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March 31, 2004
Gmail: A Google Approach to Email
I have to admit that when I saw the Google Press Release on the launch of their new service I thought it was an April fool's hoax and I still cannot confidently say that I believe in it.
In any case, the Google Gmail site is up at the moment - although there are no ways of registering for Gmail at the moment (very strange that...).
According to the details presented Gmail will give a fresh approach to mailing as the power will be given by the Google serach engine and almost unlimited (1Gb) space.
The four important issues in Gmail will be:
- Search, don't sort.
Use Google search to find the exact message you want, no matter when it was sent or received. - Don't throw anything away.
1000 megabytes of free storage so you'll never need to delete another message. - Keep it all in context.
Each message is grouped with all its replies and displayed as a conversation. - No pop-up ads. No banners.
You see only relevant text ads and links to related web pages of interest.
The service will be free and will be 'financed' by the display of Adsense contextual adverts - so more money from advertisers with doubtful ROI at this stage.
There have been Google leaks on this email service based on contextual advertsising for some time - and frankly this is the only thing at this stage that makes me think that it may not be a hoax after all - and this is an enoromous step that Google is taking in a completely different world. Google is slowly becoming a portal-like feature that will eventually have as many heads as Hydra. What will soon come as a problem is the integration of all this into a 'single' service. Google will have to face this problem sooner or later.
Rugles.com - Search Engine Positioning Services
Posted by Basileios at 11:44 PM | Comments (16) | TrackBack
Google - Yahoo!: 1-0
The newest data from WebSiteStory is that Google has widened the gap against Yahoo! and is now reaching an all time high of 41% of all searches - compared to 36% one year ago. Yahoo! comes second with 27% - 31% last year, and MSN is third with 20% - 18% last year.
Google is, again, justifying the name 'worlds favorite engine' although advertisers and optimizers have had lots of ups and downs with it over the past year or so.
Of course it is too early to say anything as Yahoo! is only in the first 50 days of changing the Google algorithm and I am sure that there is a lot of space for Yahoo! to reverse the trend. MSN and smaller engines - like AskJeeves are bound to benefit from this so you will see their percentages slowly increasing over the next year.
Posted by Basileios at 02:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 30, 2004
Google and Open Directory
Another matter worth mentioning about the 'new Google' is the demoted presence of the Open Directory that has now been exiled into the 'more' pages of the Google links (or better replaced by Froogle). The Google links in the SERPs also do not show whether the pages belong to an Open Directory category as they did before.
This is a rather interesting development as the Open Directory project seems to be left behind at this stage. We kind of sensed for some time that Google wasnt very happy with the Open Directory and there seemed to have been major time delays in the updating of the Google directory (compared to the dmoz website).
The Open directory played a rather important role before in getting your website listed high (and listed quickly) in Google but I have the feeling that this is changing rapidly.
Posted by Basileios at 05:21 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The new Google Adwords II
As was nicely pointed out by a reader of the weblog there is another new concept in teh new Google adwords that will have a very important role to play in the clickthrough rates: The adwords text is not clickable anymore and only the title text is clickable.
There is a very basic rule in interrface usability that states that the clickthrough rate of a button/link is proportional to its size. This immediately implies that the clickthrough rate for the new adwords will get some decrease due to this change - to balance the 'same-look-as-normal-links' change. Another change which we should also mention is the disappearance of the 'relevance bar' which will probably drive more clicks to unrelated adverts.
So what is the verdict after a day of running the new look for adwords? The reports indicate a small decrease in the clickthrough rate but also an increase in the clickthrough rate of normal links (which makes search engine optimization for Google more important).
The effect of this on ROI is yet to be calculated. On the other hand, if Google realizes it is losing money out of the clickthrough difference, I am sure they will act on this very quickly. We will see the develoipments within the week I think.
Posted by Basileios at 02:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 29, 2004
Google. Its not just the look...
Apart from the simple change of layout for Google there have been quite a few new additions in the service - which are also mentioned in the Press Release
- The personalized Google is a new Google labs item that allows you to create a personalized search profile.
- Google Web Alerts deliver customized search results based on preferences that users specify.
- Froogle is now part of the Google SERPs.
- Number ranges in search can act as conditions for displaying results i.e [DVD player $250..300]
- Images in Google news as thumbnails for news items.
Google is changing. Those are definitely changes that are not enough to make a decisive win on Yahoo! but they are certainly an indication of the things to come. What will be Yahoo!s answer?
