Search Engine News Blog - February 2003 Archives
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Search engine news web log for February 2003. For more recent search engine news, go to our Daily Search Engine News Blog. Webmasters
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28 February 2003 >> Busy day ahead so has to be a short blog today. First up, Google has been granted its first patent by the United States Patent Office for "a method of determining the relevance of Web pages in relation to search queries". ZDNet has posted a more detailed story since.
>> Wall Street Journal article proves that spam doesn't pay, but still Web Sites Try Everything to Climb Google Rankings.
>> Googletoon of the Week :
Copyright © 2003 Verity
Intellectual Properties Pty Ltd
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Foreign Sites and Google directory - Looks at how Google includes foreign sites within their directory structure, based on Open Directory's categories.
27 February 2003 >> The industry is still buzzing with yesterday's shock announcement that Overture is to purchase FAST/AllTheWeb web search. Forum buddy Chris_D coined an amusing acronym for the new entity: AllOverFast. He also coined some others for MSN/LookSmart/WiseNut that I can't mention (-; Danny Sullivan has now made his comments on the acquisition. Interestingly, Danny seems to think the double purchase was a case of compulsive shopping, with Overture buying two search companies when they only needed one. He thinks that Overture will probably only concentrate on building up one of the sites, most likely AllTheWeb.com as opposed to AltaVista.com. Danny makes no mention of the value of AltaVista's paid inclusion and direct feed technology to Overture's strategy. However I still think that was their primary motivation for purchasing AltaVista and my views are reinforced by this article. One fascinating tidbit confirmed by Danny was the fact that MSN was also interested in purchasing AltaVista and Overture beat them to it. Danny points out that MSN may well have wanted to buy FAST as an alternative to AltaVista and had their plans stifled again by Overture. This could possibly force them to take drastic action. He also claims out that Overture's major European competitor Espotting may have factored into the FAST purchase - with Espotting's partnership with FAST now under threat. Meanwhile, everyone is waiting for MSN to make their move. Will they partner with LookSmart / WiseNut or will they enter negotiations with AskJeeves / Teoma? Would they have the gall to make Google an offer? They could certainly afford to, but we assume (and hope!) Google would laugh in their faces. Surely a takeover from Microsoft would not be in the best interests of Google's future.
>> Apparently, AltaVista has updated it's news search. Whether this was in spite of or a result of the Overture purchase is not clear.
>> Up and coming Australian enterprise search firm YourAmigo have reported their first profitable month, ahead of schedule. Thanks for the press release guys. If you'd included it on your site I could've linked to it.
>>
Cool Forum Thread of the Day
: Have
You Got a Google Word? - Have you got a word where if you search in
Google using that word your site comes up first? That's your Google Word,
according to posters in this thread. 26 February 2003 Overture To Challenge Google with FAST Purchase If the search industry in 2003 can be compared to a fast-moving game of chess, then Overture have just put Google in "Check". That's right, hot on the heels of their planned purchase of AltaVista, Overture have just announced their intention to acquire the Web search unit of Norway-based Fast Search & Transfer. Overture will acquire FAST for $70 million in cash, as well as a performance-based cash incentive payment of up to $30 million over three years. FAST retains their enterprise search business which provides them with 75 percent of their turnover. The deal is expected to close by April and demonstrates that Overture is serious about breaking into the mainstream search market. Purchasing FAST/AllTheWeb gives Overture the cutting edge technology they need to start competing with Google in the highly contested area of algorithmic search. Their acquisition of AltaVista gives Overture an advantage over Google in the areas of paid inclusion and direct feed - technologies that Google does not currently offer advertisers. Through this combination, according to their media release, Overture "expects to be at the forefront of the industry in offering a full suite of paid placement, paid inclusion and algorithmic Web search products and services for syndication to portals, ISPs and other search destination sites." Overture is treating the acquisitions as a major strategic move to help them create "the next generation of Internet search". To help them with this goal, Overture has appointed respected algorithmic design and web data mining expert, Dr. Gary Flake, as Chief Science Officer to lead research and development. "Even the
best search technologies in existence today only return exactly what an
Internet user is looking for about half of the time," Dr. Flake said.
