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| The Axandra newsletter archive - 6 April 2004 |
| Welcome to the latest issue of the Search Engine Facts newsletter.
This week, we're giving you insider tips for your rankings on the new Yahoo search engine.
In the news: Google announces a web mail service that raises privacy concerns and a lot of other news about Google, Overture, Yahoo and AltaVista.
Table of contents:
We hope that you enjoy this newsletter and that it helps you to get more out of your web site. Please pass this newsletter on to your friends.
Best regards,
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| 1. Insider tips for your Yahoo rankings |
"Yahoo_Mike" is the nickname of a Yahoo employee who is very helpful in responding to questions of webmasters in the forums at WebmasterWorld.com.
During the last few weeks, Yahoo_Mike gave many tips that may help you to improve the ranking of your web site on the new Yahoo search engine.
- About getting non-profit sites listed in Site Match
The Yahoo employee said that the first step is to send an email with your site information to psm@yahoo-inc.com to see if it qualifies for the program. Someone would follow up with you if additional information was required.
- About being listed in Yahoo after the Inktomi program has run out
The Yahoo employee said that web sites that participated in the Inktomi paid inclusion program that were already crawled by Yahoo would remain in Yahoo search after the end of the Inktomi program on 15th April.
- About not paying the pay per click (PPC) costs
The Yahoo employee said that your Site Match URLs would no longer be available until you added funds to your account when your PPC budget ran out. If your URL had been previously crawled, then the URL would continue to appear because it remained in the Yahoo crawler index.
- About the speed of Site Match
The Yahoo employee said that it could take up to 4 business days for new Site Match URLs to be reviewed and added to the Yahoo search results.
- About Yahoo showing free crawled web sites
The Yahoo employee said that Yahoo search results had begun showing free crawled sites when it had launched in February and that the crawler continued to add new sites and pages every day. According to Yahoo_Mike, it can take several weeks for a web site to be visited or recrawled if you submit it via the Add URL program.
- About being listed in the Yahoo directory and the effect on Site Match
The Yahoo employee said that if your web site was listed in the Yahoo directory it would also be crawled. That crawl would happen on the same frequency as other web sites on the web. Web sites in the Yahoo directory should be crawled within 7 weeks.
- About being listed in the Yahoo directory but not in the search engine
According to the Yahoo employee, it can also happen that a web site that is listed in the Yahoo directory is not listed in the Yahoo search engine results. The Yahoo directory is reviewed by editors only. Sites from Yahoo's Add URL feature, Site Match service or crawler are reviewed both algorithmically and by editors.
The Yahoo employee said that there are some techniques, such as hidden text, that a human editor would not detect. However, the algorithmic evaluation would catch these problems. The site would be accepted into the directory but not into the Yahoo! Search results.
For the Yahoo directory, this would be alright because the directory listings are not ranked by relevance and so they are not influenced by hidden text. Hidden text is in violation of Yahoo's editorial guidelines because it is an attempt to influence the relevance of the search results.
This means that the inclusion in the directory does not guarantee inclusion in the normal search results although it makes the inclusion easier.
(Editor's note: We've always warned webmasters about the risks of using shady search engine optimization methods such as hidden text or doorway pages. Search engines don't like them at all. If you want to achieve good results, you should focus on ethical search engine optimization).
Yahoo_Mike also said that another reason for being listed in the Yahoo directory but not in Yahoo Search is that your web site cannot be crawled because the web page uses Flash technology. If you want to find out if your web site is optimized for a high ranking on Yahoo, try IBP's Top 10 Optimizer.
Source: Yahoo_Mike's quotes are taken from the WebmasterWorld forum. A subscription is required to read all postings in that forum. This Search Engine Facts newsletter will keep you informed about the latest trends in search engine rankings and is free.
If you want to know more about Yahoo's Site Match program and if you want to find out whether it works for your web site, read this Yahoo Site Match article.
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| 2. Search engine news of the week |
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Google to offer free e-mail with paid listings
"Google forged ahead with expansion plans [...] with the news that it would release a free, Web-based e-mail system to compete with those from Yahoo and Microsoft and potentially greatly expand the reach of its paid listings.
The e-mail system, called Gmail, combines Google's search technology with an Internet e-mail service. Gmail organizes e-mail by topic and lets users search for e-mails similarly to using Google's search engine. Gmail users will not need to use files to organize their e-mail. "
Editor's note: Google's Gmail services is discussed controversily because it raised some privacy issues (see articles of the week below).
