Search Engine News Blog - March 2003 Archives
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Search engine news web log for March 2003. For more recent search engine news, go to our Daily Search Engine News Blog. Webmasters
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Highlighted Headings = important entries >> = the point where a news item from our Search Light newsletter continues. >> = regular entries and commentary Now, on with the blog...
31 March 2003 Google Does Deal With Ad Distributors Just a few weeks after announcing their new content-targeted contextual ad service, Google has already signed distribution deals with ad networks Burst Media and Fastclick. Content-Targeted AdWords appear in the banner or "skyscraper" advertising areas on Web sites and are tailored to the content on the page, unlike regular AdWords which are triggered by specific search queries. The use of AdWords on non-search related web sites signals a departure for Google from search-oriented "pull" advertising towards mainstream online "push" advertising. Not to be outdone, Google's main rival Overture has announced they will also be rolling out contextual advertising later in the year.
>> According to Pandia this morning, Google results have been dropped from the BBC web site, in favour of Inktomi results. No explanation as to why yet.
>> In his article Google Can Humble The Hawks, a journalist at the Toronto Star has made the same analogy about the war in Iraq as I did last week: the Internet is to the war in Iraq what the television was to the war in Vietnam (see my post on 21st March, below). As the writer points out, the advantage of the Internet is that the sheer volume of information available prevents bias and propaganda from twisting fact and controlling public opinion. For the first time, the public are able to access live coverage from the trenches on both sides and see for themselves what is REALLY happening. They can also research up to the minute news stories from all over the world via sources such as Google News. Faced with a widely read public, educated in truth and not hype, various politicians (particularly from the U.S.) have had to back-pedal on their grand pro-war statements about swift victories and few casualties.
>>
Earlier this month, I posted about Andre Le Roux's Search
Engine Dictionary and his claim that it "is by far the most comprehensive glossary of search engine
terms on the Net", with 340 terms and counting. Well, I'm delighted
to say that my ihelpyouservices forum friend Jason Preece from Summit
Media has outdone Mr Le Roux with his very own Search Engine Glossary,
which boasts 434 terms. Right now Jason's glossary is not available online,
but I've been given permission to incorporate it into this site soon so that
everyone can use this excellent resource. Well done Jason!
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : What SEOs Expect From Their Clients - My article of the same title has sparked an interesting debate in the forums about educating clients in SEO methodology.
28 March 2003 >> Thank God It's Friday! What a crazy week we've had here. For the first time ever, we've had to turn away potential SEO clients because we are fully booked until the end of May. There go my weekends for the next 2 months!
>> Following in the footsteps of LookSmart (now that's a first!) and their partnership with Grub.org, Google Tests Distributed Computing.
>> Microtoon of the Week :
Copyright © 2003 Verity
Intellectual Properties Pty Ltd
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : how to charge for reciprocal link campaigns - Search engine marketers share ideas about how much a link building campaign is worth.
27 March 2003 >> It's funny how the articles you think are not your best turn out to be the most popular. I've had so much positive feedback from my latest article What SEOs Expect of Their Clients and so many requests to republish, it's incredible. Seems there are a lot of frustrated SEOs out there! Thanks for all the great feedback and please keep it coming.
>> Another article about Google Answers has appeared, this time with an Australian perspective.
>> You know how big a search engine must be when their decision to NOT go public makes headlines worldwide. Google have downplayed the possibility of an IPO, for the time being anyway: <snippet>"That's a lot of work, and I'm lazy," Brin joked. "It requires filling out a lot of forms. The S1, in particular, seems like a really long one," he said, referring to the form required by the government to start the IPO process. "Thus far, laziness has won out," he added. "There are so many other things for us to do."</snippet> Nice to know that
procrastination affects the gurus as well as the rest of us
>> A fairly misleading article claims that the pioneers of search engine optimization came from the porn industry and that search engines and search engine optimizers are getting a little too cozy. Yeah, right. The best thing about the article was this gem of a quote from Dana Todd about SEO : “It’s a weird animal, and a lot of companies have a hard time getting a grasp of what we do... It’s so surgical,” she says. “Getting listed on the first page is like getting your product on the third shelf of every Safeway in America.”