"The combination of AltaVista and FAST will allow us to develop the
best and most comprehensive search products and services with the goal of
delivering the most relevant results to users every time a search is
conducted."
>>
My head is still spinning from the latest developments, but here's my initial
take on the Overture situation:
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Overture to Acquire Web Search Unit of Fast Search & Transfer --FAST-- - Not surprisingly, Overture's latest purchase is the talk of the forums today.
25 February 2003 >> The Register reports today that Google has removed a perverted Web site from its search listings following a public outcry from people in Chester, U.K.
>> Guest Writer for Search Engine Guide, Scott Buresh, asks Are Your Search Engine Rankings at Risk?
>> David Gallagher of the New York Times pontificates that Google's recent deal to purchase Blogger.com may freshen up Google's own links.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Evil Yahoo won't say hello - Looks at some of the problems people have been having trying to cancel their annual Express submission with Yahoo.
24 February 2003 Search portal MSN surprised the industry earlier this month with their announcement they had renewed their deal with Inktomi Search through to December 2005. The non-exclusive deal sees Inktomi continue to provide secondary search results to MSN, who also uses LookSmart paid search listings as part of their search results. Following Yahoo's recent decision to purchase Inktomi in April, speculation was rife that MSN would dump Inktomi due to competitive concerns about their largest rival. The deal extension has ended such speculation for now, although things may change after the Yahoo / Inktomi deal becomes official in April. According to a February 14 filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, MSN contributed USD 5.6 million in revenue to Inktomi during the December quarter, with USD 5.1 million contributed indirectly through paid inclusion and USD 500,000 contributed in licensing fees.
>> In an article I agree with entirely, Pandia Guest Writer Steve Winkler takes a look at what he calls Rank Rage - the proliferation of search engine spam, the consequences for the marketer, and what to do about it.
>> Our latest Search Light newsletter was launched yesterday. Have you subscribed yet?
>> Fellow ihelpyou forum moderator Make Me Top (aka Barry Lloyd) has purchased Search Engine Spy - a UK search engine resource resource providing search engine optimisation and submission tips for UK specific search engines and directories. Congratulations Barry!
>> In a self-serving, paranoid, ego-centric, self-righteous article, BBC Technology writer Bill Thompson asks Is Google Too Powerful? I hate this drivel against Google being propagated by the mainstream media who don't understand either the blogging community OR the search engine industry. He should crawl back into his box. I expressed similar sentiments via public comment, but they haven't published them yet and I doubt they will. At least he received a serve from "that man Sullivan".
>> Overture's purchase of AltaVista may well have been a strategic bargain if Google Village's recent research is anything to go on. Google Village staff conducted a search "bench test" and discovered that AltaVista's Technology is Competitive With Google's. Nice work Microdoc and team!
>> Time for a search conference round up:
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Not Listed on Google today - Discussion about a common occurrence on Google - the sudden appearance and disappearance of new site pages, sometimes called Google Ghosts.
21 February 2003 Ask Jeeves UK Launches Paid Inclusion Ask Jeeves UK has launched a Paid Inclusion product, allowing webmasters to pay a fee that guarantees their web pages will be included in Ask Jeeves UK. Costing £40 for the first URL and £25 for URLs 2-200, Site Submit is similar to the paid inclusion service already offered by Ask Jeeves in the U.S. The service includes:
The company claims their U.K. audience has now grown to over 7 million unique users per month. This is all fine and dandy, but I have a question to Ask Jeeves: Why did you think it was necessary to email a 5.5 megabyte media release attachment that takes those of us with a dial-up connection 20 minutes to download? Doesn't make for good media relations.
