Pandia Search Engine Weblog May2005

(May 28 2005) Yahoo! is testing a new version of its search engine technology, that tries to tackle the problem of dividing searches looking to buy products from searchers looking for information only.

The Yahoo! Blog explains: "Sometimes you want to buy stuff and sometimes you just want to do research. In a typical search page, results point to commercial pages that are mixed together with non-commercial pages, so it's harder to find the type of information you're looking for."

The Yahoo! Mindset search site attempts to classify all pages in the top 100 search results according to their degree of "shoppingness" or "researchness".

To the search engine result page Mindset adds a slider, that lets you sort search results for your query into commercial or non-commercial results. Pull the slider to the left and you get more shopping sites, pull the slider to the right and you get more informational sites.

Set the slider in midpoint position and the Mindset search engine will give you results similar to the ones found in the regular Yahoo! search engine. However, regardless of where you set the slider, Mindset will show you the regular ranking in parenthesis beside the listing.

MSN has been working on a similar solution, and yes, we think it is a good idea. This is a test version of the product, and we do not expect perfect results at this time, but the Mindset search engine does look promising.

Yahoo Search Marketing and Google AdWords compared

(May 28 2005) Yahoo has announced its new pay-per-click product: Yahoo Search Marketing (SM). This product was formerly known as Overture, but you may also recognize it as Goto.com, the name it went under prior to 2001. How does Yahoo SM compare with Google's AdWords?

Pandia Guest Writer Shawn Campbell takes a look.

New features from Ask Jeeves

(May 26 2005) Search Engine Watch reports that Ask Jeeves has refined its related topics feature.

In the right hand column of search result pages Ask Jeeves has listed several alternative search queries that can help you focus your search and get more accurate results. These so-called "Zoom" suggestions are now sorted into three categories: Narrow Your Search, Expand Your Search and Related Names.

These suggestions are not generated by a a database of synonyms or related keywords. Instead Ask Jeeves generates a new list of alternative queries every time you do a search. Ask Jeeves does an analysis of the content of related sites and generates related search queries based on this content.

Ask Jeeves has also "automated" its normal language answering service.

Before Ask Jeeves would try to answer natural language questions ("What is the capital of Iceland?") by fetching data from selected online encyclopaedias and fact books. Now Ask Jeeves will try to find answers to such questions from all kinds of (hopefully) relevant web pages.

Google is testing a similar feature.

It should be noted that several companies are working on refining natural language search technologies, making it possible for search engines to present clear answers to concrete questions, rather than links to specific sites only. These includes Stochasto, Kozoru and BrainBoost.

See our article on The Answer Search natural language search engine for more information on natural language search.

By the way, Interactive Corp. is planning to change the name of Ask Jeeves. Two likely candidates are "Ask" or "Jeeves" only.

The Sitepoint Search Engine Marketing Kit

(May 24 2005) Sitepoint is an online magazine for web development and design professionals. The publisher is also known for its practical guides and tutorials for web developers.

Now Sitepoint has presented a "Search Engine Marketing Kit" -- a large tutorial with additional tips and tools written by SEO expert Dan Thies.

Pandia has read the new search engine marketing tutorial and finds it to be well written and to the point.

Google page hijacked

(May 24 2005) Pandia has previously written about Google's page hijack problem, where spammers user the meta refresh tag to harvest page rank and ultimately lure visitors to other pages that the one they were looking for.

It goes like this: You put up a page with no content. Let's call it www.spammer.com/index.html.

You add a metarefresh tag that tells the browser to open the page www.honestguy.com/index.html within zero seconds, i.e. right away.

Google now interprets this to mean that www.spammer.com/index.html has the content of www.honestguy.com/index.html, i.e. that the two pages are identical.

And -- believe it or not -- it then goes on to list www.spammer.com/index.html instead of the original page in the search engine results!

Finally the spammer changes the redirect to another page of his or hers choice.

We actually believed Google had solved this problem by now. Instead Google has had one of its own webpages hijacked.

