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The Search Light Newsletter
Guiding your site to the top of the search engines... (15 August 2003 - Vol
3 Issue #7)
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Dear Reader,
Not sure what sort of month you've had, but it's been
a month of new beginnings for Web Rank. Firstly, we redesigned our
web site to give
it a more professional look. The feedback from customers and visitors
has been terrific, making me wish we'd made the change a lot sooner.
Next, we launched our Special
Report - Search Engine Compatibility and the Top 100 New Zealand
Companies - which reveals just how invisible the web sites of New
Zealand's top companies are to the average searcher. See our feature
article this month for the shocking results and how you can get your
hands on a copy.
The publicity we've had as a result of the report launch has been
incredible. Until recently we had been better known in the U.S. than in
our own country of New Zealand but the report launch and resulting press
coverage has changed all that. The publicity in combination with our
site re-design has tripled the number of enquiries we receive and has
seen our business turn a corner. I highly recommend any small business
out there invest some time and money into these areas for instant
results.
Lastly (and the most exciting news of all!) is that my husband and I
discovered that we are expecting our first child in February. This is
both a shock and a delight considering we didn't think we could have
children.
Enjoy this issue and remember to visit our daily Search
Engine News Blog for the latest industry news and gossip. Till next time -
here's cheers to new beginnings...
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In this issue...
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* Are You Sabotaging Your Site's Visibility?
* Yahoo Confirms Overture Buyout Rumor
* Overture Ousts Google to Win Freeserve Deal
* Google Releases New AdSense Features
* Special Offer!
* WotBot - the New Search Kid on the Block
* Overture to Open Sydney Office
Are You Sabotaging
Your Site's Visibility?
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By Kalena Jordan of Web Rank Ltd
A recent
study of New
Zealand's Top 100 Companies by us here at Web Rank Ltd has
revealed that every single one of New Zealand's leading companies have
web sites that sabotage their ability to be found by Internet users.
How did this happen? The study reveals that each site belonging to the
Top 100 contains design elements that in some way negatively impact
their compatibility with and visibility in search engines. As a
result, many of New Zealand's leading companies are not found listed
in the search results of the most popular U.S. and New Zealand search
engines, impacting their potential online revenue.
Most Internet users rely on search engines to find product and service
providers. Unless they know the exact website address or search by the
company or brand name, they will try to find what they are looking for
by using keywords that describe a product or service's features,
benefits or attributes. By ignoring the most important method used by
people browsing the Internet, these companies are sacrificing an
enormous opportunity to attract more traffic to their sites.
Websites are often a very large expense for these companies, ranging
from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars. To invest
such a massive amount of time, money and effort into an online
presence and not ensuring it can be found is like constructing a
storefront without any doors. After all, what is the point of paying
so much money for a web site that will never be found?
Does your web site contain any of the same self- defeating elements?
Let's take a look:
~ 25 percent of the Top 100 New
Zealand Companies could not be found for their chosen search terms in
either U.S. or New Zealand search engines. Are you targeting the most
appropriate search terms for your site?
~ 62 percent of the Top 100 New Zealand Companies fail to
utilise their site TITLE tags effectively. Are you including keywords
in your web page TITLE tags instead of just your company name?
~ 13 percent of New Zealand's Top 100 Companies are using
techniques that could get them penalised on search engines for
"spamming". Are you avoiding techniques considered as "spam" by the
search engines?
~ The majority (59 percent) of New Zealand's Top 100 Companies
use little or no body text on their home page. Are you using plenty of
text on your pages for search engines to index?
~ 42 percent of the web sites belonging to New Zealand's Top
100 Companies are inaccessible to the visually impaired. Are you using
ALT IMG attributes for your graphics and image files?
~ 5 percent of the Top 100 New Zealand Companies are not listed
in any of the most popular U.S. or New Zealand search engines
examined. Have you submitted your site to the major international and
local search engines and directories?
~ 63 percent of New Zealand's Top 100 Companies do not include
a META Description Tag on their home page and 70 percent of the Top
100 New Zealand Companies do not include a META Keywords Tag on their
home page. Have you included relevant META Tags in your site's HTML
code?
~ 78 percent of the Top 100 New Zealand Companies do not use
target search terms within their home page text. Do you?
Addressing all these elements will ensure
your web site has the best chance possible of being visible in search
engines and easily found by your target audience.
Yahoo Confirms Overture
Buyout Rumor
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Search giant Yahoo! last month confirmed recent rumors of a take-over bid for pay-per-click search engine Overture, announcing the company would acquire Overture for USD 1.63 billion in cash and shares.