>> Googletoon of the Week :
Copyright © 2003 Verity
Intellectual Properties Pty Ltd
>> Anybody who subscribes to Jill Whalen's excellent SEO Newsletter High Rankings Advisor will know that she launched her new e-book The Nitty-Gritty of Writing for the Search Engines last week. What you may not know, if you haven't already bought it, is how fantastic it is! In the search engine biz, there are so many newsletters, articles and e-books published that it's easy to become overwhelmed with information. Many of these publications talk about highly technical issues and use insider jargon that does nothing but confuse people unfamiliar with the industry. As I said to Jill in an email when I was halfway through the book, It's nice to read an e-book that gets back to SEO basics rather than concentrating on search engine algorithms, PageRank or Pay-Per-Click. For USD 49, Nitty-Gritty simply spells it all out for you: where to place your keyword phrases, how to use real text, how to make your copy make sense to your readers and things to avoid, all with crystal clear, practical, step-by-step examples. Heck, even I learned a few things and I've been optimizing sites for over six years! I highly recommend Nitty-Gritty to any webmaster seeking advice on how to edit their site copy or improve the search engine compatibility of their web site. Well done Jill! And before you ask, yes that is my affiliate link above - I was so impressed I asked Jill to sign me up as an affiliate immediately. If you'd like to buy the book and would prefer I didn't receive a commission, just click on this link instead.
>> About.com columnist Jennifer Laycock has written an historical piece about the last five years in the search industry titled: Looking Back on 5 Years of Search.
>> Guest Writer for Search Day Elizabeth Osmeloski looks at Hot Trends in Search Engine Marketing, a special report from the Search Engine Strategies conference held in Dallas last December.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Gimpsy - the industrious hampster - Up and coming search directory Gimpsy has announced some major changes and enhancements this week.
20 February 2003 Interview With Dakota Sullivan of LookSmart Vice President of LookSmart, Dakota Sullivan, is a busy man. He must be, considering he took nearly a month to answer my interview questions. I find this amusing, given that it was LookSmart's own PR staff who suggested the interview in the first place. Perhaps my questions required more research? Perhaps he didn't like the questions and hoped to avoid them? Whatever, but after some aggressive follow up this end, we finally have our interview with Mr Sullivan. In it he reveals how the Yahoo/Inktomi deal will affect LookSmart, the new features LookSmart will be introducing for Small Business Listings customers shortly and why he thinks WiseNut is a better search engine partner for the major portals than Google. <snippet>"Google provides an excellent search experience, and has helped raise the bar in terms of search relevancy for the entire industry. However, Google's rapid growth has come at the expense of its partners' search franchises".</snippet> Read the full Interview With Dakota Sullivan.
>> Danny Sullivan held back publication of his Search Engine Update yesterday so he could comment on Overture's purchase of AltaVista.
>> Not to be outdone by side-kick Chris Sherman, Danny also weighed in on Google's purchase of Blogger.com.
>> Everything's coming up Google today. Check out Google AdWords Checker, a new type of pay per click bid management software tool for Google AdWords campaigns and GooFresh, a search tool allowing users to query Google for new "Freshbot" site additions by date.
>> Just when we thought Google Labs had taken over R&D for the entire Internet, some scientist discovers a new way to search the web. <snippet>"Jon Kleinberg, a professor of computer science at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., has developed a method for a computer to find the topics that dominate a discussion at a particular time by scanning large collections of documents for sudden, rapid bursts of words".</snippet>
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : How to get listed in Google in 30 days - discussion about how sites running weblogs tend to get included in Google a lot faster than others.
19 February 2003 AltaVista
Snapped Up By Overture Internet search company Overture made the shock announcement today that it would be purchasing search portal AltaVista from CMGI Inc. for $140 million in cash and stock. In their end of the deal, to be completed in April, Overture will pay AltaVista in common stock valued at $80 million, plus $60 million in cash and assume certain AltaVista liabilities. The deal represents a strategic move by Overture to expand their current product offerings outside the realm of pay-per-click and to start competing with rivals such as Google and Yahoo in the mainstream algorithm-based search market. According to Overture's Media Release on the announcement: "The acquisition will enable Overture to offer a significantly enhanced Web search solution to portals, Internet service providers (ISPs) and other destination sites, as well as additional marketing opportunities to the company's large base of advertisers." The purchase decision was also thought to be a direct result of Yahoo's proposed $235 million acquisition of Inktomi. Overture currently uses Inktomi technology to provide back up algorithmic search results to their paid results, calling these listings "backfill." Yahoo's purchase of Inktomi may have put Overture's partnership with Inktomi in jeopardy, or made their use of Inktomi technology no longer financially viable, meaning they had to either develop algorithm search in-house or look elsewhere. Purchasing the struggling search portal AltaVista appears to have been the preferred solution. According to observers, Overture plans to license AltaVista's technology to its customers, which include Yahoo, MSN and AOL Europe. Overture also will use AltaVista.com to test new search services and marketing products for its advertisers. In a conference call to investors, Overture president and CEO, Ted Meisel, said that AltaVista would open additional revenue streams for Overture and build on its pay-per-click advertising by giving marketers the option to participate in AltaVista's paid-inclusion program. With Yahoo supposedly developing their own in-house paid listings program and moving into Overture's paid search market territory, and now Overture making their foray into the algorithmic search industry, it's abundantly clear that search continues to be the major area of growth in the online advertising industry.