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Pay-Per-Click Strategies for Search Engine Marketers - Seems Peter Da Vanzo's latest interview with two respected PPC experts has caused the proverbial storm in a teacup. I can't wait for round two.
26 March 2003 >> Keeping the blog short and sweet today - I'm swamped.
>> Yahoo Australia and New Zealand is apparently ramping up their search services for the region. Peter Crowe, search producer for Yahoo Australia & NZ said that the company is investing heavily to provide a best-of-breed solution to users who are increasingly demanding more from search providers. <snippet>"We've seen a real change in the way users do searches and their expectations have gone through major changes. In the next year we'll see more innovation, and the levels of advancement in search will be major".</snippet>
>> Today is Day 1 of the Search Engine Strategies Sydney Conference and I wish I was there. A big wave to all attendees and speakers - hope it is even bigger and better than last year. Enjoy your free chocolate Magnums and your Google party tomorrow night (remember Chris, you owe me a glow pen!).
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Looks like I missed yesterday's cool thread of the day in my brain-fogged state, so today we have two: The internal link structure of my site - a webmaster asks the experts for feedback on his navigation structure and Looking for SEO - a webmaster gets more than he "bargained" for thanks to the spammy efforts of his past SEO.
25 March 2003 >>
Whoa - apologies for the blog delay but I had a late night last night. Didn't
finish up until about 1.30am *yawwwwn*. (Note to self - NEVER again try to
write a newsletter while watching the Academy Awards). Even with the
distractions, I did manage to publish the latest issue of our Search
Light newsletter in the wee hours. Heck I even finished my latest
article, What SEOs Expect From Their Clients (see below). Plus I went
to sleep happy in the knowledge that fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman won her first
Oscar, Lord of the Rings won 2 and Mike Moore caused more anti-war
controversy. Freedom of Speech is a beautiful thing
>> Speaking of the war, I was very relieved to see that Salam of Baghdad managed to regain his Internet access and make a few short posts to his Blog overnight (see yesterday's blog for the link). It seems I wasn't alone in my concerns. Apparently his site has become so popular that it caused his host to fall over and Blogspot to choke on the traffic!
What SEOs Expect From Their Clients I've seen a lot of articles around lately about how to pick and choose a search engine optimization company. That's fine and dandy, but it often works the other way around in this industry. The most successful SEOs pick and choose their own clients. Good SEOs can spot a tire kicker from a mile off and I know of a few SEOs that quickly "fire" clients that give them too much grief.
>> It seems Google is Ramping up Their Australian Presence with the hiring of more staff. A little birdie tells me that Google is holding their Australian launch party this Thursday night, at a top secret location in Sydney. I'm not going to tell you where it is, but for those lucky few who scored an invitation, expect the best champagne and a harbour view to die for!
>> Apparently "war" has taken over as the top web search topic. Yeah, but what is it good for?
>> FAST has unveiled some flash new Data Search technology thingy. Just don't ask me to explain what it is, as I'm too brain fuzzy at this point.
>> Oh! and a huge THANK YOU to those of you who have already donated a few dollars to this site to help me cover the cost of site hosting/updating and Internet access. It really means a lot to know you appreciate my efforts to bring you the most up to date search engine related info available, especially on days like today when I've had so little sleep! Thank you so much for your financial support and verbal encouragement. I've also had a few people email to say they'd like to offer a link to my site in lieu of a donation. I am extremely grateful for this as links are quite valuable and will help build this site's link popularity and search engine ranking. Thank you so much. Keep linking, keep reading and I'll keep publishing!