Posted by Basileios at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google rolls out new look
Since earlier on this morning Google has been silently rolling out the new look which we have been waiting for some time. Nothing is certain on whether this will be permanent or whether it is only a temporary test - that was tried before.
The new look looks to us a bit less 'hi-tec' than the previous version - and frankly we were quite happy with the previous one. The important change invloves a raising of the weight of the sponsored links (Adwords) since now they are almost exactly the same as the normal links. Will this mean an increase in the number of adwords hits and an increase in the expenses of advertisers? Quite possibly. The bet is whether this will also lead to an increased return on those advertisng expenses.
Posted by Basileios at 04:52 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
March 28, 2004
"Bubble" Gates
Bill Gates claimed yesterday in
a investors have created a "mini-bubble" by driving internetstocks sharply higher
He talked specifically about sites like Yahoo! and eBay and of course the claim is that Microsoft is not part of the bubble.
"We are sort of back in a mini-bubble era in terms of people expecting a lot in terms of these valuations, but I don't think we'll see the same exit rate of companies that we saw back in the real bubble. There are some strong companies who are doing things right."
Shares of Yahoo, eBay and Amazon have shot up sharply since their lows of late March and April last year.
Yahoo shares have more than doubled; eBay is up 58 per cent and Amazon has gained 73 per cent.
By contrast, shares in Microsoft, are up just 6 percent since bottoming out in June.
I dont suppose that this kind of talk is very ethical, but then again since when did Microsoft care about business ethics?
Posted by Basileios at 11:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 26, 2004
Yahoo! changes (II)
The Yahoo! change we reported yesterday seems to have dissapeared (temporarily?) and the results are back to what they were a couple of days ago.
I have the feeling that Yahoo! will try to demonstrate quite soon that it is not a 'static' machine but rather dynamic and responding to the changes of the environment. However, after the unrest caused by the Google changes 4 months ago - and the overall setup of the Yahoo! paid inclusion program - I am sure that the Yahoo! guys will want to prove to advertisers that they can trust the stability of their SERPs.
In other words, any changes in Yahoo! will probably happen gradually at this stage.
Posted by Basileios at 01:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 25, 2004
Yahoo! changes algorithm
It is time for Yahoo! to change its algorithm, just one month after the adoption of the Inktomi-type crawler. In the change that happened just a few minutes ago it seems that there is much more weight given to backward links than was given before.
Yahoo! is moving closer to a Google-type engine. WebRank in the Yahoo! toolbar will be now something more than an ornament. It something Search engine optimizers and webmasters will have to watch closely.
Posted by Basileios at 12:14 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
March 24, 2004
Microsoft Investigates 'NewsJunkie'
It seems as News services are the 'hip' thing among the top search engines. After the new version of Yahoo! news and the constant upgrades of Google news Microsoft and MSN is involved in a new prokect called 'NewsJunkie'.
Newsjunkie will go a step further and will use artificial intelligence based on all the data and pages that the user has already seen in order to automatically decide what will be displayed.
Newsjunkie will be presented in the World Wide Web conference in New York in May. Definitely an interesting issue to keep our eyes on. Watch this space...
Posted by Basileios at 07:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Toolbar Mania
Hotbot and Dogpile join the club of offering a special IE toolbar with their own special services. The new in both these two toolbars is the incorporation RSS services.
It is so unfortunate that my IE window gets smaller and smaller with those toolbars ;)
Posted by Basileios at 12:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 23, 2004
Orkut integrates with SERPs
Google SEO Eric Schmidt mentioned yesterday that Orkut will soon - within the next year - be integrated with the search results of Google.
This will 'portalize' Google even more and will be a step towards getting Adwords/Adsense to function on top of the Orkut content.
Sounds once again as more money will be 'milked' out of advertisers.
Posted by Basileios at 11:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 22, 2004
WebRank closer to PageRank
We reported last week on WebRank, the new 'page importance' indicator of the Yahoo Companion (toolbar) and mentioned that it will be more of a popularity measure and close to teh Alexa indicator.
Yahoo! has clarified that Webrank will be defined by an algorithm and will finally not be a popularity measurement but a backlink measurement in the same style (but of course with a different algorithm) as the PageRank indicator of the Google toolbar.
WebRank is still under beta. Coming soon ton an IE near you...
Posted by Basileios at 12:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 19, 2004
Adsense changes II
In case you want to check the full set of changes inroduced in Adsense, you may visit the What's new page at the Google pages.
