Archive for October, 2003

October
27

Google Update

Google just updated their PageRank and backlink information. This continues their strategy of having a “continuous update” of their index. They are continuing to purge Guestbook entries, just as they did last month. As you know, Guestbooks were a fast and easy way to get your site picked up fast by Google.

Google also made news over the weekend as they acquired Sprinks and About.com. They are continuing to be strong players in the pay-per-click market. You can read more about this acquisition on our News Section of our home page.

Posted in Google | No Comments »

October
7

MSN Dumps LookSmart

MSN Dumps LookSmart
As I reported last week, LookSmart changed their pricing structure to boost their revenues due to MSN’s new search “looming” on the horizon. The horizon just became reality for LookSmart. MSN has announced that they are dumping LookSmart.

What You Should Do Right Now
MSN has been testing their new search portal over the last few months during off-peak hours. While the exact criteria is not known to anyone outside of Microsoft, it is clear there are some basic techniques your website should employ to prepare for the switch:

  1. Ensure your main pages are submitted to Inktomi’s paid inclusion program. MSN’s agreement with Inktomi runs through 2005, and even though Inktomi is owned by rival Yahoo!, MSN understands Inktomi’s importance is serving reliable results.
  2. Since MSN has stated they are going after Google’s share of the market, MSN must create an equally effective criteria to serve up correct results as fast as Google does. This means that MSN should create something similar to Google’s PageRank, but Microsoft will learn from Google’s mistake and not make their system public knowledge.
  3. Link Popularity will definitely be an issue – so if your main criteria is not to accept links from sites with a PageRank of less than 4/10, you may want to rethink your strategy now, as every link to your site should be factored into the new MSN equation.
  4. As LookSmart has been dumped by MSN, Zeal will be dumped as well. Move your focus away from getting your sites listed in Zeal and focus on getting listed in the top directories in your industry – even the smaller ones.
  5. Make sure your site has a clear Robots.txt file, a Site Map, and can be easily crawled by search engine spiders.

Posted in MSN | No Comments »

October
2

Search Engine Update

New GEO Search Feature from Google
Google is currently testing a new search feature called “Search By Location” in their Google Labs area. With CitySearch failing due to poor marketing, Google sees the benefits of providing localized searches. This new feature will allow you to search by US address, city, state or zip code so you can find local merchants quickly and easily.

Because this feature is in the Google Labs area, it is still in the testing phase so there are problems with it. I strongly suggest that you test your pages in GEO Search to ensure they are appearing for local search queries. If not, you will need to add relevant text to your pages, or create new pages based on your local services.

Beta Yahoo! Shopping Expires Oct. 15th
As I reported last month, Yahoo! launched a new “Products” tab to allow for a Shopping Search. The free search expires on Oct. 15th, at that time merchants will need to pay to submit their data feed as a pay per click service. This looks just like Google’s Froogle, only with a paid model. Minimum initial deposit is $50.00.

LookSmart Pricing Increase
LookSmart has raised their prices in a reversal of normal pricing policies. If your site is spending more than $750.00 per month with LookSmart instead of giving you a price break, LookSmart will raise your per click charge from 15 cents to a range of 23 cents to 75 cents per click, based on your business category.

It is obvious that LookSmart is doing this because of the threat of Microsoft launching their own search engine. Insiders claim that when Microsoft does launch their own search engine and ceases to use LookSmart for their primary search results it will be the end of LookSmart. Could this be the LookSmart executives final attempt to line their pockets before their business model fails?

DMOZ Update
The problem with DMOZ has grown from bad to worse. As the DMOZ editors have been 3-4 months behind in reviewing submissions, the submission process now returns an error – thus not allowing for new submissions. Word is there is such a backlog of submissions, that they will not be accepting submissions for a period of time.

If you have submitted your site over five months ago and the submission is not posted, you can use the

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »