A cautionary tale...
Editing for Key Phrases Spells Disaster:
"I specifically recommend rewriting home page text around well-researched key phrases. However, the quick fix mentality is hard to fight. Fellow workz.com expert Jill Whalen and I hear these comments time and time again when helping small-business owners optimize Web sites:
'I don't want to rewrite my home page. Can't you guys just edit the key phrases and put them in where they'll work?'"
The answer is no. If you want to gain strong rankings and successfully convert prospects into buyers, doing it right the first time is crucial.
But in the same breath, they complain that their search engine rankings are dropping off the map. They figure that by adding a few key phrases somewhere within the copy, they'll draw lots of eyes. But will that attention translate into sales? Probably not...
You need at least 250 words for maximum search engine effectiveness. If you don't increase the word count with more value-added content, which means a rewrite, you'll never have enough room to intelligently work your key phrases into the copy.
Consider your existing copy. Now imagine trying to insert two to four key phrases five times, each, somewhere within the text. Makes your copy sound kind of funny, doesn't it?
Copy must engage your visitors. Sure, if you repeat your prime key phrases often enough, search engines will stand up and take notice. But what happens when prospects hit your site? Chances are they'll take one look at your block o' key phrases and miss the point of your carefully crafted copy. Then they'll surf to a competing site where keyword-rich copy makes sense....
The Word Spy - poo X: "poo X "
Words About Words
---------------------------------
It is often forgotten that (dictionaries) are artificial
repositories, put together well after the languages they define. The
roots of language are irrational and of a magical nature.
--Jorge Luis Borges, Argentinian poet, short-story writer, and
essayist, _El otro, el mismo_, 1969
Borges writes the finest fictional philosophy of knowledge....
INSURANCE
Sept eBulletin - How Travel Sites Can Get Their Groove Back: "the issue of brand-neutral consumers looking for the best deal, and now it's only getting easier be that kind of consumer."
Hotels...should try to provide the guaranteed best price on a regular basis through their own Web site, with a Web site that is VERY rich in information so that I can get a good view of the room and the environs. I should be able to research, book and purchase a travel experience on the property owner's Web site. That's where they want to be.
E-mail is on everyone's radar screen right now. Everyone's got perfect information about the right way to do this, and I think it's just a question of how easy it can be done in their company, but sending personalized e-mail that's relevant, timely and customized is what everyone wants to do. Some are doing it, a lot aren't, and I think the consensus is developing a really strong database of opt-in e-mail recipients and sending them really relevant values is the way to go. It is easier said than done.
I think the e-mail problem is something that can be tackled and it can be done well and it can be done right, but it's not just an Internet issue. I think that level of personalization really has to extend into the experience itself. I think that especially for high-end suppliers, they're going to have to take that data and provide an increasingly personalized experience -- for hotels, once they're in the room and beyond. They have the data, they know the profile, and it has to go beyond just the e-mail. It has to become a total service solution.
eMarketer: There seem to be a lot of untapped opportunities out there.
DT: Have you flown JetBlue? They do a number of things that are very effective in making the passenger feel that they made a good decision, that they are cared about, that this is a quality experience, and it probably costs JetBlue next to nothing. I think it's really one of a very small handful of profitable airlines that has any level of brand loyalty, and the irony is that they probably spend less on their retention programs than anyone else. They have a very small-scale points program.
May 16 2002:
Nua Internet Surveys: Increase in online requests for quotes: "online request for quotes from the service industry have increased by 180 percent in the past 14 months...Ten of the top 50 service categories in which online quotes are requested, are travel-related, while six are insurance-related."
Service Seekers Stay in the 'Hood: "Ten of the top 50 service categories are travel-related, reflecting the tremendous growth in online travel services in recent years.
Six of the top 50 service categories are insurance-related, reflecting widespread acceptance and trust in seeking insurance providers and rates online.
More than 15 percent of all consumers looking for products and services on the Web fall outside of any metropolitan area, confirming the wide reach of the Internet and its ability to eliminate borders and geography as access barriers."
TIA - Press - Press Releases: "TIA SHOWS CONTINUED GROWTH IN ONLINE TRAVEL BOOKERS; NEARLY ONE-THIRD BOOK ALL THEIR TRAVEL ONLINE"
More than 64 million online travelers—-30 percent of the U.S. adult population—-used the Internet last year to get information on destinations or to check prices or schedules. Of that group, 42.2 million actually booked travel online during 2003.