Notice also that Google will introduce a new look for public service ads that will separate them from the rest of the adverts.
Posted by Basileios at 10:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
WebRank in Action!
Yahoo! is about to launch WebRank on its Yahoo! toolbar to compete against the (in)famous PageRank green bar in the Google toolbar. Webrank gives a measure of the popularity of a website - from information gathered from people that have activated the feature on the toolbar - and works similar to the Alexa toolbar of popularity and not Google's PageRank.
At the moment it is at a 'beta' status and is not activated by default on the Yahoo! toolbar. Check out the FAQ of WebRank for full information.
Posted by Basileios at 06:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
AOL to take Google Stock
According to the annual AOL report, AOL has a deal with Google since June 2002 which gives it a right to but 1.9m prefferred stock (worth about $22 million) within five years.
Theere is so much talk recently about the Google IPO. Almost too much for Google's own good!
Posted by Basileios at 05:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Adsense Extends Functionality
Google is experimenting with new formats for Adsense that include images and pattern backgrounds. This doesn't seem to be available yet, but they have been experimenting with some sites.
Adsense also has extended its functionality and now can be used properly in pages with HTML frames. It also now includes 'tracking channels' that allow you to monitor how your adverts are doing an particular pages or areas of your content website. Google is building on Adsense. Not surprising really, since it is responsible for so much company revenue.
Posted by Basileios at 05:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Yahoo! News Changes
The new yahoo! news service which we mentioned yesterday that was under beta testing has currently replaced the older version in Yahoo! news.
The new version searches thousands of news sources over the internet and reports new results every minute.
Posted by Basileios at 04:22 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 18, 2004
Google and Blogs. An Explanation.
A recent article we posted a couple of days ago about the treatment of blogs by Google and Yahoo! has been slightly misunderstood by our readers.
Google still likes blogs and still has a soft spot for the material that is provided in blogs. The last Google algorithm seemed to have somewhat decreased the overall importance but this could have been a result of the rather 'slow responses' that Google had over the past few weeks as it was preparing for the PageRank update and the next Googledance.
The situation will be made quite clearer within the next week, after the end of the Googledance.
Posted by Basileios at 05:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Yahoo! PFI. Be Careful What you Submit
According to a Yahoo! spokesperson sites that have pay for inclusion in yahoo! under their new SiteMatch program have more 'chances' of getting banned from yahoo! than if they were freely crawled by their Slurp! crawler (assuming there is something naughty going on with them).
This is a result of the fact that SiteMatch websites are screened by Yahoo! employees and are not listed automatically when submitted.
In other words, be very careful when you chose to go for the PFI service of Yahoo! In fact, you shouldnt be doing anything naughty on your pages anyway! So keep in mind that banning is just around the corner. The Google rumor also is that Google will be using new ban filters shortly, so be prepared for a bit of unrest.
Posted by Basileios at 12:24 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 17, 2004
Google Goes Local
Last night Google incorporated their local search services in the proper Google database and out of the Google labs program. This new service offers local searches and information once the user enters a zip code/city or other geographical landmark in the search and offers to 'link' you to maps or more detailed local information.
Launched just a week after Yahoo!'s SmartViewq which we announced last Wednesday this bring Searches under a totally new perspective.
Optimizing your website for search engines implies that you should be also optimizing for all the possible local searches done by your visitors as well. This may be simple enough to do at this stage but it certainly requires careful organization and planning.
Search Engine Positioning Optimization.
Posted by Basileios at 05:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google Updates PageRank Values
A couple of days ago we mentioned the fact that Google has been rather slow in updating the favorite green bar on the Googlebar that corresponds to the PageRank of the pages. (It was also quite slow in page updates and new backward link updates).
Google responded almost immediately to our post by making an update in the PageRank of websites. The change appeared sometime last night and as far as we can see did not involve any new algorithm change in Google.
Posted by Basileios at 03:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Norton Blocks PPC Adverts
This could be the end of pay-per-click as we know it. The new version of Norton Internet Security 2004 that includes Norton Firewall ships with a - default - option to block all Pay-Per-Click advertising, like Google Adwords and Yahoo!'s Overture. This could result in a substantial revenue loss both for online businesses that have been targeting their marketing attempts in pay-per-click advertising, and for content sites that supplement their advertsiing income by the use of Google's Adsense - or other contextual advertising.