>>
Ever have days when no matter how focused you are, you keep getting
distracted? That was my day today. I have been trying to publish this blog for
hours, but keep getting phone calls or postal deliveries, or interruptions or
clients sending me the latest
TopSiteListings email scam and wanting to know if they should pay
>> Both Forbes and SearchDay decide to weigh in on Google's acquisition of Blogger.com.
>> Inktomi Makes a Statement Regarding Operation of the Inktomi Search Engine. Hmmm, I haven't seen this page before. I wonder if it is the end-result of the recent "paid inclusion spam" debate? <snippet>The results that are displayed in response to a search may include URLs from Web site owners who have agreed to pay Inktomi or one of its resellers for value-added services, such as expedited review of their Web content. The URLs submitted by participating Web site owners are subject to the same rigorous analysis and editorial rules as all other URLs in the index. The specific links that are displayed as search results and the order in which they appear are not influenced by any business arrangement between Inktomi and a Web site owner.</snippet>
>> Larry Page reveals that he and fellow Google developer Sergey Brin didn't intend to build a search engine.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Overture to buy AltaVista - the latest deal is the talk of the forums today.
18 February 2003 >> Author and radio host James Maduk shows his pitiful lack of knowledge about search engine marketing in this interview on the WebTalkGuy's Radio Show: "I only get about six or seven hits per day from Google. Maybe I picked the wrong keywords or just barking up the wrong tree with my service. The bottom line is I didn’t get the value or traffic that I thought I would get in a search engine. Search engines, for small businesses in general, are probably a waste of time." Woof woof, James. I was putting together some successful client case studies for our SEO biz over the weekend and it struck me just how powerful and effective a well-timed, well planned search engine optimization campaign can be for small business. Site traffic increases for some of my small biz clients range from 42 to 650 percent! Their ROI is so high that their SEO campaigns pay for themselves within a few months. A waste of time? They certainly don't think so.
>> Popdex - the Website Popularity Index - is becoming increasingly popular in it's own right. Designed as a current events news and link spider, you can search Popdex via the search box below to see how many other sites are linking to a particular article or page on your site:
>> Found an interesting article written by my old "boss" Martin Lindstrom yesterday. The Art of Asking the Right Questions looks at how to use questions and calls-to-action in your web site copy to avoid being blocked by your visitor's own personal advertising filters. <snippet>"Often we attempt to elicit action by presenting statements like, 'Fill out this form to be covered for damage on your home contents'. This example would hardly persuade you to do any such thing. Your mental advertising filter would flick it off effortlessly. The statement's a hackneyed reflection of a non-consumer-centered approach, and we're all immune to such monologue. But consider something like, 'Are you covered if your house burns down? If not, fill out this form'."</snippet>
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : To hyphen or underline, that is the question - Takes a look at the age old question of whether to use hyphens or underscores between keywords in page URLs and discusses which is better from both a search engine and user perspective.
17 February 2003 >> Google has taken their love affair with blogs to a new level this week, with their purchase of Pyra Labs, owners of Blogger.com and a San Francisco company that created some of the earliest technology for writing weblogs. Bloggers worldwide unite to celebrate!
>> Robert Clough of Search Engine Guide nearly gave me a heart attack on the weekend by linking from the ihelpyou forums to an article with the heading Google Goes Public. Thankfully, it was only Red Herring contemplating about why Google probably WON'T go public. Phew! Thanks Rob, you really know how to scare a girl! I'm sure there were plenty of other hearts beating wildly around the globe when that headline hit the Moreover newsfeeds yesterday...