The number of Americans using the Internet for travel planning has stabilized at 64.1 million, due to the slower growth of “wired” households in the U.S. Still, the number of travelers booking airline tickets, hotel rooms and other travel services online continues to grow.
In 2003, over 42 million people—-or two-thirds of all online travel planners—-booked travel using the Internet, up 8 percent from 2002. And the number of online bookers doing all of their travel booking online continues to grow, with 29 percent now doing so, versus 23 percent in 2002.
“Greater use of the Internet seems to be changing travel patterns in other ways as well,” remarked Dr. Suzanne Cook, senior vice president of research for the Travel Industry Association of America. “The enhanced accessibility of last minute specials via the Internet, as well as low prices on last minute travel, is stimulating later booking patterns.”
Airline tickets continued to be the most frequently purchased travel products online, reported by 75 percent of all online travel bookers. This was followed closely by accommodations at 71 percent, a dramatic increase from 57 percent in 2002. Rental cars were the third most popular travel service or product booked online (43%). Online travel bookers spend an average of $2,600 online in a year, up from $2,300 in 2002.
The use of e-mail to market travel promotions has become an effective tool for travel suppliers such as hotels and airlines to generate additional business. Over 35 million online travelers have signed up with a travel supplier website or online travel service to receive e-mail offers and promotions. In addition, 10 million have been influenced by an e-mail promotion to actually take a trip they otherwise would not have taken.
UK Travel Insurance 2003: Table of Contents: "CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY3
Introduction3
Market context3
Travel insurance grew by 5.2 per cent in 20023
In 2003 business volumes were not affected by global events overall4
The slow and steady growth of annual policy sales continues4
Customer focus5
Growth in the number of visits abroad slowed in 2002 but picked up in the first half of 20035
Inclusive holidays declined to 51.8 per cent of all holidays5
Growth opportunities exist in areas such as short breaks, young travelers, and those visiting friends and relatives6
Distribution7
The travel trade still dominates travel insurance distribution7
Competitive Dynamics7
Axa was the travel insurance market leader in 20027
Underwriters� experience in 2003 will have varied depending on their distribution channels8
Four of the top ten travel insurance advertisers are retail banking providers8
Future decoded9
The travel trade will continue to lose market share to low cost providers"
US travel market stats overview
file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Gill/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/LM4F8R9V/479,26,Visitor Trends Occurring More Often Since 9/11
Travel insurance sales up 61% since pre-9/11, according to Access America
E-Travel Trends
Online leisure travel bookings will total $27 billion this year, 28% of all online sales. (Forrester Research)
Internet encouraging late booking trends
Transparent pricing and consumer control
Online hotel sales soaring – up 49% in 2002 – will increase from 9% of total bookings in 2002 to 20% by 2005 (PhoCusWright)
Travel Commerce Conference & Expo: "Prior to September, eight to 10 percent of leisure travelers purchased insurance primarily for luggage or cancellation policies. Since then, travelers buying insurance has more than tripled, to 32-40 percent, and Travel Guard's sales have risen 75-100 percent over the same period, October - January. " (2003)
Yahoo!: Birth of a New Machine (Article): "Yahoo!: Birth of a New Machine"
Yahoo! Search new home page
Finally, a few facts about the new yahoo rather than usual guess work:
Yahoo isn't replacing Google with Inktomi. Rather, the company developed a brand-new search engine, drawing on lessons learned from what the company calls the "critical mass" of search engineering talent it assembled through hiring and acquisitions, as well as investment in infrastructure and product quality.
Last week's launch begins a progressive rollout that takes place over the next few weeks. It's the start of numerous planned enhancements focusing on Web search, personalization, and vertical search.
Note the new search engine is for Web results only. Image search remains powered by Google. News search is still a combination of Yahoo's own editorial and technological resources.
How does the Yahoo's new search engine differ from Google? Results presentation is very similar. Yahoo wisely opted to keep things looking mostly the same, with a few exceptions. There's a link to the cached copy of each indexed page -- now served from Yahoo, not Google. Just about everything else on search result pages looks the same.
Actual results returned by Google and Yahoo depend on the query.
For popular or common queries, there seems very little difference between the two engines in the top few results. Once past those, results tend to diverge dramatically. For less common or unpopular queries, Yahoo results look quite different from Google's.
Although Yahoo and Google likely use similar algorithms, one reason for the differences is Yahoo's e-mail and search teams leverage what they've learned about spam. Yahoo mail processes billions of e-mail messages, so this knowledge is likely quite helpful in providing Yahoo with a much deeper understanding of spam characteristics -- and helps keep nasty stuff out the Web page index.