24 March 2003 LookSmart Lowers Pay Per Click Pricing Pay Per Click directory LookSmart has announced a number of "enhancements" to their Small Business LookListings this week, including a considerable price reduction. Changes include:
>> It seems LookSmart have finally listened to feedback from advertisers and webmasters about the need for more transparent click tracking and reporting. Or have they? A new FAQ area has been set up to answer questions advertisers might have about the changes. Judging by the number of FAQs devoted to click tracking, LookSmart have received or are expecting many questions about how this new feature works. Personally I thought LookSmart's inclusion of a detailed answer to the FAQ "Why do third-party tracking software packages (like Webtrends) show that I'm not getting as many clicks as LookSmart is reporting?" was very telling. And what of advertisers who signed up after March 18? Looks like they have to pay LookSmart for the privilege of having their clicks tracked. And of course, according to their site, LookSmart recommends that you use a Tracking URL for your LookSmart listings to facilitate your own tracking and comparison with LookSmart traffic reports, rather than relying on using the referrer information that is in your log files. Ah it all becomes clear now. Rely on LookSmart to be more honest than your own log files? For a price? I don't think so. And why the sudden price drop? Could it be that LookListings are no longer the roaring pay-per-click success LookSmart have been claiming? Hmmm...
>> Remember last week I told you about a Baghdad-based blog called Where is Raed? Well I'm becoming concerned for the blog's Editor Salam, who hasn't updated his blog since late on Friday, just before Bush's bombing blitz of "Schlock and Gore" hit the capital. His last post referred to the coalition B52 bombers expected within 2 hours and then it ended. The question now is Where is Salam? If anyone hears anything about his whereabouts, do drop me an email. It would be nice to know he and his family are safe.
>> In an article titled Finding Meaning in a Google World, Forbes Magazine reports on Grokker - a downloadable plug-in that creates a visual/contextual search window similar to Kart00: <snippet>Grokker acts as a plug-in that sits on top of a search engine and, by reading tags written into the data with the XML software language, arranges the results of a search into a ring of spheres or an array of squares labeled to show each one's relationship</snippet>
>> Andy Beal must have heard about my rant on Thursday relating to his referral to the Title Tag as a META Tag. Yep, Mr Beal has since added the following disclaimer sentence to his article about Title Tags: "While a Title Tag isn't really a Meta tag the two are commonly discussed as such". Um, not really Andy.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Title Description Tag? - If it wasn't bad enough to call a Title Tag a META Tag, this webmaster has it totally backwards, insisting there is such a thing as a "Title Description Tag". That should make Andy feel better :-).
21 March 2003 >> ZDNet reports that Yahoo has finally sealed the deal on their purchase of Inktomi.
>> In his very good article Working Well With Your Search Engine Optimization Firm, new Search Engine Guide columnist, Ross Dunn, addresses that most crucial of factors in any SEO campaign: patience.
>> Speaking of Search Engine Guide, the site's dedicated and respected editor, Robert Clough, has been interviewed by French site Enfin. Great interview! It was nice to finally learn more about Robert's background and the history of SEG.
>> Another good interview to check out is this one. It's eBrandManagement co-founder and fellow IHelpYou Forums moderator Alan Perkins being interviewed by the editor of Achieve Net Profits.
>> Vietnam may have been the first "televised" war but Iraq is no doubt the first "online" war with so many news sources and blogs reporting developments live from Bagdad. Yesterday I discovered a fascinating blog based in Bagdad called Where is Raed? The blog's editor updates his page (in English) every few hours with news of the latest attacks and air raids, scurrying outside to set up his satellite dish. His reports are often more accurate and detailed than any coming via BBC or CNN and certainly less biased. Keep your head down and your satellite dish up Salam!
Just In! - Just received pre-press release advice from LookSmart announcing key changes to their Small Business Listings, including reduced fees and enhanced campaign tracking and reporting. About time! I'll gather up more info and report in detail shortly. In the meantime, here is a snippet from the forthcoming release: <snippet>SAN FRANCISCO, March 20, 2003 - LookSmart (Nasdaq: LOOK, ASX: LOK), a global leader in search, today announced a series of enhancements for its Small Business Listings service. The new features, which include upgraded tracking, expanded reporting, more flexible listing management and reduced fees, will make it easier for small business customers to manage and optimize their paid search listing campaigns on the LookSmart Network.</snippet>
>> Microtoon of the Week :
Copyright © 2003 Verity
Intellectual Properties Pty Ltd
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Advice on listing - One webmaster's crusade to get his site listed in the Open Directory.