At the moment of writing a search for the word "adsense" brings up a redirect to Google's AdSense home page (www.all-in-one-business.com/adsense/).

The www.all-in-one-business.com site is run by a online marketer with the name of Kevin Bidwell.

For all we know the redirect may not be a hostile attempt to harvest traffic going to Google. However, it certainly proves that it is possible to achieve such a ranking by taking over the backlinks and the page rank of the original page.

Google should put an end to this nonsense, now!

Google AdSense site hijacked in the Google serps... oh the irony (JenSense)
Google's Bourbon Hangover (dotcomicide)
Google's Own Listing Gets Hijacked (SEW)
Google's Highjacking Problem Continues (Webmaster World)

BigClique: New search engine

(May 23 2005) The sign of a true new search engine is that it has its own crawler building a unique database. BigClique is such a search engine.

URLwire reports the new search engine has been launched by the New York based gRock Media Group. Like all modern search engines it will rank sites based on a secret algorithm containing both on page variables (e.g keyword frequency) and off page factors (e.g. number of inbound links).

Furthermore, BigClique.com is based on a scalable technology, meaning that it can easily handle increased traffic by adding new hardware.

Mr. Olu of BigClique says that that have been building their search, crawler and database technology since Spring 2003: "We allowed users to include websites since March 1st 2005 and will continue and strive to index the best sites on the internet and make it a better experience for everyone."

And yes, you can still submit URLs for inclusion.

The search engine is to be financed through BigClique's own pay per click text ad product.

The chances of succeeding in this business are slim, but -- of course -- that's exactly what they said when Google was launched as well.

However, it is a fair guess that if BigClique is to succeed the search result accuracy must be better than Google's (it isn't -- yet) or they must rent out the search engine technology to other portals (they haven't -- yet).

Our first impression is that many of the search results are relevant.

However, the search results pages are too cluttered for our taste (too many ads at the top of the pages). Moreover, using red text on a blue background for results is never a good idea, especially not for the color blind among us.

The search engine seems to be working at the time of writing, although our OS X Safari and Firefox browsers have problems reading some of the pages some of the time. It seems the company has not been sufficiently prepared for the increase of traffic such a launch entails.

Pay per click advertising

(May 22 2005) The last installment of Kalena Jordan's pay per click search engine advertising tutorial is ready.

This time Kalena takes a look at Google AdWords, Looksmart and other, smaller, PPC search engines.

The new Netscape browser: Does it stand a chance?

(May 21 2005) Netscape has launched version 8.0 of their browser for Windows PCs. The market for browsers seems to be well saturated. To stand a chance of gaining market shares, Netscape 8 would have to contribute something unique. Does it? And what of the embarrasing security blunders discovered only hours after the launch?

Read Pandia's review.

Espotting will continue to work with Lycos in Scandinavia

(May 21 2005) Espotting has renewed its agreement with two major sites in Scandinavia - Spray in Sweden and Jubii in Denmark. Both sites are owned by Lycos.

Espotting will continue to provide pay-per-click listings on the websites' content pages. Espotting's 'Content Solutions' product places pay-per-click text ads next to relevant content.

According to Gallup Redmeasure, Spray generated over 112 million page impressions from over 3 million unique users and Jubii saw 116 million page impressions from 2.6 million unique users in January 2005.

Espotting press release

The Quero Toolbar for Internet Explorer

(May 21 2005) Quero is a free toolbar for Internet Explorer that lets you access the most popular search engines and online services with ease.

This is a toolbar for purists - those of you that have not (yet) been tempted to clutter your browser with add-ons. The Quero Toolbar has been developed to replace the standard address bar of Internet Explorer, and it has a slim and minimalistic design and contains no fancy wonder tools. It keeps strictly to business: making searching and surfing more convenient.

You can choose from a number of profiles each containing many useful search engines and services, such as Google, MSN Search, Wikipedia or Amazon. New profiles are added as the landscape of web search changes.