Bottom line: I'm impressed with the quality of the results Yahoo delivers. It's a very viable alternative to Google and the other "last engine standing," Ask Jeeves/Teoma.
"The Yahoo Search index captures the
full text of Web pages, up to a 500K limit. That's greater than the 101K maximum indexed by Google.
A broad range of file types, including HTML, PDF, and Microsoft Office documents, is included in the mix.
How big is Yahoo's index? The portal isn't saying, despite Google's recent announcement it's expanded its index to nearly 4.3 billion documents (6 billion, counting images and newsgroup postings, which Google does).
In almost all of my tests with random queries, Yahoo reported more results found than Google. Does this mean Yahoo's index is bigger? Perhaps. But
reported results are estimates, not exact counts. They can include factors other than keyword matches, making them notoriously unreliable measures of overall index size. Suffice it to say Yahoo's index is comparable to Google's for most queries."
Yahoo plans particular emphasis in coming months on personalization and vertical search. The company's My Yahoo portal already offers extensive content customization options.
Newly released features such as the SmartSort option in Yahoo Shopping, which provides very specific product advice for digital cameras, MP3 players, computers, and other electronic devices based on criteria the user enters, is an example. The ability to add RSS feeds to the My Yahoo page is another.
"Ultimately we want to understand the intention of the user, and I think we're going to get closer to that through personalization," said Weiner.
In the vertical search arena, Yahoo plans to focus on local, travel, personals, and its Hot Jobs search portal.
These moves are clearly only the beginning of many more to come at Yahoo. "Over time, you're going to see Yahoo extend our search technology, and ultimately into our media properties," said Weiner. "To a large extent that will help drive our growth."
All this gives Google, Ask Jeeves, and Microsoft's fledgling Web search initiative good reason to be even more attentive to the quality of their search results. It promises to be a very good year for searchers.
Welcome to Lycos!
A new home page and a new business plan greeted visitors to Lycos.com Wednesday morning.
A new layout emphasizes Lycos' branded subscription services including Gamesville, Matchmaker, Angelfire and Tripod. They are each prominently promoted in a banner at the top of the page.
The U.S. division of Spain's Terra Networks (TRLY) is shifting its Web focus from being a portal for general interests to becoming a focal point for paid services including job searches, finding dates and online games.
The company described itself as "the first Internet network specifically constructed to enable people to create and recreate relationships with the people who most enrich their lives," in a statement when it announced plans to restructure. "The Lycos.com homepage will become a hub for personal connections, giving users a single starting place to manage their Internet experience as a way to connect with others," the company said.
As part of the shift, Lycos is also outsourcing its advertising sales to 24/7 Real Media (TFSM). The interactive marketing firm will sell display advertising for the company's network of sites.
Yahoo! Help -: "How do I improve the ranking of my web site in the search results?"
If Yahoo traffic drops post dropping Google results will have to review site re Yahoo guidelines... should be done whatever...
PRESS RELEASE (eMediaWire) Google, Overture, and GO TOAST become sponsors of Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization: "Google, Overture, and GO TOAST become sponsors of Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization "
Will Google become less opaque to SEMPO members I wonder?
Link Pop & Future of SEO
Mike Grehan : "'There's a lot of information about Search Engine Marketing, but it's hard to separate the facts from the myths,' says Grehan. 'As a result, many marketers are ill-informed and unable to sweat their online assets properly.
'With Third Generation Search a reality, the challenges for online marketers are enormous. The search algorithms are extremely complex, but it is still possible to make a website irresistible and ensure that it drives your profits.
'If you are in digital cameras, you want to make sure your website is the first that people see when search for digital cameras.
The secret is in the quality of the links to your site.' "
The Future of SEO: "on link pop. is pretty easy:
a) Create a site that is the best in its niche; b) Link to other relevant sites when it makes sense to do so and because your site visitors may be interested in them; and c) Submit your site to relevant, high-quality directories in your space. "
One thing that I know for sure is that client expectations will probably have to be somewhat lowered in the near future, if not already.
Optimizing for longer phrases will become the norm, and if you want the most competitive phrases, there's a good chance you're going to have to buy them through ads.
The good news is that due to the difficulty in gaining high rankings these days, many SEOs are also focusing on other aspects of their clients' Web sites. The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, even if you get high rankings for highly competitive keywords that bring tons of targeted traffic, if your Web site sucks, you still won't make any money off of it. Secondly, when you are required to focus on less general phrases, it forces you to really take a hard look at your site, and make sure it's truly working for you.
