By Chris Sherman Executive Editor, February 20, 2004
Links to this week's topics from search engine forums across the web.
The Switch Is Official
Webmaster World
"Hmmm. I take it the doom-prophets who have for years been saying that the day Yahoo drops Google they will be finished are now possibly reconsidering their positions!"
What's The Next Step With Search Engines
High Rankings Forum
"Regarding the new competition in the search industry, I personally think that is a good thing. I also don't think it will be a detriment to the rollout of new and better features whatsoever. Instead of the development sector of one dominant player being able to take their good old time coming up with the next 'killer' innovation, now they'll be forced to throw development into high gear..."
Google and Semantic Web Search
Webmaster World
"The goal of a good search engine should be both to understand what a document is really about, and to understand (from a very short query) what a user really wants. And then match those things as well as possible."
Confused - Listed Good In Inktomi/Yahoo But Now...
JimWorld
"Why are we doing so poorly in the new Yahoo if we did so well in Yahoo and Inktomi before yesterday?"
Yahoo Renames Spider
Webmaster World
"Yahoo will be modifying its web-indexing robot (crawler) user-agent to reflect our company name. This is the crawler we use to build a searchable index for the Yahoo search services. To ensure consistency and minimal disruption, we will continue to maintain the 'Slurp' name within our web crawler user agent and continue to support 'Slurp' as part of any robots.txt files that references this."
Lots of Clicks But NO Conversions
Webmaster World
"Relevancy is your friend. Bring people to EXACTLY what they clicked on."
Overuse of Keywords
Cre8asite Forums
"It is incredibly easy to write 250 words or more that are specific to a product, and more importantly, you'll get better sales from doing so. Anything I can't immediately see from a picture (including scale, materials, how hard-wearing, textures, etc, etc) that I'd see instantly if the product were actually physically in front of me have to be explained in words."
Search Engine Forums Spotlight courtesy Search Engine Guide.
Easy Power Searching with Google
SearchDay, Feb. 19, 2004
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3313281
Soople is an elegant control console for Google's many powerful advanced features, bringing them all together in a well-designed, easy to use interface.
Yahoo Birth of a New Machine
SearchDay, Feb. 18, 2004
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3314171
Yahoo is launching a brand new search engine today, with its own index and ranking mechanisms, casting aside its long-standing use of Google-powered search results. The move is bound to roil the industry and sets in motion a new race for the claim of web search champion.
Changes Afoot at Yahoo & MSN
SearchDay, Feb. 17, 2004
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3313291
Search engine marketers have long been awaiting changes at Yahoo and MSN. Finally, signs of transition are beginning to appear.