>> The team at Google Watch is up to their old tricks again - this time comparing Google with George Orwell's Big Brother, just because Matt Cutts, a key Google engineer, apparently used to work for the National Security Agency. With all due respect Mr Brandt, we suggest you get a life.
>> CNet takes a stab at guessing where Yahoo's buyout of Inktomi will lead, in their article Will Yahoo's Search Lead to a New Star?
>> Been to LookSmart.com lately? No me neither. Which is why I was surprised to see a brand new home page design when I popped in on the weekend. Gone are many of their categories and banner ads and in their place is a sleek "Googlesque" design, with very prominent links to their paid advertising options. Not sure when the new look went live, but the that fact nobody has yet noticed or bothered to report it says a lot about their popularity, dontcha think?
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : How evil is Google :) - Google opens up the whole anti-gun vs "right to bear arms" debate without actually meaning to.
14 February 2003 >> It's that time of year again, when florists increase their prices by 500 percent, restaurant bookings become difficult to come by and jewellers sell out of diamond solitaire engagement rings. Yep - Valentine's Day. Hope you and yours have a nice one and don't get too burnt by the commercialism of it all. Why not celebrate a week late and avoid the price hike?
>> Chris Sherman of Search Day takes a look at What's New at AltaVista and MSN Search.
>> Googletoon of the Week :
Copyright © 2003 Verity
Intellectual Properties Pty Ltd
>> Prominent SEO and forum buddy Jill Whalen's latest article on Search Engine Guide looks at the disadvantages of using Additional Domains for Extra Search Engine Rankings. Speaking of Jill, she's just released her new e-book and from what I hear, sales are going great. I'll be reviewing it for you here very soon. Congratulations Jill!
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : How does a database driven web site get indexed? - A look at how Googlebot treats database driven sites when indexing.
13 February 2003 Media Giants Take a "Bite" Out of Gator Some of America's largest news agencies have settled a dispute out of court over an Internet advertising practice in which unauthorized, third-party ads from Gator Corp. pop up on their sites. The much despised Gator Corp. are the developers of TopText, a software program that automatically installs itself and generates pop-up advertisements in the browsers of persons that have the generic Gator software installed. The pop-ups allegedly encourage users to click away from the site they are browsing and visit competing sites which are linked within the pop up itself. Problem is, persons downloading Gator software, (a tool for filling out online forms and remembering passwords), often don't realize they have automatically provided permission for TopText to be installed as well. This type of pop-up software is often referred to as thiefware or scumware because it "steals" traffic away from sites. The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post were amongst news outlets that sued Gator Corp. last year over the issue. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton in Alexandria, Va., granted a preliminary injunction ordering Gator to stop delivering pop-up ads at the sites run by those companies. Trial was to begin last month but has been averted by the undisclosed settlement. Separate lawsuits against Gator Corp. by United Parcel Service (UPS) and Six Continents Hotels and Inter-Continental Hotels chains are still pending.
>> According to a new survey from StatMarket, the majority of Internet users now go directly to the sites they want by typing in URLs or accessing bookmarks, rather than surfing from site to site. Gone is the curiosity factor and so webmasters need to work even harder on their site content to attract eyeballs. Despite the shift in usage patterns, search engines are still a key influencer of user behavior: "Not only is search engine use growing, people are getting better at using them", said Matthew Berk, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "In fact, many Net users initially find sites through search engines and then bookmark them, or type in the URLs, which may account for the increase in direct navigation", Berk said.
>> Search Day has published a special report by Shari Thurow from the recent Dallas Search Engine Strategies Conference called Optimizing Flash for Search Engines. Great stuff!
>> MSN Search comes to the stunning realization that they can fit more search results into their site and display them 65 percent faster by getting rid of banner ads. Well duh!
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Yahoo! and Inky - No, it's not a new cartoon duo, it's a discussion about the future of Inktomi and how Inktomi search results will be integrated into those of it's new owner, Yahoo.
