Author : campbell

The Future of Inktomi

Published on: November 19, 2003Category: Search Engine Optimization

In December of 2002, Yahoo! bought Inktomi for $235 million.

As things currently stand, Yahoo, MSN, and Google each receive about 30% of online search traffic. However, because Google’s search results are used for Yahoo! searches, Google actually captures about 60% of the market. Since the sale of Inktomi, we search engine optimizers have been collectively holding our breath waiting for Yahoo! to dump Google and get in bed with Inktomi for Yahoo! search. That would decrease Google’s stranglehold on search traffic and create more competition.

Where does Inktomi get its traffic?

Inktomi provides results for MSN search. Currently, when someone does a search on MSN, they get the following results:

– MSN’s own “featured sites” results (paid advertisers) (usually 1-5 results)
– Overture’s “sponsored sites” (pay-per-click advertisers) (usually 3 results)
– LookSmart’s “web directory sites” (anywhere from 0 to 50 results)
– Inktomi’s “web pages (leftovers)

Inktomi is also the back-up for Overture results (after Overture’s own sponsored links), and is used for a myriad of smaller web portals and search engines, such as About, BBC, Espotting, Goo, HotBot, and InfoSpace.

The good news for Inktomi is that MSN will be dropping LookSmart in mid-January of 2004, and replacing its results with Inktomi’s. Add that to the Yahoo! swap (Inktomi for Google), and Inktomi will go from having a very small share of search traffic to having almost 60% of the total.

Inktomi’s Quality

Obviously, Inktomi is about to become very important, so I looked into Inktomi’s search results, in the hope of figuring out how to optimize for this born-again search company. The results however, were not very encouraging. There was a lot of doubling (the same site showing up 2 or 3 times), and a lot of spam. Mind you, there is a lot of spam in Google too (Spam is any web page that attempts to deceive a search engine’s relevancy algorithm, usually resulting in pages that are irrelevant to a user’s search).

The interesting thing was that the results differed a great deal from Google’s. This is good for the consumer (different results means real competition), but bad for the search engine optimizer. Ideally, a well-optimized site should show up in all the search engines, but Google and Inktomi have different ideas about relevancy. This means we will be seeing a lot of sites built twice: once for Google, and once for Inktomi. And more sites mean more spam.

Hopefully, in the end, the high-quality sites will come out on top of both engines. I imagine there will be either similar relevant sites, or different, but still relevant sites in both Google and Inktomi.

Shawn Campbell

Shawn Campbell is the co-founder and Chief Search Engine Optimizer at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.
www.redcarpetweb.com

Tips for pay-per-click bidding

Published on: September 19, 2003Category: Ad Marketing

As you may know, Overture was recently bought by Yahoo! Due to the publicity generated by the deal, now is a good time to review some tips for bidding in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns on Overture and Google AdWords.

How does a pay-per-click search engine work?

With a PPC search engine, you bid a certain amount for your chosen keyphrase. Whenever someone searches for that keyphrase, and clicks on your website’s link under it in the search result, you pay the bid amount (or less, depending on your competition). Generally, the higher you bid, the higher your placement is in the search results.

Overture

Overture was the biggest PPC search engine before Google AdWords came along. Now they are both fighting for the top spot, leaving the rest of the pack in their wake. Overture works on a strict auction model: the higher you bid, the higher your position is. Overture’s results are included in the sponsored results at the top of Yahoo!, MSN, Lycos, HotBot, and others. They claim to reach over 80% of all Internet users.

Google AdWords

Google’s AdWords program started in February 2002, and quickly became Overture’s only serious competitor. Google’s system is different from Overture’s in that the bidding is only one part of the ranking equation. The other part is the click-through rate (how often people click on your ad). Google AdWords are found on AOL, Netscape, Ask Jeeves, Teoma, Earthlink, and, of course, Google. Google states that their AdWords appear 200 million times a day. I figure that they also reach about 70% of all Internet users.