20 March 2003 >> We're in a somber mood here in the office today. On the eve of WWIII it seems rather trivial to be tying ourselves up in knots over search engines. And look at that - according to my spell checker, WWII is a recognized term but WWIII is a mistake. Yeah no kidding!
>> Search Day reviews WeatherBug, a service that brings you local weather from more than 6,000 weather stations, with a search box that lets you get results from five major search engines.
>> An article on AtNewYork.com reveals that Google thought they could have saved TheGlobe.com from financial collapse. The declaration came from Tim Armstrong, Google's vice president of U.S. sales during a one-day gathering of search-industry executives organized by U.S. agency Bancorp Piper Jaffray. "Google could have made TheGlobe profitable", Armstrong said in his address. At the event, Espotting's CEO Daniel Ishag was also quick to quash rumors of a take-over by Yahoo! "Last time I checked, Espotting is not being bought by Yahoo!, as many rumors have been flying around," he told the audience. Ah, but when did he last check?
>> An Aussie has been chosen to head up ICANN. Australia's Dr Paul Twomey has been appointed the new president and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
>> Google has cemented a deal with Daum Communications, Korea's biggest online portal and largest email service provider. Google's senior vice president of worldwide sales and field operations, Omid Kordestani, said that Daum subscribers would benefit from Google's fast and comprehensive search results: "With this partnership, we will be able to increase Google's exposure in Korea, one of the most important internet markets in Asia", he said.
>> It's a pet peeve of Jill Whalen's and fast becoming one of mine too. Why do some SEOs insist on calling the Title Tag a META Tag when it isn't a META Tag at all? I found two instances of this today, the first one in an (otherwise solid) article by Andy Beal. "The first part of any Meta Tag is the 'Title' tag" he says, before continuing with "The Title tag is pretty much the most effective Meta Tag". Andy, Andy, Andy, you are wrong, wrong, wrong! The Title Tag is simply that - a Title Tag, part of the Title Element as clearly defined by the W3C World Wide Web Consortium and NOT part of the META Data. Then I found this article today from the Indy Star - more proof that search engine optimization has gone mainstream. I was enjoying the article until I got to the part where SEO Nikki Jackson was quoted as saying: "Each page has a different 'meta title tag' of 50 to 80 characters, which is the most significant component of search-engine optimization" Aarrrrgh! For crying out loud, there is NO SUCH THING as a "META Title Tag"! Let's hope she was misquoted.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : curiouser and curiouser - A webmaster struggles to understand why a link to his site is outranking his actual site for his keyphrase.
19 March 2003 >> Search Engine Watch has launched it's own RSS News Feed and Danny Sullivan is (understandably) pretty excited about it. Congrats Danny! He tells me that he created his feed entirely by hand - kinda like the one I set up for this site with the help of Dan Thies. Danny will also be publishing a detailed article on RSS feeds in next month's Search Engine Update, to help webmasters understand how to set up their own newsfeeds. As he pointed out to me, if you aren't a blogger, "there doesn't seem to be any simple tool you can use to walk you through the process". This is something he's looking to address. Meanwhile, you can now grab headlines from Search Engine Watch via this XML link: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew.xml
>> Guest Writer for Search Day Laura Thieme looks at how her client was Stung by Unethical Search Engine Optimization. This article struck a nerve with me, because a similar incident happened to us about a year ago. The moral of the story? Cowboy SEOs suck!
>> More congratulations are in order for Search Engine Watch. Apparently PC Magazine have named the site one of the Top 100 web sites in the Computing category. Well done Danny and team!
>> According to this page on the Grub.org site, it seems Chris Ridings was right on target with his views yesterday about a partnership between LookSmart and Grub. Apparently the data collected by Grub will be used to update both LookSmart and WiseNut.
>> AdPile is a new "meta ad engine" that provides a way to search paid listings on Overture and Google AdWords via topic. At present it's only a downloadable utility, but an online version is apparently in the works. BUT either Google doesn't like it or the site hasn't been live long enough to develop a PageRank beyond zero. Hmmmm...