12 February 2003 >> Some days are worth waking up for. A little birdie has anonymously sent me a copy of the latest court documents to hit desks in the Search King vs Google lawsuit. These could easily be the funniest legal documents ever! Key points: 2. Then came Google's
Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss on February 4
>> Remember our Cool Forum Thread of the Day for January 29? We pointed out a thread that discussed an email scam from some jokers posing to be representatives of Yahoo UK, asking customers to fork over a £199 renewal fee for their Yahoo listing, (despite the fact that Yahoo UK does not charge an annual renewal fee). Anyway, it seems that the scam has finally caught the attention of Yahoo UK, thanks to a public outing by my forum buddy Jill Whalen in one of her High Ranking's Advisor newsletters. The Register reports that after a 2 week silence on the issue, Yahoo UK has finally made a public statement: "Yahoo! UK & Ireland has learned that some of its Yahoo! Express customers recently received a fraudulent e-mail that requests a £199 renewal fee to remain in the Yahoo! Directory. This email is not from Yahoo!. As always, Yahoo! Express in the UK charges a once only, non-refundable processing fee per submission. This has not changed. If you have received such an email, please do not respond to it. Instead, please forward it to us at uk-legal@uk.yahoo-inc.com." Well done Jill!
>> Google has apparently won Brand of the Year over icons like Coke, IKEA and Apple. Congratulations Googlers! Thanks to Robert Clough for the heads up.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Google penalising keywords - A discussion about how Googlebot and other search engines treat the META keyword tag and what content you should include within it.
11 February 2003 >> Extensible Markup Language, otherwise known as XML, turned 5 yesterday. Whoopdedoo!
>> I posted the following news item in the forums on the weekend, but forgot to mention it here in the blog yesterday:
Overture Doubles Minimum Bid for Advertisers Overture has doubled their minimum bid for U.S. PPC campaigns from USD 0.05 to 0.10 and advertisers are far from happy. The warning signs started flashing when Overture UK announced last month that their minimum bid was going to increase from £0.05 to £0.10 from February 6 onwards. Overture U.S. customers had their fears confirmed with the arrival of an email from Overture on February 8, with the USD minimum bid increase taking immediate effect. Thankfully, existing bids between 0.05 and 0.09 are being "grandfathered" at their current max bid for the foreseeable future. But if advertisers decide to change existing bid amounts or add new bids, they must comply with the new minimum. Interestingly, long-term advertisers at Overture who retain grandfathered listings ranging from 0.01 to 0.04 (prior to Overture's last minimum bid increase to 0.05) will see their minimum bid increase to 0.05 from March 29. The price hike signals a significant change in Overture's target market over the years. Because of the company's increasing popularity, their administrative and overhead costs have increased to the point where it make sense for them to target large scale or high-end advertisers and spend less time dealing with thousands of smaller firms and individual webmasters. Unfortunately, such economies of scale mean smaller advertisers once again lose out to those with deep pockets. Fortunately, Overture's shift in focus provides an enormous opportunity for other PPC search providers to step in and gather up Overture's so called "left-overs". Overture's biggest competitor, Google AdWords, still offers a USD 0.05 minimum bid, as do Kanoodle, Ah-ha, FindWhat and Europe's most popular PPC engine Espotting. In fact Kanoodle is offering Pandia readers a free $5 PPC account with no deposit required (Click Here for more info). There are of course many other smaller PPC players who will be celebrating Overture's price increase because it gives them an opportunity to increase their market share. As Pandia comments on the subject: "Overture is one of the most important pay-per-click text ads providers on the Net. When Overture changes its price structure, this has consequences for the whole industry".
>> Fellow Search Engine Guide columnist, Daria Goetsch, stresses the value of writing articles to improve your site's link popularity. To prove her point, I'm linking to her article. (-:
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : What exactly is ethical SEO? - Come and join this interesting discussion about "ethical" vs "unethical" search engine optimization techniques. Is there really a need for such a distinction? Some of us think so...
10 February 2003 >> It's Monday, apparently. Where the heck did the weekend go? Due to the sudden influx of SEO clients and enquiries, staff here don't tend to get much of their weekends off. Could it be that SEO has finally gone mainstream? Our activity level over the past two months certainly indicates this. Hmmm if this keeps up, we'll have to advertise for new staff...
>> Google Village looks at how to Get Fresh Listings in Google Each Day.
>> Jill Whalen answers the question Are Search Engine Case Sensitive Regarding Keywords?