Other PPC search engines:

There are hundreds of PPC search engines out there, but you really only need to advertise with the top two. If you want to see some lists, you can go to www.PayPerClickSearchEngines.com

Pay-per-click tips

Here are some tips for running a PPC campaign:

  1. The #1 rank is not always the best. In fact, you can usually get a better return on investment (ROI) by being the second or third result in a search. The reason is that people will often click on the first result without thinking. They then realize that the site does not offer what they want, and they will come back and think (and read the description) before clicking on the second or third results. I mention only the second and third results because usually, only the top three results get published (Yahoo, MSN, and many more). Often the second and third results are much less expensive than the number one spot.
  2. Bid on as many relevant, highly specific, low cost keyphrases as you can afford. A keyphrase with only one or two keywords will usually cost much more than one with three or four words. Longer keyphrases also tend to be more targeted (for example, shiny blue widgets, instead of just plain old widgets). Thus, with longer keyphrases, you get lower costs and a higher return on investment. If you bid on enough of these targeted keyphrases, you can usually generate enough traffic to match what you would receive for a single-word keyphrase. To summarize, bidding on shiny blue widgets, pre-owned utility widgets, and zebra-stripped widgets, will cumulatively generate the same amount traffic as just bidding on widgets, but with a higher ROI because they cost less per click.
  3. Include your keyphrases in your title and descriptions. Think hard about your description because generally, the best description gets the most traffic (not always the highest ranking result).
  4. Use objective, not subjective language in your descriptions. Subjective descriptions will state how great the website is. Objective descriptions are ones that list the benefits of a website, or mention what the surfer can expect to find. Try to point out what is unique about your website.
  5. Create highly relevant landing pages for your PPC campaign. These landing pages (where the PPC link goes) are what will convert a surfer into a buyer. You have already paid for the surfer to see this page, so use your resources to make it into a good conversion page. Also, keep separate, track of buyers that arrive via your PPC campaign, and buyers that arrive via other means. That way, you can track your ROI, and figure out how much you should spend on the PPC engines.

Other helpful resources:

Shawn Campbell

Shawn Campbell is the co-founder and Chief Search Engine Optimizer at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.
www.redcarpetweb.com

Google Shakes Its Bootie

Published on: July 19, 2003Category: Search Engine Optimization

Google has made some major changes in the last two months. Normally, there is what we call a “Google Dance” every month. This lasts about a week, and it occurs as Google integrates new sites into its database. Google also tweaks its algorithms during this period, so most sites move up and down in the search results.

A side effect of this dance is the spread of the Google Dance Syndrome — a disorder that causes search engine optimizers and webmasters to pull out their hair and chew their fingernails while waiting for this algorithmic game of musical chairs to stop, so that they can see where their site ended up. The Search Engine Watch has more details about the syndrome.

The Big Shake

This May, Google did a major overhaul of its database, which contains over 3 billion web pages. They dropped a lot of sites, and they played with a lot of spam triggers. A spam trigger is a part of the algorithm that triggers a spam penalty for a site. For example, they have made the trigger for hidden text more sensitive, so that if you have a small amount of hidden text on your site, you will get penalized.

These spam triggers have caused a lot of headaches in the SEO world, but Google seems to be correcting any over-sensitive triggers that they create (although it will take two months or more of lost traffic before the correction is implemented).

Don’t Panic!

The bottom line is that if your site has been penalized, or even removed from the database, don’t panic. Just send a nice letter to webmaster@google.com explaining why you think you were penalized, and what you have done to amend the situation. I have found that you get a reply about 50% of the time, and that it usually works about 50% of the time (sometimes you will get a reply that is unhelpful, and sometimes they will correct the penalty without a reply).

What To Do

Here is something for you to do while you are twiddling your thumbs: try submitting to other search engines. Google after all, is not the only kid on the block. True, it represents 80.7% of the market (Google, Yahoo!, & AOL), but MSN still has 9.6%. So make sure you are in MSN by submitting to Zeal and/or Inktomi. You may also wish to spend time submitting to Dmoz.org (Open Directory Project), the Yahoo! directory, and exploring any industry directories or associations that would consider listing your site. Lastly, consider starting up a pay-per-click campaign with Google or Overture. In my research, I have found that Google’s AdWords have a higher rate of return than Overture, so I would recommend advertising with Google.