The situation is definitely not a happy one and I am sure that both Google and Overture are already working on ways to bypass this problem. However, this again proves once more that it is not ideal to place all your marketing eggs in one basket. The marketing plan for your online business should be broad enough to include Search engine optimization, pay per click, e-zines and even more conventional types of advertising and should never be relying on a single attempt (whether that be SEO or PPC).
Posted by Basileios at 12:35 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 16, 2004
Google Updates Google Directory
Google has recently updated their Google directory database with the new DMOZ entries. If you are not part of the DMOZ directory now is the time to apply for 'entry' (or even better apply for becoming an editor as they certainly need help).
You should be expecting the next update in the Google directory in the next three months.
Posted by Basileios at 05:59 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Yahoo! SexSearch Parody
Remember Booble, the website launched last month as a Google parody for searching adult websites? It is now followed by yaSEXhoo.com an adult search engine in a yahoo! logo and look parody (I guess their cralwer can still be called Slurp...)
Google did not react with a sense of humor to booble since they replied with a Legal action notice... It remains to be seen what yahoo will do.
Posted by Basileios at 01:28 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 15, 2004
'...and this my dear Bond, is Google...'
A recent article in 'The Register' (originaly from securityfocus.com) points to the dangers of Google as an information gathering machine. Sometimes, you may find things that were never meant to be found.
Needless to say this 'search engine' security will be a matter of great concern in the near future. IT auditors and website consultants should definitely be taking this into account as well.
Posted by Basileios at 08:01 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Google, Yahoo! and Blogs.
We 'all' knew that Google liked blogs and blogging. Blogs were considered a 'fresh', and 'hip' way of adding quality - ahem - content in the 21st century Internet. Google, as we know, also wanted to get involved even in the technology behind blooging by purchasing Blogger, one of the most popular blog tools. mOreover, blog pages were given a rather special status in the Search Engine Results pages, exactly due to the fact that blogs represented frequently updated and quality - ahem, ahem - content.
However, you may have noticed that over the past month, and specifically since the last Google algorithm change that happened early In February the situation is slightly different. Many bloggers have experienced dramatic falls of their blogs in the SERPs and as a result it appears that Google has decreased the importance of 'blog content' and quite possibly 'blog backward links' for the hierarchy of the pages in the Google results.
However, there is still some good news for bloggers. The yahoo! search technology that replaced Google last month seems to have a very good relationship with blogs. Blog content is ranked pretty high and is crawled and updated very frequently - similar to the situation that Google offered before.
It remains to be seen what the next Google change - which we sense coming soon - will bring.
Posted by Basileios at 06:03 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 12, 2004
Google Slowed Down? A New PageRank Change?
It is very interesting that it has been some time since the last major database update in the Google SERPs. You may also have noticed that the green bar in the Google toolbar has not been updated for your websites for some time. This can mean only one think which we should be expecting any time now: A new algorithm tweek in Google that will have, again, a lot to do with the definition of the PageRank.
Yahoo! at the moment is showing a wonderful response to change. Updates in their database are almost immediate. They have certainly chosen the right time to get out on their own.
Posted by Basileios at 06:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 11, 2004
Optimizing your pages for yahoo!
The separation of Yahoo! from Google has created a rather unfortunate situation for web businesses. Up till now most web businesses cared only for the position in Google which was responsible for more than 80% of their traffic. Unfortunately things are rather different now if you want to keep the same traffic and popularity for your website.
As you may know yahoo! uses the core of the Inktomi technology but according to their statements there are some difference between yahoo! search and Inktomi. In the present analysis we will report on the differences between Google and Yahoo! so that you can have a skeleton idea of how to plan the optimization of your pages for yahoo!
First of all there are two kinds pages in the results present in Yahoo!: Pages that have been spidered automatically by their crawler Yahoo! Slurp and pages that have been included in the results through their Paid Inclusion program. The difference here lies in the fact that there are no guarantees on how deep the crawler will go in your pages (and most of the time the crawler does not follow more than one level from the entry page). Using the paid inclusion unfortunately at the price of $35 per page per year you guarantee that the specific page will be listed (and updated) in the yahoo! results pages. Google does not have such a paid inclusion service so its result pages are pure. However in most cases it may take months for your page to appear or get updated in Google something that is done automatically with the paid inclusion service of yahoo!