>> Last month, the New York Post published a rumor that Yahoo was seeking to buy European pay-per-click search engine eSpotting in a bid to quash competitor Overture. eSpotting still denies the rumor, but Yahoo are keeping Mum. Danny Sullivan has weighed in with his opinion on the alleged deal.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Anyone tried "Grub"???? - Discussions about the new distributed crawler and its relationship with LookSmart.
18 March 2003 >> I don't usually like to discuss politics, but I just sat transfixed to the live TV coverage of British MP Robin Cook's resignation speech in British Parliament. To echo the sentiments of BBC political editor Andrew Marr, it was: "Without doubt one of the most effective brilliant resignation speeches in modern British politics".
>>
Yesterday I discovered an interesting new search experiment: Grub.org.
Grub is a distributed crawler that works in the same manner as the famed SETI
experiment (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial life via radio waves). It users
computer processor power provided by volunteer Internet surfers worldwide to
crawl the Internet and collect web pages for later collation into a type of
super search engine. The following description is taken from Grub's web
site: Great idea, but according to Chris Ridings, rumors are circulating that LookSmart might just be looking to get their hands grubby. Uh Oh!
>> An article on BusinessWeek Online demonstrates that Search Engines Are Picking Up Steam and touts the growth and effectiveness of pay-per-click search engines.
>> Search Day looks at The Second Eigenvalue of the Google Matrix as a way to calculate PageRank. Yeah, whatever.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Peace t-shirt arrest - I'll let this thread speak for itself. Hypocrisy - Coming soon to a mall near you!
17 March 2003 >>
Happy St Patrick's
Day!
>> I was planning on writing a detailed article about Google's new Content Targeted Ads this week, but given that Andrew Goodman of Traffick.com has done such a good job of it, I think I'll save my breath and suggest you read his instead.
>>
This is not strictly search engine news, but it did make the Moreover search
engine headlines: Stuff.co.nz,
New Zealand's leading news and information web site, has launched
its own shopping site, Stuff
on Sale. Stuff on Sale director Richard Wyles says: Mr Wyles says many of the businesses represented on the site have good websites already but "It's a bit like hanging a poster in the middle of a forest – they can't be found". That's a new twist on the old "can't be found" analogy. At least he didn't say "build it and they will come" or "billboard at the end of a dead-end street".
>> I found another anti-Google article on the weekend. Rather than express my thoughts here, I'll let you read the email I sent the "journalist" responsible:
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : PageRank experiments - Webmasters discuss the value of trying to work out Google's PageRank algorithm and whether or not cross-linking your own sites is an effective technique to boost PageRank.
14 March 2003 >> More search engine metrics - Chris Ridings of Search Guild claims that you can use Google's Fresh Search crawl of blogs and news feeds to determine the popularity of search engines by how often they are mentioned: "I realised that if you do a search through Fresh Search then you can gauge the amount of free publicity anything is getting. Kind of a cross between Googlefight and New services." According to his method, Google is now twice as popular as nearest rival, Yahoo. But don't forget those NetRatings market reach figures below, Chris.
Referrals From Search Engines on the Increase According to research
gathered by WebSideStory's StatMarket,
search engines and direct navigation now make up the large majority of referrals to Web sites. The breakdown of data per country was even more interesting. A year ago, search engines accounted for 8 percent of all referrals in the U.S., while this year they accounted for 15 percent. In Australia, search engine referrals increased from 10.9 percent to 17 percent. Spain had the most striking increase in search engine referrals, from 10.8 percent to 21.5 in 12 months. "People are more efficient in their Web use," said Geoff Johnston, Vice President of Product Marketing for StatMarket. "The trend is that they either navigate directly to a Web site they already know, or use a search engine to find a new one."
>> Microtoon of the Week : (Googletoons are now called Microtoons out of respect for Google's trademark):
Copyright © 2003 Verity
Intellectual Properties Pty Ltd
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Will Google ever get a grip on spam? - as Google becomes ever more popular, search engine spammers seek out new ways of thwarting the spam filters. In this thread, webmasters show evidence of Google spam and complain about the situation.
