The message is clear: you can't rely on just one search engine for all of your traffic. You must use all your wits to emerge victorious from the search engine wars. Google is important, but it is not everything. Keep your eyes and ears open to new opportunities and old standbys: other search engines and directories, paid placement and pay-per-click, newsletters, and even more traditional channels.
Who Will Stay Tops In The Search Engines?
You never know who will become the leader in search engines. It was only a few years ago that directories were the major force--until the upstart search engine Google came along. Google got its start about five years ago and hasn't looked back. As long as Google provides good results for its users, it is in a good position to stay on top. However, with MSN working on the creation of its own search engine and Yahoo's acquisition of Overture (which includes AlltheWeb and AltaVista), things could get interesting in 2004. Microsoft is always a force to be reckoned with, and Yahoo certainly has the tools to become a major competitor to Google.
Inktomi's New Role
Inktomi may play an important role in this growth since it is now owned by Yahoo. Keep an eye on this engine: it provides secondary results for MSN and will probably replace Google in supplying primary results in Yahoo. Inktomi's importance may also increase in MSN once the Microsoft property stops using LookSmart for its primary results.
To see which pages you have listed in Inktomi, use the Inktomi Pure Search function from Positiontech:
http://search.positiontech.com/InktomiSearch/PositionTechSearch.jsp
Inktomi often adds a few free pages to its databases. Check first to see which pages you may already have in their database for free before using Paid Inclusion for your most important pages.
posted by Jen @ 7:02 AM
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