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| The Axandra newsletter archive - 18 May 2004 |
| Welcome to the latest issue of the Search Engine Facts newsletter.
This week, we're trying to find out if there really are thousands of search engines and if you should submit your web site to them.
In the news: Google now supports banners in AdSense and publishes its own blog. Google groups now competes with Yahoo Groups, Yahoo takes Google's spot on CNN and more.
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. Facts of the week: The myth of the 50,000 search engines |
There are submission services (and spam email messages) that promise to submit your web site to 50,000 search engines. Some web site promotion tools also claim that they can submit your web site to thousands of search engines.
Thousands of search engines?
There aren't thousands of search engines on the Internet. Period. The majority of these 50,000 so called "search engines" are free for all (FFA) link pages or special interest web pages.
Submitting your web page to thousands of FFA sites means that you'll end up with thousands of spam email messages.
In addition, you won't receive a single visitor when you submit your web site about office equipment to a directory of poets in Poland.
There's only a handful of search engines that can really bring visitors to your web site. As always, it's quality that matters, not quantity. For this reason, you should concentrate on the important search engines when you submit your web site to search engines.
Which search engines are important?
Currently, there are only three major players: Google, Yahoo and MSN Search. They are responsible for the bigger part of the search engine traffic you can get because they also power other search engines, for example the search engine on AOL.com displays Google results.
Then there are search engines that are not so popular but they can bring you some additional visitors, for example Ask Jeeves and Teoma.
In addition, there are country specific search engines. If you have a German web site, you should also submit to the popular German search engines, for instance Fireball.de.
What about directories?
Directories are different from search engines because all web site submissions are reviewed by humans. There are several directories where your web site should be listed. The most important one is The Open Directory Project at www.dmoz.org.
You should also submit to topic specific search engines. If your web site sells garden equipment, you should submit your web site to specific garden directories. Even if they don't send you some visitors, they could improve the link popularity of your web site which helps your ranking in other search engines.
Where can I get a list of all important search engines and directories?
In the free demo version of the web site promotion tool IBP, you can find a list of all important search engines and directories. It also lists country specific search engines and special interest directories. Just click the "Supported search engines" button in IBP's main window.
Needless to say that you can use IBP to submit to all these search engines and directories, too.
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| 2. Search engine news of the week |
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Google enhances online advertising service ahead of IPO
"Google [...] is adding images to its online advertising facility [...] The service will be built into Google's existing AdWords system and images will be able to be uploaded by the advertisers as part of their campaign management. [...] Images will appear in one of four formats -- banner ads, leaderboard ads, skyscrapers and inline rectangles."
Google groups 2 beta brings personalization features
"A beta version of an overhauled Google Groups has made its debut among the company's plethora of online services. [...] Google Groups 2 sports a redesigned user interface that enables users to track, sort and mark up favorite topics and conversations. In fashion with MSN's Communities and Yahoo!'s Groups, Google Groups 2 allows users to design their own Web sites, mailing lists and newsletters."
Google to give new advertisers jumpstart
"Google is angling for new AdWords advertisers with the promise of a helping hand for those who open new accounts and make a $299 pre-payment.
Marketers participating in the new offering, called Jumpstart, have Google 'specialists' assigned to write ads, choose relevant keywords, and set cost-per-click amounts -- within a specified budget -- designed to maximize ad exposure. Google laid out the terms of the program on its Web site, although it hasn't yet been officially announced."
Google blog somewhat less than 'bloggy'
"Google has officially started publishing a corporate Web log, keeping up with the Joneses it aspires to serve. [...] Despite the breezy tone, however, the effort is apparently not as offhand as one might think. In a move that seems out of character with the informality of blogging, Google edited itself in a Monday note about the Mountain View, Calif., company's recent expansion to Bangalore, India.
In an earlier, more lighthearted version of the posting, Google said too much has been made out of U.S. companies outsourcing jobs in India. A later version of the note, posted Tuesday without identifying the changes, takes a less opinionated tone over what is a topic of heated political debate."