Google unveils "Smart Pricing" for content ads
"In a move intended to 'normalize' per-click prices based on the value clicks deliver to advertisers, Google will overhaul its AdWords pricing system for contextual ads. The company plans to eventually roll the pricing model out across its paid search listings, too.
The system, known as 'smart pricing,' assigns each click a value based on a variety of factors, according to Google. Variables include site on which the ad appears, and the portion of the site where the ad appears."
Google's shopping site makes debut on main web page
"Froogle, the long-awaited shopping site from search leader Google, made its official debut last week [...]"
Editor's note: See the new Froogle tab on Google's home page.
Google sued over licensing spat
"Website analytics technology developer Digital Envoy has filed a lawsuit [...] against Google, charging the search-engine operator with abusing a licensing agreement between the two companies."
Google inks deal with BellSouth
"Google Inc. and BellSouth [...] announced a multi-year agreement in which Google's Internet search engine will be available through the telecommunications carrier's customer portal."
Google, Yahoo impose ad ban on online casinos
"The popular online search engines run by Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. are banning ads from online casinos, reacting to a U.S. crackdown on Internet gambling.
[...] Google expects to drop all casino ads by the end of this month. [...] Yahoo is simultaneously phasing out the casino ads in its U.S. market, but allowing them to continue to appear in 14 other countries where the company operates Web sites."
Overture extends search agreements with CNN.com and ESPN.com, signs new deal with WSJ.com
"Overture Services [...] has extended its existing agreement with CNN.com [...] In addition, the company [...] has signed a new distribution agreement with the Wall Street Journal Online (WSJ.com) and [...] has extended and enhanced its existing agreement with ESPN.com. All three deals are multi-year agreements."
Overture takes search ads to U.K. phones
"U.K. mobile phones will soon sport advertiser-sponsored search engine links after two major players struck a deal with Internet search specialist Overture Services.
Vodafone and France Telecom-owned Orange will begin displaying the ads later this spring on their Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) portals Vodafone live and Orange World [...]"
Search engine newslets
- The search results on AltaVista and AllTheWeb are now powered by the Yahoo search engine.
- The popular directory dmoz.org now accepts RSS and Atom feeds. Data from this directory is now used to enhance Yahoo results.
- Vibrant Media has released its IntelliTxt advertising system, offering contextual advertising on 150 content web sites, including IGN and Popular Mechanics.
- Penn Media, the world's largest email publisher with over 60 million subscribers and 900+ publications, has announced Context Plus, a program that lets advertisers place 75-word ads inside newsletters within 44 different content channels.
- Rumors have it that Microsoft intends to buy the search engine company Ask Jeeces Inc. and its search engines Ask.com and Teoma.com.
- The UK version of LookSmart now redirects to the UK Net Guide search engine.
- Yahoo has added a popup blocking tool to its Yahoo Companion Toolbar.
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Google's Gmail raises concerns
"The Gmail service hasn't even officially launched, but it is already alienating some who are worried that Google will snoop on their private electronic conversations. [...]
Google officials, including co-founder Larry Page, said such concerns are unfounded, noting that company computers, not people, will be analyzing the e-mail messages and matching them to ads in a database.
The company posted a privacy policy on its Web site Wednesday night that promises that 'No human reads your mail to target ads or other information without your consent.' [...]
'It's an interference into an area where people have enjoyed a great deal of privacy,' [director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center] Hoofnagle said. 'It's like a telemarketer listening in to your phone call and then trying to sell you something.'''
Google mail is evil - privacy advocates
"Google's Gmail privacy policy points out that your email will be retained even after you close your account. [...] 'Indeed, residual copies of email may remain on our systems, even after you have deleted them from your mailbox or after the termination of your account.'
At a time when the American Library Association is advising librarians to destroy records of borrowing as soon as they can, to protect users privacy, it's an odd time to be boasting about infinite retention."
Search prototype gets the picture
"Think of it as Google meets Etch A Sketch. Researchers at Purdue University have developed a search engine that retrieves results based on an image or a sketch. Draw a picture of a wing nut, and the engine will search a database and retrieve all the images that match the drawing."
Search engine mania
"The Internet is getting to be more and more like Hollywood. Successful movies spawn numerous copycats, and this is now happening with search engines as well."
New search engine uses old technology
"A system used when the internet was in its infancy may be the answer to more thorough search engines, Chinese researchers say."
Google's April Fool's joke: Google opens new office on moon
"Google is interviewing candidates for engineering positions at our lunar hosting and research center, opening late in the spring of 2007."
Google's old hardware
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