AltaVista Moves from Default OR to Default AND

[Damian]

Didn't see it mentioned yet.
http://www.researchbuzz.com/news/2002/feb07feb1302.html#altavistamoves

Lost quite a few good positions for my sites I just noticed..still a good move by Av I think.

[Brett_Tabke]

<snide>There are people who still use altavista?</snide>

Seriously #3 position under a good keyword (single) has been producing a trickle (5-10) a day. Same keyword, same position two years ago, produced 400-700 a day. How the once mighty have fallen.

[heini]

Yes there are still people using AV, at least in some European countries. No doubt it won't last long till that is history too.
But for now it gives many many people something between 5-10% referals which justifies discussing changes.

With exactly this argument - who uses it anyway - we could at present stop discussion on all engines except for one. Besides talking about how to spend clients or own money best on PPWhatever outfits.

That out of the way: yes, it is a good move from AV. And it should be taken into account when optimizing for AV.

[Damian]

What Heini said. Av is still important targeting a Dutch audience at least.

It's also not always about hits, especially not for commercial sites.
If one can convert the average visitor to $0.5 turnover with well targeted keywords/phrases, 5-10 visitors a day is $75-$150 a month per position. Losing or winning more then a few of those positions can make quite a difference.

You can have only so many optimally targeted and converting keywords/phrases for a product, so it usually pays to be on top for those keywords at any engine, no matter how much traffic they have.