Global average usage share

Google 55.2%
Yahoo! 21.7%
MSN Search 9.6%
AOL Search 3.8%
Terra Lycos 2.6%
Altavista 2.2%
Askjeeves 1.5%

All numbers are an average of the last two months, from OneStat.com.

One final note… There is a lot of speculation that Yahoo! will be using Inktomi, or a combination of Inktomi and Google, in the near future. This means Inktomi will be taking the lion’s share of Yahoo’s 21.7% of market away from Google. So make sure you are listed in Inktomi, so that you don’t scramble when the changeover occurs.

Next issue, I will update you on other changes in the industry.

Shawn Campbell

Shawn Campbell is the co-founder and Chief Search Engine Optimizer at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.
www.redcarpetweb.com

Search Engines Buying Search Engines

Published on: April 19, 2003Category: Search Engine Optimization

Headlines

  • Yahoo! Buys Inktomi
  • Overture Buys Altavista.com
  • Google Buys Blogger.com
  • Overture Buys AllTheWeb

What is going on?

Well, there has always been a little incest between the search engines. MSN currently uses LookSmart and Inktomi. Yahoo and AOL both use Google and, of course, so does Google. So the current market has Google providing results for 3 of the big 4 search sites. This creates a hefty unbalance, and the industry has been holding its breath waiting for the hatchet to come down.

Yahoo buys Inktomi

It looks like Yahoo has made the first step. By buying Inktomi, Yahoo could potentially use results that they own, instead of paying for them “per click” from Google. Another scenario would have Yahoo combining Google and Inktomi results with its own directory results, making it into a meta search engine. Yahoo’s purchase of Inktomi also gives Yahoo a great paid inclusion program. Thus, not only does the purchase have the potential to make Yahoo into a better search site, but it will also make them money immediately.

Overture buys Altavista and AllTheWeb

Overture buying up Altavista and AllTheWeb is not so clear cut. Overture is a pay-per-click search engine that makes the bulk of its money by posting its results (sponsored sites) on Yahoo and MSN. It currently uses Inktomi to “fill up” any results where there are no bidders. Of course, on Yahoo and MSN the Inktomi results never show up (because they don’t pay).

So what will Overture do with its two new acquisitions? Well, Google is Overture’s only real rival in the pay-per-click arena. Many people think that Overture bought AllTheWeb to compete with Google in the search engine spidering arena. Another reason for the acquisition is that Overture can cash in on Altavista and AllTheWeb’s paid inclusion programs. Overture will probably continue to focus on their pay-per-click, while using the eyeballs at Altavista and the technology at AllTheWeb to improve their own services. They almost certainly will replace the Inktomi results (which they do not own) with either one of their new purchases.

What about MSN?

MSN hasn’t bought any big search engine recently. What will they do in the future? Many people are speculating that MSN will drop Inktomi now that their main rival Yahoo owns it. This is probable in the long term, but I don’t think they will make any bold moves soon. MSN recently pointed out that Google is definitely a rival, so it looks like they are targeting their crosshairs there. Another possibility is that they become better buddies with Overture, using Altavista or even AllTheWeb’s search results instead of Inktomi’s. They could also buy up Wisenut, another spidering search engine, which is owed by LookSmart.

Only time will tell

One thing that I think is for sure (if anything is in this industry), is that a good ranking in Inktomi’s listings is going to be a lot more valuable once Yahoo incorporates it, so get your site tweaked. A site that has been optimized for Inktomi will do better in the search engine results.

Next issue, I will update you on other changes in the industry.