Google is famous for their algorithm that gives special value to the number and allegedly type of pages that link to your web pages. For the yahoo! search technology this is parameter although it certainly exists is not as developed as in Google so the final hierarchy in the pages is mostly governed by the internet content of the pages.
For Google the META keyword and description tags which are definitely overrated in the world of SEO are useless. Yahoo! indexes both those META tags that play a quite important role in the indexing of the pages.
In yahoo! the name of the URL plays an important role in the hierarchy of the page. (This means that caeteris paribus the website www.blue-widgets.com will rank higher for the keyword blue widgets than the website www.blwid.com) . In Google the role of the keyword in the URL is much lower.
Yahoo! also indexes HTML comments, while Google does not.
Understanding those basic differences is important for the beginning of the optimization of your pages.However, dont forget that if your pages are paid listings good prominence means that you will have to spend 15 to 30c per click on your pages.
Website Marketing and Search Engine Positioning.
Posted by Basileios at 06:59 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 10, 2004
Yahoo Launches SmartView
Another new technology was announced yesterday from Yahoo! The new service works on http://maps.yahoo.com and provides search for local information and services. This is a way for yahoo! to expand thgeir advertising program so that local vendors and shops can get prominence in the SmartView service.
Google has a similar local search service in their google labs pages but I can honestly say that the yahoo! service looks much better at first sight.
Posted by Basileios at 02:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 09, 2004
Website Marketing Tracker
As you may know Rugles.com has recently launched Website Marketing Tracker v1.0. The software - which is available for free from the Rugles website - provides online businesses with a tracking method of the basic e-business metrics that can help you judge and decide on your marketing campaigns so you can achieve maximum ROI. If you have any suggestions on the future evolution of Website Marketing Tracker or if you have any questions, simply email us.
Posted by Basileios at 07:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Google vs. Yahoo!
Here is a nifty litlle graphical tool that can give you a good view of the differences between Yahoo and Google. We will be giving you information on how to optimize your pages for the new Yahoo! shortly!
Posted by Basileios at 04:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Music Lessons for Marketing
The New York times reports on Particle an LA based group that has 140 gigs a year to audiences as big as 20,000 without having even a record to sell.
The group started a few years back and used a viral marketing technique which attracted a "Particle People" following through the Grateful Dead and Phish model of allowing people to tape their concerts and share them with others over the Internet.
At the moment the group will launch its first album at the end of this month. Do you think it will be succesful? Oh yes...
Posted by Basileios at 12:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 08, 2004
AskJeeves acquires Excite
For those few that haven't heard it yet it was announced on Friday that the company behind AskJeeves (Interactive Search Holdings) will acquire Excite for a price of $343m in cash and shares.
Askjeeves brother/sister companies also include My Way, My Search, My Web Search, iWon, Excite and the MaxOnline.
It appears that AskJeeves is trying to position itself in the most optimal way in order to get a large slice off the search engine pie. The upheaval brough by the Yahoo!/Google changes may give them a very good chance. Watch this space for more.
Posted by Basileios at 07:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Marketing and Pareto's law
Pareto's law is the famous 20-80 law that we know since our high school years. 80 percent of the results are due to 20 percent of the consequences. Just imagine how this can be applied to your web marketing , promotions and even product development.
- 20 percent of your marketing efforts will produce the 80 percent of your sales. Just think, is the rest of your efforts worth this 20% extra sales? It is important to have a good understanding of your marketing efforts so that you can 'drop' any ones you think are not worth persuing. It really sounds as the most obvious thing to say, but sometimes it is the obvious matters that are the hardest to see.
- 80 percent of your traffic will come from the 20% of youir serach engines (the things being what they are today i would say the percentage is even smaller). Think carefully on how you are going to optimize your pages, which engines you will support, and which pay-per-click campaigns are worth following.
- 80 percent of your support 'trouble' comes from 20% of your customers. You simply cannot please everybody, so get ready to have the right attitude towards this 20%.
- 80 percent of your problems comes through 20% of your services. Make sure you are correcting the right things in the right priorities.
There are quite a few more things we can mention as applications of the law in marketing your products. Keep the 20-80 law in mind at all stages of your development, evaluation and marketing.
Posted by Basileios at 12:47 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
March 05, 2004
Yahoo Free Inclusion? Not So Fast
Yahoo! Announced a free inclusion service as well (to be added to their paid inclusion services for their new search technology). The only thing you need to do to submit your URL in order for it to be crawled (within the next few months) by the Yahoo! Slurp is to register in yahoo! However, I have my doubts at this stage whether submitting for free is the right way to go.