SEOs will need to take
usability and conversions into consideration when coming up with your search engine marketing campaigns in the future, if they're not already doing this. Therefore, I see there being a much brighter future for those SEOs who are able to make the transition.
Search Engine Strategy: Links or Content?: "Search Engine Strategy: Links or Content?"
"...debate is raging in the search engine optimization community, about whether content or linking is the best path to top rankings. In this article, I lay out the claims of both sides, reaching the conclusion that neither strategy is sufficient by itself. The number of people who truly believe you can do one without the other is small - they just happen to be extremely vocal...
Submitting to topical and general directories, asking consumer-focused sites for product reviews, and publishing "guest content" on other sites are all simple and effective methods of building links that will help your rankings, but also add to your site's traffic.
If your site is already well linked, you may gain more "bang for the buck" from a content strategy, but for highly competitive search terms, it's essential that you target the right websites and control the text of incoming links as much as possible.
If your site has almost no substantive incoming links, you must address this before you can expect anything else to matter.
"
Blogs and Search Engine Optimization: "Business blogs are composed of regularly updated postings about your business's main areas of interest. Posts can take the form of short items, highlighting, and linking to an article found elsewhere on the Net. Sometimes an informal essay on your chosen topic is the preferred blog entry. There are no hard and fast rules on how to blog; you get to decide your own format.
DMOZ, Skaffe, and JoeAnt, accept blog submissions without concern.
While other traditional website owners were lamenting the loss of their top rankings following the recent "Florida" update, bloggers were enjoying better SERPs and PageRanks than ever. The heavily content oriented weblogs were treated very well by the Google search results. Blogs came through the update with flying colors, many proudly displaying high PageRanks and page one rank. The new algorithm favored the blog format of freely linking, and frequently updating content."
MediaDailyNews 02-24-04: "The top five search venues in January were Google (59 million visitors), Yahoo! Search (46 million), MSN Search (45 million), AOL Search (23 million), and Ask Jeeves (13 million). "
A Marketers Guide to Search Engine Marketing and Staying Alive in 2004 - Part One: "You're not going to know anything more about your online audience if you know that you consistently rank #5 on Google for 'Scratch and Sniff Posters.'
If you are a serious online business, you need more than that. Paid search services are a reality that all marketers should embrace because of the options you get: quick time to market, detailed reporting, and technical support from the search engines."
Features:
" Yahoo! has let slip that it will soon exclude Inktomi paid inclusion URLs from its main results. Quite simply, if you've subscribed your URLs to the Inktomi index, then you'll be found in Yahoo! searches until 15th April. After that - YOU get dumped and have to pay to get back into Yahoo! You WILL still be found over at MSN and HotBot where Inktomi results are still primary though.
The options are simple:
- Pay to be in Inktomi and be guaranteed to be in Yahoo until April (and the lesser noticed, for now, MSN until your next bill)
- Don't pay to be in Inktomi and hope to be found in an honest crawl and remain forever (at least until MSN dumps Inktomi and then you're nowhere again!)
- Pay to be in Yahoo! and be guaranteed to be in there until your next bill
- Don't pay to be in Yahoo! and be somewhere, sometimes, but who knows how and where - or why!
- Do nothing and be found for everything at HotBot (whatever that is!)
- There's always this: Dig a big whole and throw all of your money in it. Then, take the eye of a Newt and the wing of a bat. Boil the cauldron... "
The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques: "ABSTRACT
First, a new model of searching in online and other information systems, called 'berrypicking,' is discussed. This model, it is argued, is much closer to the real behavior of information searchers than the traditional model of information retrieval is, and, consequently, will guide our thinking better in the design of effective interfaces. Second, the research literature of manual information seeking behavior is drawn on for suggestions of capabilities that users might like to have in online systems. Third, based on the new model and the research on information seeking, suggestions are made for how new search capabilities could be incorporated into the design of search interfaces. Particular attention is given to the nature and types of browsing that can be facilitated."
Sell the Information-Gatherers: "First and foremost, search isn't confined to search engine keyword search. It entails searching and browsing. (Disagree? Head on over to academic paper search engine CiteSeer and do a couple searches on 'search behavior.' You'll find plenty of research to chew on.) A user types in some keywords, gets some results, and starts clicking links. They may find what they want right away (the result we hope -- and pay -- for). They may sort of find what they want and start browsing around within a site. They may follow links to other sites. Or, they may just give up and start over. Whatever path they choose, typing those keywords is the beginning of the process, not the end."
