Yahoo! Switch – When?
It seems that Yahoo! is finally ready to make the switch from Google results to their own results – powered by Inktomi. Yahoo! is also working on a new Shopping Search as well, and word has it that when it is launched, the switch to Inktomi powered results will also occur. If you are a Yahoo! Store Owner, this will give your business a significant boost.
Now is the time to check your web logs to see how much traffic you are receiving from Yahoo! Search. If it is a significant amount, you should check your rankings.
Stop Words Released
You may be aware that search engines ignore “stop words” or “common” words in searches (i.e. for, how, when, and, etc.). The reason? It inflates their index and slows down the return of a query. Google has finally come public with this information. If you perform a search that contains a “stop word”, Google will display, the following message: “”for” is a very common word and was not included in your search.” There is a link that will take you a page with more details on Stop Words and how to refine your searches in Google.
Deep Linking for added Link Reputation
One topic that has been discussed in the past is deep linking to boost your link reputation. For example, if you have a listing in Yahoo!, DMOZ, and Business.com, you could place links on your site that point to those listings. The logic here is that by doing so you are increasing the PageRank for those pages, which then feed your site.
Largest Index
Fast announced about two weeks ago that their index has increased more than one billion pages to a level of 3.2 billion pages. With AltaVista’s multimedia index standing at over 550 million files, it looks as if Yahoo! will use these indexes, along with Inktomi to give an ultimate “meta search engine” with all three in the mix.
Overture Releases Conversion Counter
If you have an Overture account, you have probably seen Overture’s new “Conversion Counter” and their free trial offer. You should be aware that after the trial period, there is a $49.95 fee to track your sales, sign ups and other conversion information.
Google Calculator
Google has just implemented a new calculator tool into their search results which is a great feature for those of us who have to stop and look for a calculator or open the calculator program on our computer. All you do is type in the expression right into the search box.
It isn’t perfect, as a query for “the answer to life the universe and everything” returns the answer of 42.
Hmmm.
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