13 March 2003 >> I'm NOT happy. Today I learned that pay-per-click search engine Overture have apparently taken their "test" relationship with much hated scumware Gator to the next level. If this rumor appears to be founded (see story below), I am going to cease all PPC campaigns with Overture in protest.
Overture To Partner With "ScumWare" More evidence has come to light that suggests that pay-per-click search leader Overture is heading towards a permanent partnership with controversial online advertising network Gator Corp. Gator gained infamy 18 months ago for its ability to install 3rd party ad software on computers without the user's express knowledge. Gator delivers pop-up ads to people who download their online wallet software. Unfortunately many persons downloading the software don't realize they are agreeing to receive ads in exchange for its use. Critics of Gator and similar software call it "scumware", "spyware" or "thiefware". There are even web sites like Scumware.com dedicated to spreading the word about so-called scumware to non-savvy Internet users who may have installed it by accident. It's not just webmasters who dislike Gator either. If you "Google" Gator, you see it has its very own category in the Google Web Directory with a whole collection of web pages about it under the heading Allegedly Unethical Firms. The controversy surrounding Gator prompted a number of lawsuits, the latest one involving some of America's largest news agencies. That suit was settled out of court last month for an undisclosed sum. In January, Gator launched a new paid search product called Search Scout. The software triggers a pop-under window when Gator users search on Google, Yahoo and similar search sites. The pop-up window lists pay per click search results on competing search services, attracting a lot of criticism for taking away revenue from the original search sites. At the time of launch, Overture, Terra Lycos and FindWhat.com all confirmed that they were undertaking Search Scout ad testing with Gator. Today, in an email to a concerned advertiser published in a search engine forum, Overture has hinted at a more permanent relationship with Gator, angering advertisers: "I understand that you may have some concerns about Gator. There has been a lot of recent media coverage about "spyware," "scumware," or applications that embed themselves into an Internet
user's browser and possibly track online behavior. Overture has evaluated
Gator's practices and determined that they are not consistent with what the media defines as "spyware." Just what methods Overture used to "evaluate" Gator's practices is not clear. What is clear is that other pay-per-click engines such as LookSmart have re-thought their relationship with Gator and terminated it. Meanwhile, some Overture advertisers are threatening to boycott Overture if a formal arrangement with Gator proceeds, concerned that their own Overture pay-per-click ads will appear on the Gator network without their express permission. For now though, Overture's relationship with Gator appears solid, possibly jeopardizing their relationship with their own advertisers.
>> According to CNET, Google has chosen Dublin as the site of its new European headquarters. I wonder if they're going to hire any locals? I can just hear "Paddy McDougal of Google speaking" in that lovely lilting Irish accent.
>> Last month, Danny Sullivan updated the Search Engine Ratings section of Search Engine Watch and I've finally gotten around to sharing the latest figures here. In terms of audience reach for U.S. based home and work Internet users for January 2003, here are the five most popular search engines:
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Overture and Gator - angry Overture advertisers and SEOs vent over the alleged Overture/Gator relationship.
12 March 2003 >> New search engine Roogle allows you to exclusively search web logs (i.e. RSS or XML feeds).
>> News 24 investigates the new social phenomenon of Googling in Let's Google Each Other.
>> Psssst - wanna buy a used engine? Disney puts InfoSeek up for sale.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Please help with an overview of what makes a site SE friendly - forum members and moderators pitch in to help explain SEO basics to a beginner.
11 March 2003 >> According to a New York Times article, U.S. portal CitySearch is attempting to beat its competitors by introducing its own search engine.
Google Beats Overture to Disneyland Google announced this week that it has done a deal with Walt Disney's Go.com to provide paid search results in place of those previously provided by competitor Overture. The deal, announced Monday, sees Google providing algorithmic-based or "organic" search results as well as sponsored links on Go.com. Later in the year, Google will also provide site-specific results and sponsored links for popular portals Disney.com, Movies.com and FamilyFun.com. "Google's web search and sponsored links programs enable us to offer our visitors highly useful, comprehensive and relevant information, improving their overall experience on our sites," said Larry Shapiro, executive vice president of Operations and Business Development for WDIG. "From a business perspective, Google's sponsored links program creates a significant revenue opportunity for us." As the advertising potential of the search industry heats up, this latest deal is another strategic move by Google to remove pieces from the board in their bitterly competitive "chess game" against rival Overture.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Choosing a Title - a look at how to structure the keywords in your page titles to achieve the best search engine rankings for your site.
10 March 2003 >> According to Yahoo News, security flaws were found in Blogger.com last month that could have enabled hackers to publish content on Web logs owned by others. Google-owned Pyra Networks have since patched up the vulnerabilities.
>> We're celebrating in the office today. This site has finally scored the elusive Google Page Rank of 7. Hooray! She might be late but Google girl is dancing a merry jig this month. Some observers have noticed that the long overdue Open Directory RDF dump last month has made a significant difference to the Google results. We've noticed the same thing, with client sites that were added to the ODP following the last RDF dump achieving excellent results in Google as a result of the current dance. Hope the dance is as good to you all!
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Google February Dance - Not surprisingly, the current Google Dance is the talk of the search engine forums at present.
7 March 2003 >> No blog today as I'm taking a well-earned day off. But I will throw in a Googletoon:
>> Googletoon of the Week :
Copyright © 2003 Verity
Intellectual Properties Pty Ltd
6 March 2003 >> According to it's developer, Andre Le Roux, Search Engine Dictionary is "is by far the most comprehensive glossary of search engine terms on the Net", with 340 terms and counting.
>> An article on CNET claims that executives of leading web search companies see rosy days ahead for their technlology.
>> Lycos invites designers to Hack HotBot.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Acceptable SEO - Two SEOs argue amongst themselves about the definition of "acceptable" SEO.
5 March 2003 >> Search Day reports on AllTheWeb's new look and new features.
>> Apparently, Google's Popularity Makes it a Media Target. No kidding.
KartOO Search Engine Launches New Version Marketing Manager for visual search engine KartOO, Alexandre Dos Santos, emailed to tell me about the launch of their new site, which went live today. If you haven't already tried KartOO, now's the time to give it a whirl. Unique in design and presentation, KartOO uses Flash technology to provide a graphical representation of your search query. The new KartOO home page is extremely clean and uncluttered, even more so than Google's. It's actually a bit too clean for my liking - I couldn't find a link to information about the company and clicking on the help link results in a 404 error (not a good start for a new site launch). KartOO's real strength is in it's ability to provide advanced search options in a graphical context and explore the visual relationship between search queries - just perfect for you left-brainers out there. For example, type in a search for "free ranking report" and (after the groovy floating genie has a think about it), you'll see a page appear that has a series of bubbles and words on it. The words are actually keywords or topics related to your search. The bubbles actually represent the top 10 search results for that query. The top 5 domains from the list are also displayed as text links at the top left of the page, with the remaining 5 available by clicking on the arrow next to them. Below that is a list of related search topics and below that are 3 sponsored links, presumably paid listings from Overture. Move your mouse over the bubbles and you'll see a series of lines appear linking the bubble to some of the keywords on the page. This displays which keywords are to be found on the site represented by the bubble. When you hover over a bubble, you'll also notice a site title and description appear on the left hand side. For example, if you hover over the bubble for High Search Engine Ranking, you'll see our page title "High Search Engine Ranking - Web Rank Free Report" and page description pop up on the left hand side. Under that description in dark blue font is listed the search engine that provided the link (MSN) AND the exact page URL that is ranked for the search query "free ranking report". For me, this is the most valuable feature of KartOO: the ability to see which search engine has provided the title/description for my listing on various search queries. When you move your mouse over the bubbles, you'll also notice a red arrow appear at the top. Click on this to bring up a series of menu options, including:
Move your mouse over the keywords and you'll see a series of lines appearing that link multiple bubbles to a particular keyword, demonstrating which of the sites use the keyword in question. For example, move your mouse over the word "request" and you'll see that 3 sites (including High Search Engine Ranking) use that keyword on their page. A plus sign (+) and minus sign (-) also appear, allowing you to "add" or "subtract" topics to refine your search. Now while this all seems quite complex, this is actually KartOO's Basic Search version. Clicking on the Expert Search version adds multiple bubbles and keywords to the page, complicating the relationships between them even further. I wish I could tell you what the major difference is, but unfortunately, KartOO haven't made their user guide available and there seem to be no instructions currently available on the site. Still, I'm sure KartOO will be a regular bookmark for those of you who like visual thought processes and are partial to advanced search options.