Shawn Campbell

Shawn Campbell is the co-founder and Chief Search Engine Optimizer at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.
www.redcarpetweb.com

Picking Apart PageRank

Published on: April 19, 2003Category: Authority Building, Search Engine Optimization

Google is currently the darling of web surfers. With robust algorithms such as PageRank, Google helps users find relevant results, quickly. But while PageRank may be a boon for searchers, it is also the bane of webmasters because it is one of the most difficult ranking factors to control.

PageRank is the brainchild of Google co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. It is a system for ranking web pages that is based on an assumption popular among academics: that the importance of a research paper can be judged by the number of citations it has from other researcher papers.

The pair simply came up with the web page equivalent: the importance of a web page can be judged by the number of links it has from other web pages.

To find out what a website’s PageRank is, you’ll need to install the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer.

The Google toolbar sits underneath your address bar and displays a bar graph representing the PageRank of the page you are viewing.
toolbar

How it All Works

When a user visits Google and enters a query, several things happen. First, Google finds all the web pages in its index that match the search term. Next, out of these results, Google selects a subset of web pages that have the greatest relevance to the query.

At this point, PageRank is not a factor at all. Google first looks at all the usual factors such as keyword density and prominence to calculate relevance. PageRank only comes into play as a multiplier after all these other factors have been calculated. In other words:

Final Ranking = (score for all other relevance factors) x (PageRank rating).

To determine a page’s PageRank, Google looks at a web page and counts how many incoming links are pointing to it. Google regards these links as “votes”. If one site links to another site, it is essentially casting a vote for that site.

Google doesn’t just count the total number of “votes” or links that a web page receives to determine its PageRank however; it also analyzes the web page that casts the vote.

Votes cast by pages that Google deems “important”, i.e., sites that already have a high PageRank, are given more weight and help to increase the PageRank of the web pages they link to.

The actual PageRank of a web page is calculated as the sum of the PageRank of all the web pages linking to it, divided by the number of outgoing links on each of those pages.

Improving Your PageRank

Improving your website’s PageRank may sound easy: just find sites with a high PageRank to link to your site. In reality however, it’s not that simple.

Many webmasters with sites with a high PageRank, will not link to a site with a lower PageRank; it simply isn’t worth their while to do so. Moreover, even if they do link to your page, if they also link to numerous other pages, the PageRank is divided among all the outgoing links.

Consequently, it may actually be beneficial to propose link exchanges with quality sites with a slightly lower PageRank: competition for links from such sites is less fierce and webmasters may be more willing to reciprocate links.

Click here for additional tips on improving your PageRank.

The Trouble with PageRank

While the premise behind PageRank may hold true within the halls of academia, when applied to web pages, its flaws start to show.

Although it would seem like common sense that a website would only link to another site if it had good content, in reality, websites link to sites with poor content all the time. Webmasters may engage in purely commercial link exchanges, or they may link to a page because they use that website’s counters or banner ads on their own website.

Moreover, affiliate websites that generate revenue through pay-per-click links may artificially inflate their client’s PageRank, thus undermining any notion of a natural PageRank.

New sites are often the worse affected by PageRank. Regardless of their quality, new sites will always have fewer incoming links and therefore, a lower PageRank. Consequently, getting sites with a higher PageRank to link to them will be difficult.

websites with a good PageRank however, have no trouble soliciting links. Because of their good PR, they tend to rank highly in the search engine results pages. Since they rank highly in the results pages, people tend to link to them, creating a vicious cycle.

Final Thoughts

While PageRank is one of the hardest factors to influence, it can still be manipulated. As more and more people discover these strategies, the utility of PageRank will undoubtedly be diminished.

-Julie Joseph

Julie Joseph is a search engine optimizer and copywriter at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.

4-Step Plan to Getting the Most Out of Your Keyphrases

Published on: January 19, 2003Category: Search Engine Optimization

Every January, amidst off-key renditions of Auld Lang Syne and second-rate champagne, we make resolutions for the New Year. We resolve to lose weight, to exercise more often, or even to quit smoking. As e-business professionals and webmasters however, there is one resolution that we should add to our list: the resolution to use keyphrases more effectively.

