Pandia Search Engine Weblog May 2003

(May 28 2003) There has been complaints about editors using the Open Directory (ODP) to forward their own interests only. Now ODP meta editors are introducing an abuse report system in order to defend the directory's quality and integrity.

The Budapest World Wide Web conference

(May 28 2003) The Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference was held in Budapest on May 20 to 24. Search engines and information retrieval was one of the main topics, meaning that there is a lot of information here that may interest the readers of Pandia.

Gary Price of Resourceshelf has gathered links to some of the most important conference papers available online, including "The Mechanics of Deep Net Meta Search" by Nigel Hamilton and "Adaptive Methods for the Computation of PageRank" by Sepandar Kamvar, Taher Haveliwala and Gene Golub.

See also the Wired presentation of the conference.

Searchers find it hard to distinguish between regular and paid results

(May 24 2003) Consumer Webwatch will shortly present a report that concludes that searchers find it hard to distinguish between paid pay-per-click text ads and regular search results.

Pandia takes a closer look at the debate on "sponsored links".

xrefer becomes fee based

(May 24 2003) xrefer has since May 2000 been one of the most valuable reference search engines on the Web, giving users access to more than 30 quality reference books.

Like so many other doc com initiatives, xrefer has found it impossible to finance the site through advertising only, and will now become subscription based.

The new xreferplus -- which is based on an existing subscription based service -- will give access to content from some 130 sources, including a large number of dictionaries and encyclopedias within disciplines like languages, history, art, business, geography, health, law and science.

The search form has already been removed from the home page. The new version of xreferplus will replace the free "showcase" version on June 17.

Source: Search Engine Showdown
Press release.

The European pay-per-click war

(May 22 2003) There is a battle raging over the control over the European pay-per-click search engine text ad market. The combatants are Espotting, Google AdWords and Overture.

Last week Espotting lost the Ask Jeeves UK account to Google, which was a serious, although not fatal, blow. Given that Overture has bought two important European players, AltaVista and the Fast Web search division, Espotting may soon find it hard to find major search sites and portals to carry its text ads.

Espotting is not giving up, though. Espotting has expanded its contextual advertising deal with Kelkoo, Europe's leading comparison shopping search engine, to cover a total of 30 "channels" (i.e. categories of goods and services) in four European countries: The UK, France, Germany and Spain. Espotting will deliver its top five results as "Top Sponsored Picks" on relevant Kelkoo channels.

At the same time Overture has announced that it is opening its sixth European office -- in Italy this time.

Espotting press release.

Nothing Sticking? Don't Stop Throwing it Against the Wall!

(May 20 2003) If over 50% of the market knows that Google is a good place to look, but you can't be found on Google, then there must be something seriously wrong with your marketing strategy.

Special guest writer Tom Roeder takes a look at the importance of search engine marketing.

Click here to read his article!

Turbo10 searches the hidden Web

(May 16 2003) Turbo10, the London based meta search engine, has been invited to demonstrate its so-called Deep Net search engine technology at the Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference in Budapest on May 20 - 24.

This new technology is based on a technical paper titled The Mechanics of a Deep Net Metasearch Engine.

It's all about "the hidden Web", really, and how to reach it. The hidden or deep Web is the part of the Internet that is not reached by regular search engines, mainly because the data is only accessible if you make use of database search forms -- which normal search engines do not.

These sources include various specialist databases administered by universities, libraries and government departments.

Moreover, while most metasearch engines retrieve data from the regular search engines and directories, Turbo10 fetches information from hundreds of topic specific engines.

Nigel Hamilton, Turbo10's CEO and Technology Director, adds that there is a wealth of information in specialist databases that we are now just starting to access.

AlltheWeb with more neat search engine tricks

(May 16 2003) AlltheWeb is turning their search form into an advanced calculator. Now you may also use it to convert various measures, including weight, speed and time. You may even use it for your cooking!

There are also other new search engine syntax tricks.

