Forum Moderators: open
Also, the directory, which used to be powered by Looksmart, is now hard links to Yahoo ANZ.
Not sure when this happened but I am getting in touch with our friends at Anzwers to find out.
More Later.
Onya
Woz
P.S. have to do something about the logo!!!
Woz, hope you can get a reply, although I fear that anzwers has finally just decided it's more cost effective to plug in to the Yahoo/Google d/b.
Pity, it's been Australia's first and pre-eminent search engine since 1995.
Don't get me wrong, I love Google and occasionally use Yahoo for my own searching, and of course, submit to them both (thanks guys - get very satisfactory results to!), but this development represents a reduction in the effective search options for a local region like ours (Australia/New Zealand).
Plugging into Yahoo/Google gives a greater international relevance, but ... I used anzwers on a regular basis for aussie/nz only searches because, despite how great Google is, and yahoo's fine work, they are international indexes and the "local" emphasis and relevance has all but disappeared from anzwers results since this change. (The addurl is also now "temporarily unavailable").
Now the results depend on your existing Yahoo/Google presence.
So, if you don't perform well in Yahoo/Google , you won't be anywhere useful on anzwers.
I'll keep an open mind and a watch on it, but frankly, don't hold out much hope ... farewell anzwers, you did good ...
Regards and Hooroo
Jo-Ann Palmer
<snipped sig - woz>
(edited by: Woz at 4:52 am (gmt) on Oct. 20, 2001
I havn't been able to talk to them as yet, I'm busy busy busy! But I will next week.
I kind of agree and don't agree with your comments at the same time. Yes the number of databases has decreased, but I don't think relevance has. On the contrary, I would suggest it has increased.
Anzwers were using the Inktomi database as their source, another international database, and filtering for Australian/NZ results based primarily on domain and also relevance to a certain extent. The problem with Inktomi is that unless you Pay For Inclusion (PFI), or were in the database with good position before PFI came into existence, you are not included in any results let alone "localised" results.
Google on the otherhand is still a free submission, so if you rank well in Google, then you will rank well in Anzwers as long as you fit into the filtering. I am assuming at this stage that the Google filtering for Anzwers is also heavily local domain biased but will confirm as soon as I can.
BTW, I ran some searches related to your site and you came up top 10 most times so I wouldn't worry too much.
Also, whether the directory is Looksmart or Yahoo is neither here nor there as long as you are in whichever one they choose.
So, I see the change as a good one for better and, as Google seems to spider high PR sites more frequently, fresher results. Of course, time will tell.
Onya
Woz
I don't know when the databases changed from Inktomi to Google/Yahoo, but it appeared to be around 15-16 October judging by my log files.
My last visit from Inktomi/Anzwers was on 15/Oct/2001:15:49:27 +1000 and the first visit from Anzwers/Yahoo was on 16/Oct/2001:18:23:41 +1000
Hope this helps for now.
>P.S. have to do something about the logo!!!
Maybe they like the old logo. Strange that Yahoo hasn't removed it yet.
Onya
Woz
Thanks for the welcome and follow up explanations. I sent a copy to anzwers support and got a form reply that yahoo has taken over, and they'd forward the email to them.
Guess I'm just an old dog (been around since '96), so I'm still resisting paying for the priviledge of being included on search engines and directories when I'm the one providing the infromation people are looking for.
As a result, we do pretty well on most engines, so can't complain. ; - )
I'll be dropping by these forums on a regular basis.
Hooroo
JP