When searching within a page, Quero will and highlighting your search term, making it easier to find the relevant parts of a web page.

Quero enables you to stop annoying Flash animations with a simple keyboard shortcut or turn on the Flash Blocker to filter out all Flash objects automatically. We love this feature!

A pop-up blocker is also included.

Visit the Quero Toolbar home page for more information or to download the free toolbar.

Google gets personal

(May 20 2005) An essential part of the modern portal is personalization of the home page. MSN, Yahoo! and others let you decide the content of your own home page, including what type of news headlines to include, weather reports, horoscopes and -- even more important -- comic strips.

Google is now finally adding a similar feature. It is a test version, of course, as this company has a strange tendency to label all new products "beta versions". (This probably makes it easier to face any negative criticism).

When you start using the personalized Google home page, Google has already selected a few features for you.

As their model shows, they do not go for the cluttered approach of their rivals. The simple Google interface is still there, with an additional area below the search box containing a preview of GMail messages, a couple of Google new headlines, a "your town" weather forecast and a stock ticker.

A special link takes you to a page where you can select your own content. In addition to the features mentioned above, you can also add US movie show times, a Quote of the Day or a Word of the Day and driving directions from Google Maps. Alas, there is no Peanuts or Dilbert available. You can later on rearrange the content of your page by drag and drop.

Is this really a good idea, Google being the "clean interface people" and all? Yes, we think so. Even if all the new desktop search plug ins and toolbars have made the default home page less important, it is useful to have one starting point for reading news and searching the Web. The Google personalized home page gives you the basics.

Moreover, this also makes sense from a business perspective. MSN and Yahoo! must now be considered serious search engine competitors. People using their personalized home pages are more likely to use their search engines, meaning less search engine result pages for Google and fewer text ad views. And it is the AdWords text ads that bring in the money for Google.

You will need a Google Account, which you already have if you've used services like Gmail, Groups, Alerts, Froogle Shopping List, or My Search History. If you don't have one, you can create one for free.

The following browsers are supported :E 5.5+ ( Windows), Firefox 0.8+ (Windows Mac Linux), Safari 1.2.4+ (Mac), Netscape 7.1+ (Windows Mac Linux), Mozilla 1.4+ (Windows Mac Linux), Opera 8+ (Windows Mac Linux).

By the way, if you want to know more about what Google's doing right now, take a look at the Google Factory Tour , where Google employees present recent innovation activities.

Google Desktop Search for Enterprises

(May 20 2005) Google has launched an enterprise version of its desktop search product. Google Desktop Search for Enterprise will, like the regular Google Desktop Search, let you search your PC and intranet for email, files, media files, web history and chats.

You can use it to look at web pages you have visited earlier even when offline. And yes, you can search the full text of all files.

This interface is the same as for the regular version, a web based interface similar to the regular Google home page. There is also, as for the regular program, a deskbar search field.

According to Google IT administrators can centrally control user features and preferences, and encrypt all user data and search index files. Hence , the company can restrict Google Desktop Search from indexing specific websites that may contain sensitive information or prevent it from indexing a specific file type, such as IM chats.

The following file types is supported: IBM Lotus Notes (supported through cooperation with IBM), Internet Explorer, Firefox, Outlook Email, Outlook Express, Netscape Mail, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Adobe PDF, AOL Instant Messenger and the text content of various video, image and music file formats. Windows is required.

See also Pandia's article on the regular Google Desktop

A Pay Per Click Search Engine Advertising Tutorial

(May 16 2005) You can get a long way with regular search engine optimization techniques. However, sometimes a pay per click text ad campaign may be necessary to bring in the needed visitors.

Pandia presents part 1 of Kalena Jordan's beginner's guide to pay per click search advertising.

The second part includes a survey of Yahoo! Search Marketing's product portfolio (formerly known as Overture).

Part 3, which will be ready next week, will cover Google Adwords.

Google gives their advertisers more control

(May 9 2005) Customers are out there searching and you can strengthen your relationship with them by optimizing for their search.