Yahoo! blasts back at Google
"Yahoo! used its annual financial analyst day to announce an expanded email service. With Google's beta GMail service grabbing so much attention, Yahoo! will expand the amount of free storage to 100 MB per user over the summer, and a rather vague promise of 'unlimited' storage for paid users."
Ask Jeeves lays out plans for Interactive Search holdings
"Ask Jeeves will explore search personalization and re-design the MyWay portal now that the $500 million acquisition of Interactive Search Holdings is complete, the company's CEO said in a conference call with investors this week.
'ISH is going away, but its brands are staying and its brands are now part of Ask Jeeves,' said Steve Berkowitz, CEO of Ask Jeeves."
Yahoo takes Google's spot on CNN
"Yahoo on Thursday said the online leg of the Cable News Network has tapped it to replace rival Google to power its search results, a deal that underscores the heated competition between the two companies for search dollars.
The switchover, which went live on Wednesday, means that Yahoo will provide algorithmic and paid results whenever CNN users conduct a search query on the site."
Overture eyes Canadian market
"The paid search division of Yahoo! has partnered with pay-per-click network NetWorldMedia, Overture officials said at this week's Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo."
CitySearch teams with Overture
"CitySearch [...] has signed a deal with Yahoo's Overture Services to run the latter's paid ads in its local search listings for select cities and categories. [...] Overture ads will appear in categories where CitySearch has available ad inventory, such as home services, professional services and medical specialists."
Search engines delete adware company
"Yahoo and Google have disabled links to controversial adware maker WhenU after the company was accused of engaging in unauthorized practices aimed at boosting its search rankings [...]
The practices came to light following an investigation by antispyware crusader Ben Edelman, a Harvard student who found that the company used a technique known as 'cloaking' to dupe search engines into favorably listing decoy Web pages that direct people to other destinations, once they click on the link."
Search engine newslets
- FyberSearch is a new search engine that wants to deliver better results. At the moment, their database seems quite limited.
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Google's ad plans provoke grumbling
"Google's success in Web advertising is fast becoming bittersweet for other companies that rely on ads to pay the bills. [...] Google's making a public statement that the only value of a banner is when it's clicked upon, and it flies in the face of all the research done in the last five years that demonstrates the impact a banner can have on brand awareness and purchase intent."
Just how different is Google?
"There's no denying the founders do things their way. Look closer, however, and those vaunted distinctions start to seem superficial. [...]
But then, if you look deep in the prospectus at the list of executives and the number of shares each owns, lo and behold, Larry Page owns 38,593,700 shares and Sergey Brin owns 38,490,304 shares. Thus, Larry owns 103,396 more shares than Sergey. So the cynic tells me that for all the talk about 'trust' and 'healthy debate,' when push comes to shove, Larry gets the final say."
Google's ad plans provoke grumbling
"Google's success in Web advertising is fast becoming bittersweet for other companies that rely on ads to pay the bills. [...] Google's making a public statement that the only value of a banner is when it's clicked upon, and it flies in the face of all the research done in the last five years that demonstrates the impact a banner can have on brand awareness and purchase intent."
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IBP has been awarded the Smart Software Award
IBP also has received two new 5 star ratings!
| Final Download awarded IBP another 5 out of 5 rating: "IBP is the multi award winning web site promotion tool that helps you to get more revenue with high search engine rankings in Google, Yahoo and all other major search engines."
IBP also has received 5 out of 5 stars from ShareUp.com.
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"This program rocks"
"I started a new web site www.theworryclub.com on a whim, just for fun, thinking nothing will come of it. But, I also used the wonderful IBP programs to insure that the design elements and content were search engine ready.
I designed a site with both imbedded flash, but insured that static links using my selected keyword phrases were used as well as phrases in alt text and more, as the IBP guidelines indicated on comparison sites and my own site analysis.
After following all guidelines, within 2 weeks, I gained 1 number 1 and number 2 placement on both Google and Yahoo for the phrase worry help, competing against 4 million other web pages. Now my site, which was made for fun, had to have much more added benefit as traffic increased. Love IBP."
Bonnie, President, The Worry Club
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