Read our article on AlltheWeb's new features.

Directory submission monitor

(May 16 2003) The California-based company Seotie.com has launched a new Web-based service for monitoring directory submissions.

It is clearly Open Directory submissions that is the target. This makes sense, given that the Open Directory supplies directory data to a large number of search sites around the world, Google included. Indirectly a listing in the Open Directory will also influence your ranking in regular Google results.

But do you really need an online service to monitor your directory submissions? If you have only one or two sites, definitely not! If you administering a large number of sites, however, it may make sense.

Seotie will watch and monitor all domains simultaneously for inclusion and keep track of status. You can be informed on the Web, through e-mail notification or SMS Paging.

"The advantage of Seotie is easy to see as many Webmasters and SEO experts know that inclusion into directories can take time, sometimes months or even years," says Nicholas Raba of Seotie, "With many site owners owning more than one domain name your attention could be used elsewhere."

Pandia has not tested the service.

Indicateur launches Google directory.

(May 15 2003) The French search engine oriented site Indicateur has launched a Google directory.

Google World has links to any possible aspect of the life of Google, including search tools, news, optimization tips, Google patents and more.

Search Engine Watch has more.

Google remains the No. 1 search engine in the World.

(May 13 2003) The Web statistics software provider OneStat.com reports that Google now has a global average usage share of 55.2 percent.

According to OneStat the seven largest search engines on the Web are:

Given that Google actually powers most of the various national incarnations of Yahoo! and AOL, between 70 and 80 percent of all search results are fetched from the Google database.

All numbers are an average of the last 2 months. Research is based on a sample of 2 million visitors divided into 20,000 visitors of 100 countries each day. There are no major changes compared to the previous measurement.

OneStat press release.

Google launches news search in five countries

(May 13 2003) Google has launched a separate versions of its news search engine in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, India and Canada.

The database is not limited to local news sources, however, but presents a mix of some 4500 news sites from all over the world. Regional news is given top priority on the home page.

Unlike most news services of this kind, the stories are not selected by human editors, but by use of Google search engine algorithms.

Google News Search Australia
Google News Search UK
Google News Search New Zealand
Google News Search Canada
Google News India
Silicon Valley article

Google to add blog search

(May 10 2003) According to the Register Google will add a separate search engine for blogs, i.e. all the personal commentary Web logs that has popped up all over the Web.

It is not clear whether the Web logs will be removed from regular search results. The Register seems to think so, but we doubt it. After all, Web log pages are legitimate Web pages.

The Register clearly thinks of blogs as noise in the machinery, as they due to heavy interlinking and frequent updates often gain high search engine rankings, thus replacing high quality sites.

To a certain extent this is true, but there are also blogs that functions as valuable news columns. The Register mentions one of them: Gray Price's Resourceshelf .

We leave it to our readers to decide whether this Pandia section should be classified as news or "idle chatter". If Google decides this is a blog and puts it together with all the I love Britney Spears diaries out there, we're afraid we will have to rename it.

We're happy to note that GoogleGuy -- from Google -- is taking the article "with a grain of salt".

New version of Google alert

(May 10 2003) Google Alert has released version 2.0 of its free web-based service.

Google Alert enables people to stay up to date with their interests by automatically performing daily Google searches and sending email notifications of new results that appear.

Version 2.0 contains many new capabilities, including an integrated online browser for exploring search results, and live HTML and RSS feeds for integrating those results into web pages and desktops.

Google Alert is not affiliated with Google, but uses the Google Web APIs (i.e. raw data from the Google database) to perform its automated searches. Google Alert is a free service, offered for non-commercial use and subject to Google's API terms.

Google Alert is based in Haifa, Israel.

Internet Marketing Conference and Expo, Canada

(May 10 2003) The 6th Internet Marketing Conference & Expo takes place in Montreal May 12-14th.

Major Industry Leaders like Overture & FindWhat meet with "traditional" advertising companies such as Cossette and major software companies like Microsoft.

