Maybe you have read about the latest ranking algorithm changes on MSN Search in online forums.
It seems that on-page factors are now more important and that MSN Search prefers web pages that are listed higher in the web site directory structure (www.example.com/widget.htm is preferred over a web page that lies deeper in the directory struture: www.example.com/widget/green/large/widget.htm)
It also seems that MSN Search likes static pages better than dynamically generated web pages.
I'm pretty sure Yahoo owes me a lunch. Perhaps even a dinner. Their new Mindset beta looks suspiciously like a prediction I made 2 years ago. I thought it would take them 3 years to get it out. Yahoo managed to beat the prediction by a year.
Before you make drastic changes to your website after a rocky search engine update, take time to study your web server logs, changes in traffic to your site, and your ranking in the search engines.
Last week, Google released its new Google Sitemaps service. Despite the name, Google Sitemaps is not a tool that creates sitemaps for your web site. Google Sitemaps is another way to submit your web pages to Google.
Much has been said about Google collecting personal information from web surfers. Some people are even so disturbed by Google's data mining that they have completely banned Google from their web sites.
What exactly does Google know about you if you use their services? In this article, we try to collect a list of things that Google knows about you.
If you frequently browse any of the main search engine forums you know that probably 75% of most search marketer's efforts are on Google, at least in terms of organic or algorithmic search.
That is probably because Google is a tougher nut to crack, and does seem to bring back the most relevant results in many cases.
Further, Google tends to account for most of the search engine referrals many sites get. But does Google really account for that many search referrals because it does a good job? Or is it because people tend to optimize for Google, and what they are seeing are the net results?
I've long been an advocate of a form of online marketing that I personally call "article marketing." Yahoo! has recently added a layer to article marketing which is extremely exciting, and any one who uses the power of articles needs to take notice.
If you are one to pay attention to what happens within the Google realm, you might find yourself thrown for a loop these days. As Google updates their results, it seems like they are having some issues dealing with so many new websites popping up.
Indexing 8 billion websites is quite an accomplishment for Google. As they are reluctant to increase this number, they are faced with many challenges in trying to keep some sites within these 8 billion pages while losing some others, after each update of their database.
New Products Help Searchers Find More Relevant Search Results Faster
OAKLAND, Calif., May 26, 2005 -- Ask Jeeves, Inc. (ASKJ) today introduced two new search products on Ask Jeeves(R) (www.ask.com), which increase relevance and guide users to find the information they need faster: "Zoom," a next-generation related-search tool that gives users suggestions to narrow or expand their searches; and "Web Answers," which provides direct answers harvested in real time from the billions of Web pages in the Ask Jeeves index.
"Today's launches significantly advance the cause of some of our most popular search features," said Jim Lanzone, senior vice president of search properties. "Zoom and Web Answers are not bells and whistles; they are important innovations on some of our core search technologies, which will help our users find what they need faster than with other search engines."
Zoom and Web Answers are immediately available on Ask Jeeves.
This is a serious matter, can Google really deliver top quality search results for other countries? The answer so far is "sort of". In this article I will use Canada as an example of the quality or lack of quality, that is delivered by Google's search results.
Let's take a look at Canadian search results by Google.ca
When you highlight "Canada" through Google search results and then start searching, you may be surprised at the number of companies that aren't really Canadian. All of this also applies to the UK and other major markets as well...