>> LookSmart has issued another in its series of haphazard marketing newsletters A Closer Look. The last issue was sent months ago, so I'm not sure if it is a quarterly publication or one of those "whenever we get the time" publications like SuccessWork's annoying TagLine newsletter. This issue, LookSmart have roped successful search engine marketer Bruce Clay into writing a column that pats them on the back for introducing a new product in their pay and keep paying Small Business Listings series: <snippet>"LookSmart has decided to relax a policy that had previously limited most customers to listing just their home page. This trial program allows Small Business Listings customers to list up to five pages from their Web sites. This is great news, because now you and I can have several listings in a campaign where each listing drives customers to a different URL."</snippet> As I suspected a few months back after they launched an Australian affiliate program, LookSmart have now launched a reseller program for their U.S. pay per click product. The new LookListings Reseller Program offers affiliates USD20 for every customer referred.
>> Speaking of newsletters, Google have launched a new email newsletter called Google AdWords News™. I can't link to it because it appears to be email only. Sent to current Google AdWords advertisers, the newsletter aims to assist advertisers to make better use of their accounts: <snippet>"We've created it especially to help you get even more from your advertising program. Each edition will profile current advertisers, offer tips and tricks for improving performance and keep you informed about the latest AdWords features"</snippet> The first issue also aims to clear the current confusion about Google's Content-Targeted Advertising™: <snippet>"Here's how it works: When someone browses for information on acoustic guitars on a music site, for example, an AdWords ad for acoustic guitars would appear on that content page. Content providers for this innovative service currently include such sites as HowStuffWorks, Knight Ridder Digital, BURST! Media, Weather Underground, and Google Groups."</snippet> I'll be posting a more detailed article on Google's Content-Targeted Advertising™ here soon...
>> Lots of emails from search engine P.R. departments today. Apparently InfoSpace has launched a Bulk Search Inclusion Program to compliment their existing paid inclusion program: <snippet>"The new program provides medium-to-large online businesses, those with more than 500 URLs, or Search Engine Marketing (SEM) organizations and advertising agencies that represent clients of this size, the ability to promote those Web sites and pages to more than 30.2 million potential customers (comScore MediaMetrix, January 2003) through the search indexes of Excite Search (http://search.excite.com ), Dogpile (www.dogpile.com), WebCrawler (www.webcrawler.com) and MetaCrawler (www.metacrawler.com), among others."</snippet> I didn't even know they had a paid inclusion program! Must be popular.
>> In his latest Search Engine Update (subscribers only) newsletter delivered today, Danny Sullivan interviews Overture President Ted Meisel on Overture's acquisitions of FAST/AllTheWeb web search and AltaVista. He also talks to MSN Search's General Manager John Krass about how the Overture deals have affected them.
>> Cool Forum Thread of the Day : Competition uses our Company Name as Keyword - A company complains about their rival bidding on their incorporated company name as a keyword on Overture.
4 March 2003 >>
Don't you just love it when your competitors feel so threatened that they make
stuff up about you? I had one of our potential clients forward an email he had
received from another SEO provider, claiming that all our documented high
rankings were made up, that our services were "outrageously
overpriced" and our promised results were "unfounded". Not only
that but this so called SEO expert suggested that better results could be had
by purchasing WebPosition Gold and an hour's subscription to Word Tracker.
>> The P.R. gang at Lycos sent me an email today to tell me that Lycos is currently offering discounted Paid Inclusion services. This is something I already knew about and have been taking advantage of for the past 2 weeks. For a limited time only, Lycos is offering 12.5 percent discount on your first URL and 15 percent discount in your sec |
highlighted search engine news headlines to your site. 
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