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Aquarium Screensaver Kazaa Scam - A warning about a new email scam going around, tricking people into installing the much despised scumware Kazaa under the 'guise of downloading a free screensaver.
7 February 2003 Terra Lycos Slashes Workforce by 20 Percent In a
serious cost cutting measure, Spanish Internet Search firm
Terra Lycos
has sacked more than 20 percent of its United Staff staff this week, bringing total US staff down to 500.
>> Authors of the Google Village saw my post yesterday and appreciated the feedback on their Googletoons. They even invited viewers to post their own ideas for 'toon scenarios and their author will create them as time allows. Got an idea for a funny Googletoon? Post them in this forum thread and see them come to life. Meanwhile, I've been given permission to post one 'toon a week here in the blog. So without further ado:
>> Googletoon of the Week :
Copyright © 2003 Verity
Intellectual Properties Pty Ltd
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : RDF dump - Finally the latest Open Directory RDF Dump is available for download. This thread tracks the best download locations and instructions.
6 February 2003 >> It's a public holiday in New Zealand today: Waitangi Day commemorates the signing of a treaty at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands, on 6 February 1840 by a group of Maori chiefs and the British Government. As I look out the office window at all the yachts, pleasure boats, windsurfers and kayakers sailing by in typical "day off" mode, I am definitely envious. Unfortunately, the search engine industry does not take a day off, meaning no holiday for me today :-(. Just as well I love this business...
>> First up today is this whole cloaking debate, stirred up by forum buddy Alan Perkin's article Why Cloaking is Always a Bad Idea. As you know if you are a regular fan of this blog, Alan's article resulted in a fascinating thread at the ihelpyou services forums, attracting a number of search engine heavyweights to enter the ring and throw a few verbal swings. Danny Sullivan and Alan Perkins circled each other round after round, but the match was pretty much a draw at the end of it all. As a result of the debate, today Danny published his official position on cloaking in his latest Search Engine Update newsletter. Titled Ending the Debate Over Cloaking, Danny dissects the issue from all angles, concluding with his revised personal definition of cloaking: "Cloaking is getting a search engine to record content for a URL that is different than what a searcher will ultimately see, often intentionally. It can be done in many technical ways. Several search engines have explicit bans against unapproved cloaking, of which Google is the most notable one. Some people cloak without approval and never have problems. Some even may cloak accidentally. However, if you cloak intentionally without approval -- and if you deliver content to a search engine that is substantially different from what a search engine records -- then you stand a much larger chance of being penalized by search engines with penalties against unapproved cloaking. If in doubt, ask the search engine if it has a problem with what you intend to do, assuming you can't get a clear answer from written guidelines that are provided. If you are working with a third-party search engine marketer, ask them for proof that what they intend to do is approved. Otherwise, be prepared for any adverse consequences." Personally, I'm very glad to see the disclaimers in the last two sentences. There has been too much fog surrounding the cloaking issue and not enough attention given to the risks, in my opinion. As Danny is so widely read and respected, hopefully his position will make webmasters think twice before implementing unapproved cloaking tactics.
>> In the same article, Danny looks at a related issue gaining notoriety at the moment: XML feeds. He says "As with AltaVista, there's evidence that XML feeds have been an effective way for some companies to feed and cloak content that might not otherwise have met Inktomi's content guidelines. Inktomi admits that its XML feeds do technically violate its posted guidelines about cloaking and says its now looking to amend these". Interesting point and one that Alan Perkins tried repeatedly to make in that linked forum thread. The article continues: "the real issue is that XML feeds and perhaps paid inclusion in general is allowing some people to provide content in a radically different way than has been generally accepted when content is gathered for free. In particular, promotion that people have done in the past via traditional doorway pages and cloaking -- and have been banned for -- now can now be done under the guise of content feeding, with the search engines that offer this." This is exactly the point I was discussing in that same forum thread. To think that search engines sanction spam as long as it is paid for is pretty alarming! It's all about double standards. As Danny states: "If low-content doorway pages are not acceptable editorial content when found by a search engine spider naturally, should they suddenly be OK when read via paid inclusion programs? If there's a debate to be having, this is it." Hear, Hear. I'd like to hear reader's thoughts about this. Please email me with your comments.
