Regardless
of how many studies prove the importance of search engine marketing, the
real question is whether it is cost effective and if so, how do you apply it
to your Web site?
Most search
engine users do not scroll past the first few pages of search engine
results. A site must appear near the top to be found. If you'd like to learn
more about how your business can profit using
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Find Out Who Has Surpassed Google in Size
Fast, the Norwegian based company
that powers AllTheWeb and Lycos, announced that they have now indexed a
record setting 2.1 billion pages across the Web. This number, if accurate,
would edge out Google's claim of 2,073,418,204 pages indexed as of this
writing. Up until now, no one has been able to challenge Google in terms of
index size.
Although
that gives Fast a bit of a lead, it may not be one that is likely to last
long. I've heard reports that Google has been spidering the Web at a brisker
pace lately. Web sites with higher link popularities and Google "PageRank"
are indexed weekly and sometimes daily. Less popular sites may still have to
wait 30 days though, with indexing most often taking place during the last
week of the month.
Even though
Google may be trying to improve the "freshness" of its content, Fast claims
to have the edge on Google in this department as well. According to the Fast
press release, they complete a "full refresh cycle" every 7-11 days. Fast
took away another Google exclusive recently by supporting the indexing of
PDF files last May.
It's
thought that the timing of Fast's announcement is no coincidence with Fast
and Google competing for Yahoo's favor regarding who will serve Yahoo's
non-directory "Web Page results" in the future. Google's contract with Yahoo
is thought to be expiring soon.
Are You Losing Visibility by Duplicating Titles?
I can not
stress enough the importance of title tags to the ranking of your Web pages.
Few other elements on your page will influence your rankings like the title
tag. Therefore, I would like to provide a couple of tips regarding titles
that I did not mention in last month's article.
Many people
prefer to do business with someone in their hometown. Therefore, they may
search for something like "San Diego Web site design service" rather than
just "Web site design service." If the only place you mention that you're
based in San Diego is on your contact page, then a search engine is not
likely to match that up with the major keywords that appear on the other
pages of your site.
Despite a
desire by search engines to look for "themes" in a Web site, rankings are
still assigned primarily based on the content and incoming links for each
individual page.
Paid Ad Disclosure Recommended by FTC
Last year
Ralph Nader's consumer watchdog group filed suit against many of the search
engines regarding deceptive advertising practices. The complaint was that
many search engines fail to clearly label search results that were paid for
by an advertiser versus those that were not. For example, some engines call
the pay-per-click ads near the top of the search results "Featured Listings"
rather than something more clear such as "Paid Listings" or "Sponsored
Listings."
After a
year, the case has finally made its way through the system. The verdict? The
US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sent a letter of "recommendation" to
the major search engines to more clearly label and explain which search
results are paid and which are not. The letter gives suggestions for
accomplishing this, but it does not mandate any specific action be taken.
The FTC
also stopped short of recommending that any fines be levied against the
engines, or to cite any laws as being broken. However, the FTC did say "We
wanted to raise a concern that we hope they will take seriously. What we saw
across the search engines were some pretty clear disclosures and some that
weren't."
Further Shockwaves at LookSmart: Directors and CEO Resign
After
LookSmart's controversial and widely criticized switch to a pay-per-click
pricing model, more bad news has fallen upon the beleaguered engine. Most
notably, Evan Thornley has announced plans to step down as LookSmart's CEO
on October 1st.
In addition
to the CEO's resignation, "irreconcilable differences" on the company's
board, according to Thornley, has lead to the resignation of three LookSmart
board members effective immediately. According to the San Francisco
Chronicle, Thornley said the board had been divided over both the company
strategy and his refusal to step down as chairman after his October 1st
resignation as CEO. Not surprisingly, LookSmart's stock took a tumble after
the June 25th announcement to $1.58 a share, a stark contrast to its high of
$72 a share in March 2000.
The one
thing that keeps LookSmart afloat is its agreement with MSN, arguably the
most popular search site on the Web, alongside Yahoo. There's little doubt
in my mind that Microsoft must be re-thinking its relationship in regard to
LookSmart right now. LookSmart's reputation was damaged during their
unpopular move to a PPC pricing model a few months ago. The resignation of
key members of their senior staff will not help, nor will its potential
financial problems resulting from its stock price drop.
In
addition, if Microsoft wants to comply with the FTC's recent recommendations
(still a big IF), they will need to either drop LookSmart, or start labeling
their LookSmart listings more clearly. Right now LookSmart results are
labeled as "Web Directory Sites." LookSmart's new pricing model and how that
affects relevancy may be rather difficult to properly disclose to the
average consumer in a handful of words.
If the
public begins to perceive MSN as an engine that is weighed too heavily
toward commercial listings, Microsoft risks a backlash in terms of search
credibility. The question is whether Microsoft will regard this credibility
threat as being more important than the revenues it receives from LookSmart.
"Exodus
follows major shakeup of LookSmart leadership"
San Francisco Chronicle, June 25, 2002
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Last Month:
Last month
we talked about several important topics including:
