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In This Issue:
Visual
Data About UsVisual Data Systems is a leader in Internet marketing, technology consulting and World Wide Web design. As a pioneer in Internet business, we've logged more than a decade of achieving customer satisfaction and Internet innovation. Visual Data Systems offers a wide variety of products and services that can be customized to fit your unique business needs. Let our experienced professionals polish your ideas and dreams to create your distinctive Internet presence. At Visual Data Systems, there are no barriers. Just Innovations. News & EventsCatch Visual Data Systems at the upcoming Conferences: RMS Users Conference Wilmington, NC, September 22-24 Vacation Rental Managers Association (VRMA) National
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May
2004 • Volume 2, Issue 1 Search Engines - State of AffairsSearch Engine Marketing (SEM) has ballooned over the last year. Like the dot-com explosion where everyone was discovering new ways to make money on the Internet, search engines have realized that a lot of advertising money can be garnered through paid listings and paid inclusion services, thus allowing them to continue to improve their organic search results. Although many of our customers are already participating in Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and Pay-For-Inclusion (PFI) services and have a good understanding of the ever changing search engine playing field, we've summarized the latest search engine news for your easy reference. Big Changes at YahooFor the past few years, Yahoo has partnered with Google to provide its organic search engine results in its Yahoo Web Pages. With the acquisition of Inktomi and Overture, which owned AllTheWeb and Altavista, Yahoo’s engineers developed a search service that is now their own, which launched toward the end of February. This is good news for search engine marketers; because of Google’s partnership with Yahoo and AOL, they commanded a huge power over search engine results. If your site lost web position back in November during the Google’s Florida dance, as many sites did, then your site lost position in three of the top four search engines. This was very bad news particularly for retail sites coming into the Christmas season, and also for vacation rental companies anticipating an increase in traffic in January, when their customers typically begin looking for a summer vacation rental. Although we do appreciate the evening-out of the playing field, trying to figure out Yahoo’s new paid inclusion / pay-per-click program has been another story. While offering anyone that has an Inktomi subscription free inclusion until April 15, 2004, they have launched a new program called Site Match. According to Tim Mayer at Yahoo, “Site Match has a much lower up-front cost (less than 1/3) than the 3 programs it replaces: Inktomi Search Submit, AltaVista Express Inclusion, and FAST PartnerSite PFI.” While you do have the option of paying to be included, this should give you no benefit in the search engine results pages. Their spider, Yahoo Slurp, is busy following links and most likely finding your site for free. However, according to Tim at Yahoo, the program “focuses on providing a clearer, more consistent way to interact with Yahoo! Search Technology. Specific components include: the ability to proactively submit content to us, ensured inclusion, frequent refresh, quality review, detailed reporting, and support when problems arise. The program is cost-effective, easy to manage, and includes the ability to control total cost.” The pricing is $49 for the first url, $29 for the next 9 urls, and $10 for each url after that annually. Then there is a cost-per-click of either $.15 or $.30 depending on what industry you’re in. Real estate and travel fall into Tier 2, which is $.30 per click. If your site is already indexed by Yahoo and you have good web position, there is probably no need for you pay for this additional service, but use your own judgement. MSNNot to be outdone, MSN is scrambling to come up with its own search service. For the past few years MSN incorporated LookSmart and Inktomi into its organic search results. MSN recently dropped LookSmart, which was 2/3rds of LookSmart’s reach. Now, LookSmart listings may still make an appearance, but the bulk of results are from Inktomi while MSN aggressively works on getting its hand in search. See what they’re up to in the beta search — http://beta.search.msn.com. It is anticipated that Google will soon hold an initial public offering. Despite losing the partnership to Yahoo, and complaints about their recent updates, Google is still arguably the most popular search service and still has the highest audience reach according to the Neilson NetRatings Search Engine Ratings http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/2156451. Its attractive interface is easy to use and the general consensus seems to be that they provide relevant search results. AOL still provides listings from them, and participation in programs such as AdWords and AdSense is hugely popular. Google does not, however, agree with accepting money for listings in organic results, like Yahoo is doing, and keeps paid and organic programs completely separate. The top search engines are continuing to explore new ways to make money while still providing relevant search results, so you'll need to stay on top of the SEM news. Visual Data Systems SEM Premium Promotion service can help you keep up with the changes. Contact your account manager or email Jeanne Reilly to learn more.
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Visual
Data Systems, Inc. To unsubscribe to The Visual Exchange, please send a blank e-mail to: remove@x.vdsys.com. Copyright © 2003 by Visual Data Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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