Keyphrases are common terms visitors enter into search engines to find products and services. When used effectively, keyphrases can increase the amount of qualified search engine traffic your website receives.

Before you start debating the merits of lime green over teal green for your website’s color scheme, before you start writing copious amounts of marketing copy, in fact, before you do anything, it is a good idea to do some keyphrase research.

The two main objectives of keyphrase research are:

  • To find the best keyphrases for the products and services you offer.
  • To find common sense keyphrases that people understand, and would actually search for.

Below are 4 important steps to help you achieve these goals.

Step One: Brainstorming
The first thing you need to do is consider your business and the types of products you sell. Now write down a list of keyphrases that directly relate to those products. Avoid jargon, gobbledygook or marketing buzzwords, and instead, try to put yourself in Joe consumer’s shoes. What search terms would the average person use when trying to find such products?

Let’s say for example, that you run an online business that specializes in gag gifts. You might initially come up with keyphrases such as whoopi cushions, fake vomit, rubber chickens, etc. This will not be a definitive list. In fact, most of the terms you come up with will probably be discarded later on. But for now, it is a good start.

If you are having trouble zeroing in on keyphrases, try using Overture’s Search Term Suggestion Tool

Overture is a pay-for-placement search engine that allows you to register and bid on keyphrases. Fortunately, without having to do either, you can use the suggestion tool to find out how many times a term was searched for during the preceding month. The tool also displays a list of related search terms that include your keyphrase. Note that the order of the words in your key phrase is irrelevant.

Step Two: Digging Deeper
Now that you have a list of keyphrases in hand, it is time to start researching in earnest. A powerful tool that will help simplify the process, is a specialized database called Wordtracker. Wordtracker is much more precise than Overture’s Search Term Suggestion Tool. Wordtracker’s database contains millions of queries from metacrawler.com and dogpile.com (metacrawlers that query the main search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and AltaVista simultaneously) compiled over a two month period.

Using our hypothetical gag gift business once again, let’s say you enter the keyphrase “whoopi cushion” into Wordtracker’s database. Wordtracker will tell you how often people searched for the term and how many competing sites use the same keyphrase.

Suppose you discover that “whoopi cushions” is not a highly searched-for term? Using Wordtracker’s lateral search results, you can easily find related terms that are more popular — “gag gift” for example.

Step Three: A Few Calculations
Finding a highly searched- for keyphrase that relates to your products is all well and good, but if your competitors have all optimized their web pages for the same keyphrase, you will only be another small fish in a big pond.

The best keyphrases are not just the ones that are popular; they are the ones with fewer competing web pages.

This is where the concept of KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index) comes in. To calculate a keyphrase’s KEI, you square the popularity of the keyphrase, and divide it by its competitiveness (the number of web pages returned in a search engine’s results pages when you search for an exact keyphrase).

The formula for KEI is (P^2/C).

P = The popularity of the keyword.
C = The competitiveness.

Fortunately, Wordtracker incorporates the KEI into its database, so you don’t have to do the calculations yourself.

Let’s say the keyphrase “gag gift” has a count result of 1500 in Wordtracker’s database, and a competing result of 20,000 in AltaVista. The KEI rating for gag gifts (in AltaVista) would be 112.5. Of course, you would also have to calculate the KEI for the other top search engines as well.

The higher the KEI rating, the better the keyphrase.

Step Four: Putting it All Together
Once you have found your main keyphrase (you may also wish to include secondary keyphrases on inner pages) it is time to start optimizing your content.

Here are some guidelines to follow:

  • Place keyphrases in Title tags, Meta tags, and in the <H1>-<H6> tags.
  • Use the main keyphrase at least 3-5 times in the body of the home page.
  • Place keyphrases prominently in the beginning of paragraphs, alt tags, hyperlinked text, and bold text.
  • Write copy that is between 250-300 words in length on each web page, and make sure the text focuses on the keyphrase.

