UKNM: Bits of interest from search engine report

[Elizabeth Van Couvering]

Hi, following our recent 'portal' discussion and my completely mistaken

indignation about sold search engine results, I thought this little tidbit

from Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Report was interesting -- following a

story some of you might have read on AnchorDesk.


Enjoy...


E.


Search Sites' Shocking Secret

AnchorDesk, Aug. 17, 1998


http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_2432.html


I've had a number of people message me for my opinion about this

column. I normally love the AnchorDesk, but in this particular issue,

much of what's suggested was true last year, not now. Other parts

were just wrong, in my opinion.


Secret 1 suggests that search sites are out of date and aren't

improving relevancy. In reality, Excite and Infoseek have both made

significant changes to how they present results, while both AltaVista

and HotBot have greatly expanded the sizes of their indexes.


Secret 2 discusses the role of search optimization companies in

influencing rankings. This is definitely true, and something many

people aren't aware of. And, as discussed last issue, its one reason

why paid listings controlled by the search engines might actually

provide more relevant results than allowing third parties to continually

hammer them into submission.


Secret 3 said that search sites are deemphasizing search technology.

In reality, there's been a renewed interest in improving search after a

long period last year where companies were instead concentrating on

portal offerings and building market share. Portal moves were made all

last year, but they are just now getting publicity. That, in turn, is

overshadowing the recent return to search improvement.


Secret 4 says some search sites sell rankings, and this is my biggest

problem with the column. It will renew the rumors that go around

about this. For the record, only GoTo.com sells rankings, among the

more prominent services. AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, Lycos,

WebCrawler, Yahoo, LookSmart and Snap do not sell preferential

placement within their results.


Having said all this, it is certainly true that search could be made much

better. Frustration is clear in many of the messages that can be found


in association with the column, at the link above.