The IMC-Expo is free to attend for anyone who registers and gives the IMC their contact details.

Conference agenda.
IMC Expo

Web CEO trick

(May 10 2003) The rather new Web CEO program has gained quite a reputation as the new search engine optimization and ranking software.

It is a rather comprehensive package that combines a large number of functions:

Unfortunately, in their eager to improve their own rankings the Radiocom company did one major mistake: They included a link to their own home page in the Web page code generator, meaning that all customer would have a link back to Web CEO. This kind of spam is frowned upon by the search engines.

In all fairness, Radiocom has promised to remove the offending code in the next version of the script, and the company is clearly willing to listen to complaints from search engine optimization experts.

Actually, this was how the trick was found in the first place. Radiocom asked participants in the I Help You SEO forums to test the software.

I Help You Forums thread
See also: High Search Engine Rankings
Web CEO home page.

The new Overture

(May 10 2003) It seems Overture will integrate the AltaVista and AlltheWeb serving centers in the near future. Whether this means that the two search engines will become one, remains to be seen, but is very likely.

AlltheWeb's and AltaVista's paid inclusion products will definitely be merged -- within the next 90 days.

Overture plans to make the search engines part of a larger package, including Overture's pay per click text ad services.

Overture will also introduce Content Match, a Google Adwords-like product that adds Overture pay-per-click ads to regular Web site pages. This service is scheduled for launch in the second quarter of 2003.

Overture has said it will eliminate approximately 100 jobs at AltaVista in areas such as sales and finance. Additionally, teams are "being integrated" in Palo Alto, California; Trondheim, Norway; and existing Overture locations.

Domain Name Commando

(May 10 2003) Search Engine Commando has added a domain name checker to its search engine submission and ranking software.

Domain Name Commando monitors your own domains, but can also be used to search for expired and available domains.

It does this by monitoring "whois" registration records for expiration or unauthorized changes. According to Search Engine Commando it works with practically all domain name extensions around the world, including .com, .net., .org, .biz, .gov., .name, .info, .at, .au, .de, .es, .fr, .in, .uk and more.

In memory of Jim Wilson

(May 10 2003) Search Engine Marketing expert Jim Wilson passed away on Tuesday after a long battle with heart disease and stroke.

Wilson was the founder of several prominent Web sites targeting online promotion and search engine optimization, the most important being Virtual Promote/Jim World, including Get High Forums and the mother of all search engine discussion boards: Search Engine Forums.. He played a vital role in the development of search engine marketing as a professional tool.

Friends have put up a memorial site for him, where people can show their respect. It is also possible to send a donation to Jim's family.

John Cocos, the president of iWeb Technology, will take over the administration of JimWorld.com. At the memorial site he notes that Jim Wilson wanted a consolidation amongst his many domains:

"Each of them will be redesigned to fit a common mold so you'll always know that you're at a Jimworld website. They will have tighter integration, and will work together to form a more cohesive suite of informational sites."

There is going to be many features, as well as a few new premium services. Jim Wilson may have passed away, but his legacy lives on.

Our thoughts go out to the Wilson family.

Pandia adds free search engine marketing tutorial

(May 9 2003) Pandia has added a new feature to its search engine resource center: a beginners' guide to search engine marketing. This is the place to get started if you want to know more about how to achieve higher rankings in search engines.

The tutorial covers topics like how to find the keyword phrases people are using when they search for sites like yours, how to optimize webpages and sites, how to submit sites and check rankings and much more.

The new tutorial also includes extracts from the Lost Apocrypha of Search Engine Marketing. Find out for yourself!

Overture sued over Fast acquisition

(May 9 2003) As reported earlier the Overture pay-per-click search engine company has taken over the Web search unit of Fast.

According to News.com Overture has been sued by the Norwegian company MRT Micro ASA. MRT claims that is owns some of the technology following the deal and asks for all of the proceeds from the US$ 70 million deal. The company has hired the Norwegian law company Gram, Hambro & Garman to lead the case.