Traffick | Minding the Search Engines' Business: "what could Yahoo do, then? How about being more transparent? Why not offer a subscription service where search engine marketers who participate in the new paid-inclusion program could be advised of changes to the Yahoo search algorithm and make necessary changes before they're implemented? It seems a bit useless to pay for inclusion on an annual basis per URL and then just guess at the factors that could make your site appear nearer the top rankings.
Yahoo wouldn't have to give away the store to give helpful advice to marketers who desperately crave basic guidance on which search engine optimization techniques are acceptable practices and which are not. Google is so utterly non-transparent (opaque?) that it forces marketers to spend hundreds of hours per year trying to deconstruct monthly changes to try to keep up with the times.
The issue of relevance with free listings is one thing, but when you have to pay for pay-per-click ads and to be indexed, marketers deserve more. With all those smart people on their payroll, I'm sure someone can devise a plan that would strike a balance between relevancy and fairness to customers whose fortunes rise and fall by search engine rankings."
Search Beyond Google
Google reigns supreme as the search engine of choice—but for how long? A pack of startups—and Microsoft—are developing technologies to find what you want, faster.
Link Popularity is About More Than Just Search Engines: "You can't just have inbound links, you must also direct people to valuable external resources.
This should not be confused with reciprocal linking - 'if you link to me, I'll link to you' - which is worthless. Link to external resources because they are useful, not because they happen to link back to you. "
icrossing Finds Search Intelligence: "search is the way the Web is used, period"
Whats The Next Step With Search Engines -> High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum:Remember the old adage that has always applied to SEO's? Adapt or die? It's been too long since this applied to Search Engines because there was no competition with deep enough pockets to rival Google and it's wonderful algorithm. Most new kids on the block which had promise were bought out before they could become a threat...
The phrase applies once again to the Search Engines.
Computerworld | Overture launches into Australian market: "Online marketing services firm Overture has officially launched in Australia to grow the business and provide a local point of contact for existing customers, "
Yahoo! Birth of a New Machine: "In the vertical search arena,
Yahoo plans to focus on local, travel, personals, and its Hot Jobs search portal."
The FTC and Disclosure, Part 1: "Commercial Alert filed its complaint last July, claiming a lack of disclosure about paid content integrated into search results constituted 'deceptive advertising,' which the FTC protects consumers from. The group, backed by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, sees the FTC action as a victory."
The FTC agreed, stating in its response to Commercial Alert's complaint:
Because search engines historically displayed search results based on relevancy to the search query, as determined by algorithms or other objective criteria, the staff believes that consumers may reasonably expect that the search results displayed by individual search engines are ranked in accordance with this standard industry practice -- that is, based on a set of impartial factors. Thus, a departure from the standard practice, such as a search engine's insertion of paid-for placements in the search list, may need to be disclosed clearly and conspicuously to avoid the potential for deception.
Commercial Alert Complaint Letter Attatchment: "Finally, the staff recommends that you review your Web sites to ensure that:
any paid ranking search results are distinguished from non-paid results with clear and conspicuous disclosures;
the use of paid inclusion is clearly and conspicuously explained and disclosed; and
no affirmative statement is made that might mislead consumers as to the basis on which a search result is generated. "
Copywriting Articles & Free Reprint Articles
Includes:
An SEO Copywriting Makeover – Turning “Not” Into “Hot” Go step-by-step when turning "not-so-great" copy into sales-oriented, SEO copy.
Nip and Tuck - Three Quick Tricks for Writing SEO Copy
The Word Spy - extreme tourism: "extreme tourism
noun. Tourism that involves travelling to dangerous places or participating in dangerous events."
As much SEO is concerned with words, this site which monitors new words & changes in language is worth referencing for keyword research...
Yahink Really Rolling Out!: "It appears that Yahoo's new search rolled out globally between 1pm and 2pm GMT today 17/02/2004"
Changes Afoot at Yahoo & MSN: "Yahoo has begun crawling the web with a new indexing robot...The new robot is called Yahoo! Slurp...crawled pages may not show up in search results. Why? According to the Yahoo Search FAQ, "The documents will be indexed and included into the search database in the near future."
Yahoo is also now creating a cache of web pages similar to Google's.
What else is changing at Yahoo? The company won't comment yet.
Meanwhile, over at MSN, LookSmart listings have been dropped, and Inktomi results have been promoted. MSN has also rolled out a new search beta.
