Having used Similar Web for a while now, however, I can attest that it’s not perfect.  For example, each and every site that it delivers isn’t always “similar.”  But, that’s part of the user interaction with the service.  Users can vote whether a particular site is or isn’t similar, which improves the searching function of the service.

And, once in a great while, it will come back with a “found no results,” as it did for Amplify.com as a matter of fact.  But the “found no results” language is a rarity, as Similar Web generally delivers and does exactly what its name implies.

On balance, I can’t imagine doing any kind of blogging of web research without Similar Web.  Remarkably, it is not listed in the Firefox editor’s pick for “web developer toolkit” collection or the “add ons for bloggers” collection, at least not that I could tell from a quick review.

If you have not yet discovered it, I strongly recommend Similar Web.  And, I have no financial or other interest in Similar Web, or any of its affiliates, and was given no freebies by anyone associated with Similar Web for this post.  This is just my own, honest, unadulterated opinion, for what it’s worth.  I trust that is “clear and conspicuous” enough under the new FTC regulations.

Check out Similar Web and see if it doesn’t significantly increase the depth of your web research and increase your access to information for blogging.  Below, I’ve clipped some images from the homepage for Similar Web.  Looks like the makers have a few new services as well that I will have to check out, too.  Enjoy!