Final Words
Keyphrase research can be a time a consuming affair. It may take as many as 2-3 days to collate and analyze all the data. Still, it is well worth the effort because it offers such a high return on investment. So if you keep one resolution this year, make sure it is to use keyphrases more effectively. After all, you can always lose weight, exercise more often, or quit smoking next year.

-Julie Joseph

Julie Joseph is a search engine optimizer and copywriter at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.

Search Engines want to make money too

Published on: April 19, 2002Category: Search Engine Optimization

The Search Engine world is ever-changing. Getting into the search engines isn’t free anymore. In fact, it isn’t even cheap! This quarter, I will discuss the various costs of submitting to the search engines and directories. Each engine charges for a different service and has a different payment schedule. It gets pretty hectic, so to follow along, put your thinking cap on.

Below is a chart of the costs for a business to get into the search engines. All prices in this article are in US dollars.

Search Engine Cost Schedule Service Comment
Yahoo $299 Annual Just to be considered
LookSmart $299 One time fee Just to be considered Option to pay $149 and
wait 8 weeks
Inktomi $25 Annual
Per page		 Inclusion 48 hour refresh
The first page is $39
MSN MSN uses results from LookSmart and Inktomi,
so see LookSmart and Inktomi for their fees
AOL AOL uses results from Inktomi,
so see Inktomi for their fees
Altavista $19 Every six months
Per page		 Inclusion
Weekly refresh		 The first page is $39;
the next 10 are $29
Lycos $12 Annual
Per page		 Inclusion
Weekly refresh		 Also an Annual
membership fee of $18

Overture
Overture still shows its top three results on many search engines including MSN, AOL, Yahoo, Altavista and Hotbot. If your ROI is high enough, it is worthwhile bidding at Overture. See Last month’s article for details about Overture.

Google
Throughout this sea of fees lies the rock-steady island of Google. Google charges no fees, and consistently wins awards for “best search results”, “most webmaster friendly search engine”, as well as others. Google makes its money by selling ad space. You can see their ads on the right side of the screen, next to the search results for high demand keywords. For example, a search for “art prints” turns up ads for www.oneposter.com and www.easyart.com. Google’s system is similar to Overture’s.

How to get a good ranking in Google?
Two words: Link campaign.

Getting other sites to link to your website is probably one of the most time intensive and frustrating tasks a search engine optimizer must do. In fact, it usually doesn’t work unless you have set up a reciprocal link on your own site. The best sites to get links from are the directories: Yahoo, LookSmart, and the Open Directory Project (Dmoz.org). If you would like to get a link campaign started with Red Carpet Web Promotion, send us an email at details@redcarpetweb.com for details.

How to get a good ranking anywhere else?
Two words: Credit card.

  • Inktomi, Altavista and Lycos offer free submissions, but you get a boost (and a worthwhile one) when you pay their fees. You also get refreshed on a weekly basis. This allows you to post promotions on your website and, within days, they will show up in the search results.
  • Yahoo and LookSmart require a fee just to be considered for entry into their directory, unless you are a charity or solely an informational site.
  • Overture charges a fee for every person that clicks on your result.

Here are my suggestions on how to budget a submission campaign

  1. Pay to get into Yahoo and Inktomi. These engines are most likely to get the best results per dollar invested.
  2. If you can afford it, pay to get into LookSmart ($149 if you can wait the 8 weeks). LookSmart feeds the MSN search engine, and MSN is putting up a good fight with Yahoo as the top referrer.
  3. Start up an account at Overture and bid on the keyphrases with the best ROI. The minimum bid is 5 cents, so make sure that you make over 5 cents per visitor or you will be losing money. Remember that the minimum you must spend per month is $20.
  4. Altavista and Lycos are also worthwhile, but only if you have a high return on investment (ROI).

In another six months, all these numbers (and fees) will change again. That’s the search engine optimization business. It keeps us on our toes.

Next issue, I will update you on other changes in the industry.

Shawn Campbell is the co-founder and Chief Search Engine Optimizer at Red Carpet Web Promotion, Inc.
Shawn shares search engine news in each issue.