At the moment we have no data or studies on what exactly happens with this free submission. As was done in the past with the Inktomi crawler, it may be possible for the crawler to just visit the single page you submit and crawl no further in your website. This would create (exactly as it happened with Inktomi) a rather inconsistent pattern in which some sites havent paid a single dollar yet they are crawled and indexed deeply by yahoo! and some are crawled only in a couple of pages (so you would need to pay extra to get crawled deeper).
I am very cautious about this service and I would like it see the details in action before I make up my mind on whether it is advisable to submit or not. Patience pays sometimes
Posted by Basileios at 05:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
AOL - ICQ Social Networking
ICQ joins (naturally) the Social Networking services gang by launching ICQ universe. It seems to be a 'sign of the times' somehow that this type of service has become so popular over the past 6 months - 1 year. It is yet to be seen whether all those services can sustain themselves financially.
Posted by Basileios at 01:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 04, 2004
Athens Olympics Marketing Opportunity
A marketing opportunity for this year is the Athens Olympics in Greece. With just a few months remaining for the beginning of the Athens Olympics it is the time to consider your marketing approach for this major sports event. A research that my colleagues did a few days ago has revealed that there are many popular keywords in major search engines unexploited probably due to the fact that Greece is not really internet-savvy. This gives plenty of opportunities for permission marketing that companies can follow. However, now is the time to do it as the competition is still low and there is ample opportunity for many web businesses to increase their sales and profits. Act now before your competitors do!
Ask us if you want to hear our ideas...
Posted by Basileios at 06:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 03, 2004
AskJeeves Drops Paid Inclusion
It is remarkable that AskJeeves responded to the new paid inclusion service of Yahoo! within one day. AskJeeves has announced that they will stop their Index Connect paid inclusion service. It is definitely a matter of surprise tactics from askjeeves who definitelyw ish to benefit from all advertsisers who would not want to spend the rather large amount that is necessary to be included (and ranked well) in the new yahoo!
There will be alot more moves to follow from other search engines and advertising services (findwhat, looksmart, kanoodle etc.) since yahoo! has yet to prove that they can sustain a large amount of users of their new search technology. Whether the announcement about their paid listing service was a mistake for them (or not) is yet to be seen.
Posted by Basileios at 02:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 02, 2004
Yahoo! launches 'Site Match' paid Inclusion Through Overture
The Yahoo! paid inclusion program for their new search technology has just been launched. The service carries the name 'Site Match' and is integrated with the services of Overture. The bottom line of this means that apart from paying for the inclusion of the pages in the search listings (as was done with the Inktomi paid inclusion) advertisers now have to pay for each click on the listings as well.
The annual fee for inclusion of your pages in Yahoo! (the 'quality control' fee) comes to:
- First URL: $49
- URLs 2-10: $29 each
- URLs 11-999: $10 each
If you have more than 1000 pages you want to include then Overture provides you with the opportunity to use an XML feed to automatically update the data.
The price for each click on the Site Match items comes to $.15 or $.30 depending on the category.
The utilisation of both the pay-per-inclusion and pay-per-click technologies in the new Yahoo! search technology seems to show that Yahoo! is certain that they can 'milk' advertisers out of quite a lot of money through this program. Needless to say that in order to have your website listed high in the Yahoo! search pages you will also need to invest in search engine optimizing your website as well, as the paid inclusion does not guarrantee proper positioning. And, naturally, the more successful you are on your positioning the more money you will pay to Overture/Yahoo!
Posted by Basileios at 12:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 01, 2004
eBay-Microsoft Office Connection
Microsoft and eBay announced today the plan to allow Office applications to communicate with eBay in order to achieve a new type of integration.
Gytis Barzdukas, director of Office System product management for Microsoft announced that XML will be used as a middleware for this and, for example, Excel data saved in XML will be automatically imported/exported in eBay so that auctions can be automatically handled and auction results recorded and analysed.
eBay marketing is a completely special type of marketing that may eventually involve many amateaur (and not so amateaur) enterpreneaurs. This Microsoft/eBay connexion is not something that should be bypassed.
Posted by Basileios at 05:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Yahoo! Search Advertisement
Yahoo! has started advertising its new engine.
The marketing campaign runs under the line 'The engine of possibility' and will appear in the most popular web sites of the internet over the next month.
Posted by Basileios at 04:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack