By
Cassandra Tabora
Internet Marketing Specialist
The search engine landscape
constantly changes, and to keep current, I attended the Search Engine
Strategies Conference, in New York during March. There have been several
significant search engine changes that are likely to affect your site's
visibility in the search engines. I will review them here.
YAHOO'S NEW PRODUCT
The buzz of the week: Yahoo representatives received much attention by
announcing that Yahoo search results are now generated by Yahoo's search
engine index instead of relying on Google's listings, as they have recently.
They also announced Yahoo's new method to get sites listed into this new index
that includes a combination of annual fees and pay-per-click charges.
The representatives at Yahoo told us that the intention of this new search
engine is to index as much of the Internet as possible, for free. However, to
improve your chances for higher rankings, you can participate in their paid
inclusion program.
How does this affect your
current rankings? Your site may hold high rankings in Google, and,
therefore, also had in Yahoo. Since Yahoo no longer shows Google's editorial
results, your rankings are likely to be somewhat higher or lower. Or, your
site may not be listed at all.
There are three options for
you at this time:
- Wait and see how the Yahoo
changes affect your current rankings for important keywords.
- Try the new Yahoo paid
program.
- Bypass the Yahoo editorial
review system by bidding on your important terms through Overture's
pay-per-click program, which displays "Sponsor Results" above
the editorial listings (as we mentioned in a previous
tip).
Let us help you determine
which opportunity is best for you.
A PIECE OF PIE
Which search engines own most of the traffic pie these days? Google provides
search results to about 51 percent of search engine traffic, and that includes AOL
and Netscape users. Yahoo has 43 percent and that includes the search results it
provides to MSN, AltaVista, Inktomi, Overture, AllTheWeb.com and HotBot. Ask
Jeeves has 3 percent, and all of the other second and third-tier search engines own
the final 3 percent.
GETTING LOCAL
Google AdWords: A major topic at the conference was the introduction of better
local search opportunities for site owners with a well-defined geographic
target market. For example, if you are currently participating in a
pay-per-click program and are trying to bid on terms such as "Cleveland
flower shop," you may be getting frustrated with the lack of traffic
because most searchers do not include geographic terms. Now, in Google, you
can bid on more general terms, such as "flower shop," but target
your ads in geographic areas, such as "Ohio" or, more specifically,
"Cleveland, Ohio." Anyone in your selected region (based on
Google's location detection) searching for those general terms will find your
site, but someone in California who might be looking for the same term will
not. This program results in more targeted visitors but fewer wasted clicks
(and dollars!).
Google Local: Google is
making another effort to help you find local stores in your area by offering a
"Local Search," which is now in beta. This proximity-based search
allows you to find stores or business within a set distance from your location
(zip code). You can try it yourself (http://local.google.com) and search for
a pizza shop near your home.
Overture Pay-Per-Click: Paid
listings in Overture appear in search engines including Yahoo, MSN, AltaVista
and AllTheWeb.com. Overture currently gives you the ability to bid on terms
with a geographic modifier, but, again, we run into low frequency of searches.
They also plan to launch a new local search based on zip codes. This has not
been formally announced, so stay tuned and we will follow up on this topic as
soon as we hear more.
CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT!
That was the consensus from the search engine representatives to better your
editorial rankings. Search engines rely now more than ever on your site's text
content for determining your ranking amongst your competitors. If you have a website
that is very graphic-heavy and does not include much, if any, text, your
chance of being found for your important keywords is greatly reduced.
LEGAL ISSUES
It first started with a Playboy Playmate, now it's more common than you think—the illegal use of trademarked terms in a competitor's website's meta tags
or in pay-per-click bidding. Does a competitor's site rank high for your
company's name or trademarks? We can conduct a full analysis on your
competitor's website for possible indications of malicious use of your terms.
THE FUTURE OF SEARCH
We might start seeing a trend towards customized content as we do now with a
personal homepage on Yahoo. Search engines are striving to make the best
possible experience for a searcher and to provide them with the content they
want the first time instead of forcing them to sift through pages and pages of
listings. For instance, if you search for the newest album of your favorite
music artist, you might see a results page that could have purchasing options,
download options or the ability look for more information. We are tracking
these and other important topics in the coming months.
To maximize your search
engine opportunities, contact Dynamics Online for more information on how we
can help.