These examples by Pandia guest writer Greg Ives tell you how.

Your Keyword Market Segment Can Enhance Customer Relationships

(May 9 2005) You can use your keyword marketing campaign to retain customers. One key piece of information customers give you when they enter your site the first time is the keyword they came in on.

Pandia guest writers Tansy OBryant and Mark Schurtman tell you how to use this information to your advantage.

Budgeting to Improve Web Conversions

(May 8 2005) Six out of seven sales resulting from search engines originates in organic search listings. Read on to learn how to find the funds for organic SEO.

Pandia guest writer Paul J. Bruemmer tells you more.

Overture is now Yahoo! Search Marketing

(May 8 2005) Overture is now Yahoo! Search Marketing. The name change was reported early in March and at the time, Yahoo! gave the following comment:

"Unifying all of our search marketing and related products under one banner and one common approach reflects our commitment to integrate and simplify online advertising, allowing businesses of all sizes to take advantage of the Yahoo Search marketing solutions that best fit their marketing goals."

All right, but we are still not convinced that this is such a good move. The first argument against such a change is, of course, that Overture has become a well known brand. The company has already switched names one time before (from GoTo to Overture).

Secondly Yahoo!/Overture is selling Overture pay-per-click text ads to other portals and search destinations. They might feel a little bit uneasy about announcing that they are delivering data from one of their main competitors, the portal company Yahoo!

That being said, the move might strengthen the Yahoo! brand.

Personalization: Google's Search History vs. Yahoo's MyWeb

(May 6 2005) In the latest issue of our Pandia Post newsletter, Lars Våge compares Google's online Search History with Yahoo's MyWeb.

Seekport: European search engine making progress

(May 6 2005) Seekport is an interesting new European search service. The search engine was launched in Germany in June 2004 with an index of German web pages.

Pandia Post has more on the new search engine and the new French and British version.

The controversial Google Web Accelerator

(May 6 2005) Google's continues to innovate at a fast pace. The latest product from the search engine company si the Google Web Accelerator, a browser plug in that speeds up your broad band surfing.

Webmasters complain about privacy and the the burden Google puts on their web servers.

Pandia Post has more on the Google Web Accelerator.

Successful Search Engine Copywriting

(May 6 2005) It does not help much to optimize a text for the search engines, if it does not convince your visitors.

The Pandia Post reviews Heather Lloyd-Martin's new ebook on writing good copy for the search engines.

The Mac’s Spotlight desktop search tool

(May 03 2005) With the launch of Mac OS X Tiger last week yet another desktop search tool is available. Since most of the other desktop search tools on the market are for PC only, Spotlight is good news for Mac users. But what does it do and how good is it?

Read about the features of Spotlight as Pandia sifts through the hype to find its true merits and a few disappointments.

Here are some articles and other news items that Pandia has found particularly interesting lately:

Yahoo! Shortcuts: Find It Fast
Adam Durfee at Yahoo! Search Blog on Yahoo! Shortcuts (May 12 2005)

Dogpile Enhances Meta Search, Offers Comparison Tools
Chris Sherman on the Dogpile metasearch engine (May 12 2005)

Copernic Desktop Search wins benchmark study

(May 02 2005) The UW E-Business Consortium “Benchmark Study of Desktop Search Tools” evaluated 12 desktop search tools. The study evaluated each application along six attributes: usability, versatility, accuracy, efficiency, security, and enterprise readiness. And the winners are:

The analysis reveals that while the desktop search tools show great promise for significant productivity gains, the technology is still immature due to a lack of security and overall manageability.

The “Benchmark Study of Desktop Search Tools” is available to the public free-of-cost through the UW E-Business Institute Web site.

In their press release, The University of Wisconsin emphasizes that the study was conducted solely by the UW E-Business Consortium and was not funded nor supported by desktop search companies or institutions.

Want to know more about desktop search? Check out Pandia's own survey.

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

Search Engine News Weblog Archive May 2005

Yahoo is testing new search engine technology