>> In case you missed it via the link above, Jill Whalen's latest High Rankings newsletter contains a useful FAQ exchange about switching web site servers and how this affects search engine robots, particularly Googlebot. Take a look at Will Switching Servers Ruin My Rankings?
>> Apparently, Yahoo is expanding their relationship with Overture. <snippet>"Rashtchy said Yahoo was using Overture, in a test program, to provide paid results in colored boxes off-set on the right side of the search page, much in the same fashion as other search engines like Google and Lycos have done."</snippet>. Thanks to Robert Clough for the heads up.
>> Quite by accident, I came across the Google Village today. This clever site features a very amusing Google blog in text and audio formats, complete with cartoons. <snippet>"If you are listed in Google, you live in the Google Village. This site explores what is in the Google Village, the particular biases that are built into the system, and the issues to do with Google's editorializing, such as censorship, and legal issues."</snippet> The site is run by Australian researcher and Verity employee, Dr Elwyn Jenkins. Check out the Googletoons in particular. My personal fav is the receptionist fielding a call: "Sorry I cannot disturb him. He is Googling at the moment". Well worth a look!
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : LookSmart Listings Missing? - Apparently MSN is experiencing a glitch causing LookSmart listings to not show up on MSN.com. Is it *really* a glitch?
5 February 2003 >> It's been dubbed "vanity Googling". Typing your name into Google to see what comes up can be a cathartic or terrifying experience according to the Boston Globe article A Nation of Voyeurs. Of course I had to try it. Thankfully, the first 100 or so references are to my articles about search engine optimization. But some results did take my eyebrows up a notch. Take the Kalena Forum for instance. Yes, it seems I have a forum dedicated all to me (or some Italian person with the same first name). Hopefully they'll be able to increase their 3 person membership soon. And according to Googlism, I am either "a beautifully tanned brunette with a very tight body" or "crippled with the severest case of arthritis I have ever seen". Astounding how relevant Google can be! Apparently Googling your prospective dates is a common practice in the U.S. Discovering your potential mate's hobbies, breast size, employment history and true gender can save you hours of conversation and heartache. But, as Veronica Leger, a 39-year-old marketing professional, points out in the article: "It feels kind of creepy to be Googled."
>> Fascinating trivia morsels about Google revealed in the Boston Globe article mentioned above:
>> Overture has struck an exclusive two-year agreement with ESPN.com to offer its commercial search results throughout the sports Web site. ESPN will incorporate up to seven "sponsored" links from Overture that will be listed separately in search results pages.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Content really does matter - A nice success story of a webmaster who successfully used ethical search engine optimization techniques to get her non-profit web site ranking highly. The thread also has some Google linking arguments thrown in for good measure.
4 February 2003 >> It's been pretty quiet on the search engine scene this week (knock on wood!). I'm not complaining, it's given me more time to focus on client SEO work, but it sure is weird. Knowing this industry, it's probably just the calm before the storm.
>> A very excited member of AltaVista's National Account Executive emailed me today, with the hyped up subject line "Trusted Feed Program and we can build the feed!!!". The excitement didn't stop at the subject line either. The first sentence read: "This is the best way you can list all your products from your catalog on our search engine for next to nothing and we can build the feed for you!!!". Excuse me while I hyperventilate. Excessive use of exclamation marks aside, I really can't see any value in trusted feed and I'm not sure why I was targeted. Perhaps it was a result of my comments in this thread? Or perhaps AltaVista staff should lighten up on the coffee...
>> French site Enfin has published an interview with Tim Mayer of FAST/AllTheWeb. When asked "What are the things that a webmaster mustn't do?", Tim replied "A webmaster should create pages and sites for users not search engines. Ask yourselves, 'if search engines didn't exist, would I be doing this?'". Now that sounds eerily like a certain Mr Perkins.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Spam at Inktomi - Nothing like a little controversy to spice things up mid week! A poster has decided to report Inktomi to the FTC for alleged breaches of the FTC's guidelines for public disclosure of commercial considerations, via their Index Connect trusted fe |
highlighted search engine news headlines to your site. 
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Still, the delays meant I could include the breaking news story above, so I
guess I should be grateful! 
