Search Engine Optimization - Part 12
Article ID: KB101563
My last article was based on the virtue of embracing change. I hope
you took it to heart as business is continuing to consolidate in the
world of search engines. Since my last PixelMill Newsletter column,
Overture has bought AltaVista as well as Fast Search (All The Web).
Yahoo! has acquired Inktomi and AskJeeves has purchased Teoma.
As of this writing there have not been any dramatic changes. But
it would seem obvious that there will be change afoot and that you
will most likely have to adjust your web pages and marketing
campaigns. I'm pretty sure that Yahoo! will replace Google's search
results with some new Inktomi technology and Overture's pay per
click advertising is bound to be provided to both AltaVista and Fast
Search results. You should end up with more traffic for any Overture
keywords that you're buying.
The increasing instability in industry coalitions has the
potential to disastrously upset some major portal partnerships that
have found congenial working relationships. There will be
repercussions throughout the industry, some good and some bad. We
are seeing some expensive purchases in the search engine industry.
Yahoo! paid $235 million for Inktomi. Overture will spend about $500
million for both AltaVista and Fast Search.
MSN is feeling threatened in this environment as it looks like
they are the only search provider that has failed to purchase a
competitor. Unfortunately, having failed to build out the early lead
they had with B-Central, MSN is left with little to offer outside of
their partnerships. Given that AOL is the target in MSN's sights, I
am surprised that they have not been more aggressive in the search
engine arena.
So, how can you make the most of this situation? Resolve yourself
to align your goals with the "New New Economy." In the NNE all of
the players expect to make money and share the expectation that the
people they do business with will also make money. This equates to
the end of free stuff – obtaining things of value will require
things of value in trade. In other words, you will have to spend
some money to get good search engine results from your campaigns.
Google is still the #1 source of traffic and you should
concentrate your budget on your Google Ad Words campaign as well as
free placement optimization for best results. Anticipate a new
arrangement at the #2 source of web traffic: Yahoo! and don't count
on your current Google placement there to get traffic. Since Yahoo!
will replace the web results from Google with Inktomi returns, I
would make sure you have paid placement in the Yahoo categories and
look to participate in an Inktomi pay per click campaign as soon as
it becomes available.
Small businesses, having the advantage of being nimble, usually
fare well in highly competitive environments. Overture will have to
compete with Google and Yahoo! for pay-per-click advertising dollars
as well as search engine users. This competition will hold down
prices for you - the advertiser - and increase the quality of
services to search engine users and in the end prove to be a good
value for all parties involved.
At PixelMill we rely on
Planet Ocean Communication’s Search Engine Newsletter to market
our site on the Internet. When you subscribe to this monthly
newsletter, not only do you get the latest changes and
recommendations for achieving "top ten" search engine placement but
you also receive access to download
The Unfair Advantage Book on Winning the Search Engine Wars.
This guide, updated monthly, is an excellent e-book that takes you
step by step through the process of achieving high search engine
ranking at all of the major search engine sites.
Contributors
Greg Snow:
Greg is the CEO of Advantrics LLC, which is the parent company
for PixelMill and
Vivid Office. Greg has an
incredible background in FrontPage Development and Research, and
keeps up to date with the latest Search Engine News. He is the
author of the Search Engine article series from the PixelMill
newsletter.
Greg Snow, PixelMill Newsletter, Volume 3 - Issue 3 : 3/01/2003
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