According to iMarkedet MRT Micro owns 40 percent of MRT Mpire, a company that MRT claims owns the technology used by Fast. Both MRT and Fast are spin-off companies from NTNU, the university in Trondheim, Norway.

Both Overture and Fast deny the claims made by MRT.

This is not the first time Fast has been in conflict with MRT Micro. In June 1999 Fast released a press release where it formally refuted "unfounded allegations". Fast claimed that it made no use of the MRT Micro MS160 processor technology in any of FAST's search technologies.

At the time Thomas Fussell, Chairman of Fast Search & Transfer ASA said:

"Allegations emanating from MRT Micro ASA are totally false and untrue. FAST is not and has no intention of making use of the out-dated MS160 or any other technology from MRT Micro. FAST has had no contact with MRT Micro and I find it strange that we have had no direct approach from MRT Micro in pursuit of these claims. I can only believe that this is an attempt by certain parties to associate themselves with FAST's undoubted success and in some way profit for themselves."

See also: Resourceshelf, iMarkedet (Norwegian) and Fast press release of 1999.

Searchers are using more words in queries

(May 8 2003) OneStat.com reports that a majority of Web searchers now use two or three word phrases in search queries. Searchers are clearly beginning to learn that more keywords mean more targeted results.

OneStat is a provider of real-time website analysis software, and the data is collected from users of this software.

"Search engines like Google and Yahoo can drive a lot of traffic to a web site. It is important that a webmaster or SEO expert knows what kind of search phrases they have to use to drive more traffic to a site," says Niels Brinkman, co-founder of OneStat.com.

Indeed! It becomes more and more important to optimize webpages for two and three words search queries, which is a good thing, as it much easier to get a number one position for keyword phrases containing two or more words.

According to OneStat the distribution of queries according to the number of words included is as follows:

All numbers are an average of the last 2 months.

Searching for books

(May 5 2003) In the latest issue of the Pandia Post newsletter, we take a look at how to search the Web for books. This issue also includes book reviews and a summary of the most recent search engine news.

Synergistic search engine marketing

(May 3 2003) In his series "Search Engine Marketing Done Right", Pandia guest writer Steve Winkler takes a look at a 1990's trend that is seeing a renaissance -- synergistic marketing.

Google and "Onmouseover" penalties

(May 2 2003) This one is strictly for the search engine optimization people among you.

The Search Engine News newsletter reports that Google may be downgrading pages that contains affiliate links coded with the javascript "onmouseover" variable.

Normally if you point at a link with you mouse the click through Web address will appear somewhere in the browser. Some webmasters use this javascript to hide the affiliate URL from readers, in the belief that users are less likely to click on affiliate links.

The Search Engine News newsletter has more (subscription required and highly recommended).

New Alexa toolbar

(May 1 2003) Gary Price reports that Alexa has launched a new version of its Windows toolbar.

Alexa will add another menu bar to your browser window that contains a search field (for searching Google), a link to information about the site and its owners, links to related sites and to the Wayback archive of older versions of the site in question.

A new feature is a pop up blocker that will stop pop up ads.

Search engine marketers often use the Alexa toolbar to ascertain a sites popularity. By using the toolbar you are delivering (anonymized) data on the number of visitors the various sites get to the Alexa database, contributing to what is for all purposes an inaccurate but useful popularity poll of the Web.

Alexa is owned by the Amazon.com Web store.

The AlltheWeb calculator

(May 1 2003) The AlltheWeb team is including more and more features into their search engine. Did you for instance know that you can use the search field as a calculator?

Enter, for instance, 365*24, hit enter, and AlltheWeb gives you the answer (8760).

The following functions are supported:

Use parentheses to group operations: (5+5)*6

Please note: The links on archived search engine news pages will not be updated!

Search Engine News Weblog Archive May 2003

Open Directory introduces abuse report system