The News this Month!

1. AltaVista Launches New Look!

AltaVista is still fighting back! Their latest attempt at a relaunch was done at the beginning of this month. The home page is much cleaner with all forms of banner advertising and pop-ups removed and search results appear much quicker than previously. AV has done some clever things to assist people in getting cleaner and more focussed search results through the use of their Prisma technology which attempts to find the primary themes which come up for your search terms allowing you to more closely define what you are looking for in a simple and efficient manner.

We think that this is a good start for AV who has a difficult task in rebuilding the loyalty that they have lost over the past few years. Hopefully, users will give them a try again.

2. Yahoo UK Layout Change.

With the removal of Yahoo directory results as the primary results on Yahoo.com, we were waiting with baited breath to see if the same thing was going to happen with Yahoo UK. Well they have changed the way they display results - and at first look they look as if they are search engine results instead of the previous directory format - but they are, still, the Yahoo UK directory entries - not Google results as the default - if there are directory entries. Sites listed are in order of the ranking which Yahoo UK have determined and are listed in blocks of 10 per page - as opposed to 20 per page which appears on Yahoo.com.

In all, the results look a lot cleaner and easier to navigate than the clutter of categories which occurred before and it would appear that there is still value in paying to go into the Yahoo UK directory if these results appear before the Google backfill. The same can't be said for the US at the moment!

3. AllTheWeb PFI Increase!

As we announced last month, a new partner has emerged for FAST/AllTheWeb paid inclusion. Positiontech, which is a major inclusion portal for Inktomi and Trusted Feed partner to FAST, AltaVista and Ask Jeeves - started the program at the beginning of October. Previously, the route into FAST for paid inclusion was via Lycos. Positiontech make it an easier process than the somewhat cumbersome Lycos process and are noted for their excellent support and attention to customer service. Prices have now increased to $34.00 for the first URL and $16.00 for each subsequent URL.

4. Beware of Callers Bearing Gifts!

As we approaching the Season of Goodwill, we thought a reminder was in order. Nearly every day - either I or our clients are rung by one or more so-called SEO companies offering a 'fail-safe' way to get certain keywords listed at the top of search engines for a year - for a fee (of course). We've heard of people being quoted as much as £100K for a search term which may be searched for 10 times a month and is available for 5p per click from Overture!

We've heard of people stating they have 'special deals' with search engines and are working on a 'partnership with Google' etc., etc. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true - it probably is. If in doubt - ask to speak to the search engines they refer to to check their authorisation. Don't just accept the callers word for it - it is your money. Also it is impossible for anyone to 'reserve' a word at the top of any search engine unless they have a deal directly with the search portal concerned. A good SEO/SEM company can get you up to the top or on the first page - but none can guarantee you stay there. If anyone says otherwise - check with the search portal to make sure they agree. I doubt if they will!

5. Which search engines cost what?

With fees changing every month, we are keeping this list updated regularly - so users can see what the latest costs are. As always, not a lot of free submissions out there so don't get taken in by the ever growing list of people offering mass-submissions. They just don't work for any of the main search facilities that drive real traffic.

Here are the main search facilities and the basic costs for faster review/inclusion. You can get discounts for more URLs.

• Yahoo US! - $299 for business and commercial sites (review only and then annual inclusion fee). Top listings available via Overture (US only) and Overture UK (UK only). Only use Yahoo US submission if you can't get in through Yahoo UK!
• Yahoo UK! - £199 for business and commercial sites (review one-off, non-recurring fee). Top listings available via Espotting.
• Inktomi - it powers some or all of the results on MSN, LookSmart, About, Sprinks, Overture, HotBot, Overture UK, Espotting and several UK portals. Costs from $39 per page per year!
• Google - still free - though you can get paid listings via AdWords or AdWords Select if you want to appear in less than 2-3 months! Powers some results on Freeserve, AOL, Yahoo, IWon and BT LookSmart network backup results in the UK.
• ODP - completely free.
• LookSmart - feeds results to AltaVista, Excite (note: Excite is now a meta-engine - not a search engine in its' own right) MSN, iWon, CNN, Time Warner and another 370 ISPs. $49 (plus $150 deposit) then 15 cents per referral and (if you want to appear in the UK) £149 for LS UK. Description changes cost extra. LookSmart UK has just launched their own PPC system to compete with Overture and Espotting called BidSmart.
• AltaVista - still used by a significant number of users from $60 per page per year. Can get to the top by paying Overture. LookSmart for directory.
• FAST - provides results to a number of European searches as well as the widely used Lycos engines now up to $34 per URL per year.
• MSN - LookSmart for Directory and Overture for top listings plus Inktomi which uses paid inclusion.
• UKPlus - now part of LookSmart UK.
• Overture - provides featured results to many meta-engines, plus AltaVista, Excite, HotBot (US), Lycos (US), MSN and Netscape - plus many other search portals. Pay for placement. Minimum fee £25
• Teoma - powers Ask Jeeves US plus Ask Jeeves UK and is now starting to be sold as an alternative engine database (like Google and Inktomi) - $25.00 per page.

It will become harder and harder to get a free listing if you are a business - but make sure, before you pay the engines, that you understand what you are doing to make sure your pages/site appear high up in the listings! These payments specify rapid inclusion - not high rankings. The site/pages still need to be optimised.

If you have any further questions about the major search engines - why not ask your questions about this or many other subjects on our free information forums?

We also have many resources which are designed to make your optimisation tasks easier. As always, MakeMeTop is here to help get you seen on the web. If you have any queries, comments or feedback on the information contained in this report, please let us know. It must be stated that all comments and ideas listed in this document come from the editor's research and are solely his opinions! For more information and tips on getting top search engine rankings visit Search Engine World, Pandia and Search Engine Watch or read our tips on designing a search engine friendly page. See other news, views and search engine happenings at sites we find useful at Webmaster World, Pandia, Search Engine Watch and Ihelpyou Forums. A free weekly newsletter is available from High Rankings Advisor and is also well worth the read.

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