"
How We Track ROI: "That's the entire system. In a nutshell, we tag your visitors prior to them visiting your website, and then flag them, should they buy your product"
Yahoo! Shopping - SmartSort Technology: " Instead of letting a search engine determine the relevance and order of your results, SmartSort puts you in control."
For when the basics keep rearing their head - or when great suggestions guarenteed to get 1st position in search results are discovered by a newbie or enthusiast...
The Evolution of a Search Engine Marketer - High Rankings Advisor 087:
"As with anything you set out to learn in life, you don't get from point A to point Z without touching upon all those letters in between. This is why every day for the past 7 or 8 years I see the same search engine optimization questions asked over and over again by people in the various stages of learning. The search engines may change through the years, but people just finding out about SEO all tend to go through a similar growth process"
Has Paid Search Peaked?
Senior Analyst David Hallerman says there are three key points in understanding search marketing:
Search engine optimization is just as important as paying for position, especially as the cost of keywords rises.
When paying for clicks, consider contextual search, but only when the value makes it competitive.
This year, search players’ focus on local search will lead to improved searching and new revenue opportunities. Expect this to attract a slew of local advertisers who have until now haven’t had compelling options.
The Extreme Searcher's Web Page: "The Extreme Searcher's Guide to Web Search Engines (a CyberAge book from Information Today) on those changes in search engines that directly affect effective searching. "
Web Fountain IBM
IBM sets out to make sense of the Web | CNET News.com: "That goes well beyond the capabilities of Web search engines developed by companies such as Google, Inktomi and Fast Search and Transfer. These products typically scour the Web to find the documents that best match a given query, typically analyzing links to important Web pages or matching similar chunks of text. With these and other methods, search lets people browse, locate or relocate information, and get background information on a topic.
By contrast, IBM's WebFountain wants to help find meaning in the glut of online data. It's based on text mining, or what's called natural language processing (NLP). While it indexes Web pages, it tags all the words on a page, examines their inherent structure, and analyzes their relationship to one another. The process is much like diagramming a sentence in fifth grade, but on a massive scale. Text mining extracts blocks of data, nouns-verb-nouns, and analyzes them to show causal relationships."
Features: "Both this column and Part 1 of this article, should help to give a general overview of where you should focus the best part of your 'organic based' strategy. There are the major PPC services which spread across networks such as Overture, Google AdWords and eSpotting as well, which also require careful media buying appraisal to fit tactically into your overall strategy.
And just to try and help with a little visual aid for reference, I've popped three PowerPoint slides online. This is not an exhaustive list of search engines, third party suppliers and PPC media services. It's very much just a general 'snapshot' of the current landscape and some of the constituents. But you should get the picture!"
Microsoft's plans for a new search engine technology: "Andy Beal talks to Robert Scoble from Microsoft about the future of search engine technology, Google and how search will be handled by the next incarnation of Windows"
Features: "Top 10 United Kingdom web sites for the week ending 24 January, 2004, based on visits.
1. (23.19 %) MSN UK http://www.msn.co.uk
2. (13.40 %) Google UK http://www.google.co.uk
3. (10.99 %) Freeserve http://www.freeserve.com
4. (6.77 %) MSN.co.uk Search http://search.msn.co.uk
5. (5.78 %) Yahoo! UK & Ireland http://uk.yahoo.com
6. (4.58 %) Yahoo! Europe Mail http://uk.mail.yahoo.com
7. (3.53 %) Ask Jeeves UK http://www.ask.co.uk
8. (2.78 %) My Yahoo! UK & Ireland http://uk.my.yahoo.com
9. (2.44 %) Yahoo! UK & Ireland Search http://uk.search.yahoo.com
10. (1.80 %) Freeserve Search http://search.freeserve.com"
MSN Search
MSN Search (U.S.) Runs Beta Test
Here's a statement from Karen Redetzki, MSN Product Manager:
"In order to increase relevancy, MSN Search is testing solutions on MSN Search to a small percentage of consumers in various markets worldwide. Tests serve as no indication as to the direction MSN will eventually take in the future but rather are research to determine the most useful consumer experience on MSN Search. Tests or changes in one country do not necessarily indicate what may or may not be tested or changed in the US or other markets. We determine the needs of customers in individual markets and make the best decision for that market based on both consumer and advertiser wants & needs."
Here are a couple of things I noticed:
Sponsored links directly below search box
Popular Topics gone from beta version
Featured sites gone from beta version
Page titles larger point size in beta version
Beta only available with IE browser
After a couple of searches with the beta version I was asked to complete a survey about my searching habits and the engines I use
MSN Beta Search 1
MSN Search: london underground -- beta 2