The announcement was a serious wake up call for the remaining players in the search industry, given the amount of consolidation that has happened in the past six months. Yahoo's acquisition of Overture gives the company the algorithmic search resources of AltaVista and AllTheWeb (bought by Overture earlier this year), as well as a key foothold in the lucrative pay-per-click search market, currently dominated by Google and Overture.
The buyout is expected to hit Microsoft hardest of all, because they are in the throes of developing their own algorithmic search engine and rely on Overture for the supply of paid search listings to their MSN Search site. Yahoo are considered to be one of their biggest rivals and they will probably be unwilling to continue the paid search relationship they have with a Yahoo-owned Overture. Meanwhile the future of Google is also likely to be affected, with Yahoo owning a small stake in the search engine and currently using Google search results in combination with their own directory listings.
Will Yahoo dump Google now they have the resources of AltaVista and AllTheWeb? Or will Yahoo use their partnership with Google in a search war against Microsoft? Will Google postpone an IPO as a result of the news? Or will Microsoft make Google an offer they can't refuse and acquire them, leaving an industry dominated by two players? The next few months will likely reveal all.
Overture Ousts Google to Win
Freeserve Deal
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Overture won a significant victory last month in their European search battle with Google. In the U.K., Overture has replaced Google as algorithmic search supplier for Freeserve, the country's largest Internet access provider.
This is a major win for Overture, who only entered the algorithmic search market a few months ago with the purchase of AltaVista and FAST search. The win complements Overture's existing relationship with Freeserve, in which they have been the major paid search listings provider for the company since 2000.
The deal comes less than a week since Overture announced they had extended their agreement with MSN to supply paid listings for browser search in six countries until December 2004 and add paid search listings in Italy.
Google Releases New AdSense
Features
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Google has released a new feature of their AdSense advertising product that enables webmasters to customize the look of the AdSense ads that are displayed on their web sites.
AdSense
publishers can now set the background, text and border colors of
the AdWords ads displayed on their site so that they complement
their color scheme and overall site design.
The new feature allows publishers to:
Select from dozens of preset color palettes
Create up to 100 custom palettes.
Choose up to 4 palettes at a time to rotate randomly.
To take advantage of the new feature, publishers simply log in to their AdSense account, go to the ‘Ad Layout Code’ page, select the color palette(s) they want and the appropriate ad code is automatically generated. For more information, click here.
Google also released a ‘Related Searches’ feature for a short time yesterday. This feature was tested with a number of publishers, however, when it was released more broadly, Google received negative feedback about the quality of the related results appearing.
These concerns were
not fully anticipated by Google and as a result, they decided to
temporarily disable this feature until they have the chance to address
the problems and offer webmasters greater flexibility within the
program.
Buy our latest report Search Engine Compatibility and the Top 100 New Zealand Company Web Sites from just USD 75 and receive our companion report Search Engine Compatibility and the Top 100 Australian Public Company Web Sites free! Click here for details.
WotBot - the New Search Kid
on the Block
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There's a new search kid on the block. WotBot is currently in Alpha testing and has been in development since October 2002.
According to the site itself, "WotBot intends to become a market and technological leader with its new and innovative suite of experimental features that will change the way users search."
These features include advanced search menus, Boolean operators, the use of wild cards, related search strings, modifiable results pages and a flag next to each result indicating (estimated) country of origin.
Currently indexing just over 6.5 million web pages, WotBot expects to move into Beta testing and reach 100 million pages by the end of the year.
Overture to Open Sydney
Office
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Commercial search engine giant Overture has announced plans to expand their Asia Pacific network with the opening of an office in Sydney by the end of the year.
Overture plans to take advantage of Australia's burgeoning search industry with the introduction of their paid placement services to the local commercial market within the next few months. According to a 2002 Jupiter Research report, the paid search market in Australia is projected to grow at an annual compounded rate of 86 per cent to approximately AU$63.8 million (or approximately US$41 million) by 2005.
Overture has
already established a wholly owned subsidiary, Overture Services
Australia Pty. Limited, which is headed by Managing Director, Ms
Mel Bohse, the former Vice President of AltaVista Asia Pacific,
and staffed by the former employees of the Australian operation of
AltaVista Company, whose business Overture acquired during
the first half of 2003.
"Overture is well-positioned for success in the Australian market
thanks to its established and experienced search marketing team
already on the ground," said Brian Steel, President, Overture
International. "We are confident that the superior quality and
value Overture provides its affiliates and 95,000 advertisers in the
US, Europe and Asia will be received equally well in Australia."
Overture may have established their Australian company name, but if they want the domain name www.overture.com.au, it seems they're going to have to fight it out like Google did to secure Google.com.au. The domain currently belongs to an Australian musical instruments supplier.