Lesson #30 Summer Search Engine Report!
Written By Cyndalie

[ARCHIVE: June 2004 - This article contains dated material that explores the changes the occurred in the search market place in the first half of 2004. This information is a useful tool in understanding the past developments that has create the current search engine marketplace of today.]

Since the start of this year there have been a wide range of hard hitting headlines in the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) arena. Major acquisitions of well known portals has only forced compression in a marketing business that has suffered limiting options with rising costs. This squeeze has not only affected search engine marketers but the entire internet industry as a whole. New businesses and web sites are finding it not only harder to compete with established sites; they are also forced to compete with more keyword friendly, general sounding domains that make it even tougher to brand name recognition.

It's almost as if the more "blah" straight forwarding sounding your domain or site name the better you may do in the rankings, however the harder it becomes for the site to withhold a professional brand name and long term stance in the customers eyes. For example, would you rather join a site called "StrippersLive.com" or "StrippersLive4u.com"? Or how would you be able to directly compete with "NaughtyAnal.com" when your domain is "Anal-Sex-Girls.net"? You may come up number one, but will you make the sale? These small steps webmasters have taken to conform to what search engines want, but is it what our customers want? To help explain this Catch-22, let's see what has forced us into this mirage of idealism.

Woe is me, 2003

2002 closed out with the announcement of Yahoo's acquisition of Inktomi. Yahoo gets a crawler but it hasn't bothered to implement it yet. AllTheWeb.com uncovers it has covered up adult related results unless the user decides to turn off the content filter. Overture kicked MSN in the balls and fired back at Yahoo with its proposed acquisition of both Altavista and AlltheWeb/FAST Search. Overture gets a crawler but it hasn't bothered to implement it yet?

Hmm, wait a second, do you see a trend here? Oh! It's adult webmasters who got kicked in the balls! You see, Yahoo relies on both Overtures' pay per click sponsored listings for a huge percentage of its revenue. With the recent $240 million dollar purchase do you actually think that they would give up a dime from their Overture partnership? How about Google? Yahoo relies on Goggle's integrated results for customer search satisfaction. Inktomi is providing Yahoo with a HUGE list of paid per listing customers and Inktomi currently powers MSN, Overtures unpaid results, Looksmart, ESpotting and more. Yahoo has its hands in everyone's cookie jar.

Now that Overture has purchased both Altavista and AlltheWeb the benefit is simply more places to provide sponsored listings and therefore sell more pay per click advertising. This expanding cross-portal portal is giving advertisers a chance to appear in several engines at one time with one primary managed advertising campaign. It's an ad agencies dream come true, but a webmaster nightmare. Less free marketing options means more investment required for a return.

Exactly what these engines plan to do with their recent acquisitions have yet to be determined. As long as they are making money not much will change too dramatically with so many shareholders to please. A standoff until the Fall is most likely.

Google Gets Game

Google hasn't exactly been taking all this lying down. Google has been up to its usually forward thinking and geeky acquisitions. In February Google acquired Pyra Labs, developers of blogging, blogs at Blogger.com. According to Blogger.com, a blog or weblog is a "web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically - like a "What's New" page or a journal". You can easily update your blog site by clicking on a bookmarked page you are provided with and entering the textual update information. This can also be done from FTP, a cellphone, PDA, and other mobile devices. Blogs are known to be EXTREMELY Search Engine friendly, as they are text based, and Google tends to give them extra preference in listings for some reason. Blogs can also be image based updates and it will be fun to see adult webmasters take off with this new technology. Anyone got a cell phone with a camera?

Google also stuck it to Overture when they patented Page Rank and its web search and indexing technology this year. As other search engine companies are shrink wrapping down to bare bones to keep profits up, Google still remains privately owned and driven by technology rather than revenue. Even with this focus, Google has become a daily part of speech in most households and I truly believe will be the number one place to search for a long time to come.

Any Advantage is a Good One

Well the FTC implemented in July of 2002 that all search engines must clearly identify sponsored listing from (free) web results. It is now easier than ever to figure out where search engines are getting what kind of results and better target them. However, just as in your daily routine running an errand, most people ignore the billboards and signs and head in the direction they are determined to go. The same for internet traffic is true, as we see in the decline of the banner for more text based "blended" paid results.

Very interestingly, more mainstream companies are spending a larger percentage of their advertising budget on the web. The Internet cannot be denied as a viable and successful form of marketing as more people turn away from their TV's in favor of their computers. Just as mainstream companies are relying on cross media marketing for a higher return on investment, so should adult webmasters. Are there media outlets left for adult webmasters including late night television ads (remember 1-900-395-DUCK)? What about your local entertainment rag or hell put a bumper sticker on your girlfriend's car! Haha! Some bars and clubs may allow adult ad's in gentlemen's rest rooms that is very affordable. Get creative and think outside the machine. It's often where people least expect to see something that they find themselves checking it out later. Ok, you may not get a million hits in one day but every little bit counts.

So the SEM marketplace is alive and healthy and the Internet marketing industry is expected only to grow. So far in 2003 there as been a lot of noise, I mean, news, yet not many major changes in the foundation of the engines and traffic. For adult site webmasters the industry compression means limiting options for advertising, however the traffic is still there, these days you simply have to be VERY specific and targeted. Follow the rules, give the engines what they want, and build! By developing your optimized property around your site the more foundation you will have left to float on if the tides push our traffic sources to new places. Remain versatile and key your efforts for the long term. Things may seem to change fast in the search engine arena, however it is always a progression and it is never too late to start. Until next time, best wishes in all your online and offline promotions!