Switzerland - Schweiz - Suisse - Svizzera

3 search engines, 5 directories

[rencke]

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Switzerland - Schweiz - Suisse - Svizzera
Fact sheet [odci.gov]
Domain(s): ch
Online population: 2,4 million (33,1%) (1Q/2001)
Native language(s): German (64%), French (19%), Italian (1%), Romansch (1%) Other (9%)
Understanding of English: High
Hosts in domain: 262.500 (April 2001)
Pages in domain 5,25 million (April 2001, all languages)
Local presence required for domain registration: No
Multiple domains allowed: Yes
Professional help: See bottom of page

Known general search engines:

Altavista [altavista.ch]
Language interface: German, French, Italian Traffic volume: ? Local language(s) required: ? Local domain(s) only: ? Search technology: ? Meta description used in search replies: ?
Things that help ranking: Local language: ? Local domain: ? Keyword in URL: ? Keyword in title: ? Keyword in description: ? Keyword in meta keywords: ? Keyword in header: ? Keyword in 1st paragraph: ? Other: ?

Blu Win [search.bluewindow.ch]
Language interface: German, French, Italian, English Traffic volume: ? Local language(s) required: ? Local domain(s) only: ? Search technology: Altavista main index Meta description used in search replies: ?
Things that help ranking: Local language: ? Local domain: ? Keyword in URL: ? Keyword in title: ? Keyword in description: ? Keyword in meta keywords: ? Keyword in header: ? Keyword in 1st paragraph: ? Other: Reported to generate good traffic for sites in AltaVista main index.

Lycos [ch.lycos.de]
Language interface: German, French, Italian Traffic volume: ? Local language(s) required: ? Local domain(s) only: ? Search technology: ? Meta description used in search replies: ?
Things that help ranking: Local language: ? Local domain: ? Keyword in URL: ? Keyword in title: ? Keyword in description: ? Keyword in meta keywords: ? Keyword in header: ? Keyword in 1st paragraph: ? Other: ?

Known general directories:

AllesKlar [allesklar.ch]
Language interface: German Traffic volume: ? Local language(s) required: Yes Local domain(s) only: No No. of categories allowed per site: 1[/color Search technology: [color=#CE0000]? Meta description used in search replies: ?
Things that help ranking: Local language: Mandatory Local domain: No Keyword in URL: ? Keyword in title: Yes, seems to be the most important Keyword in description: ? Keyword in meta keywords: ? Keyword in header: ? Keyword in 1st paragraph: ? Other: Every site has location info associatoed (zip code, city etc.) Rank efter title.

Francité [guide.francite.net]
Language interface: French Traffic volume: ? Local language(s) required: ? Local domain(s) only: ? No. of categories allowed per site: ? Search method: ?
Things that help ranking: Local language: ? Local domain: ? Keyword in URL: ? Keyword in title: ? Keyword in description: ? Other: ?

Search.ch [search.ch]
Language interface: German, French, Italian, English Traffic volume: ? Local language(s) required: ? Local domain(s) only: ? No. of categories allowed per site: ? Search method: ?
Things that help ranking: Local language: ? Local domain: ? Keyword in URL: ? Keyword in title: ? Keyword in description: ? Other: ?

Sharelook [sharelook.ch]
Language interface: German, French, Italian Traffic volume: ? Local language(s) required: ? Local domain(s) only: ? No. of categories allowed per site: ? Search method: ?
Things that help ranking: Local language: ? Local domain: ? Keyword in URL: ? Keyword in title: ? Keyword in description: ? Other: ?

Webindex [webindex.net]
Language interface: German Traffic volume: ? Local language(s) required: ? Local domain(s) only: ? No. of categories allowed per site: ? Search method: ?
Things that help ranking: Local language: ? Local domain: ? Keyword in URL: ? Keyword in title: ? Keyword in description: ? Other: ?

Yoodle [yoodle.ch]
Language interface: German, French, English Traffic volume: ? Local language(s) required: ? Local domain(s) only: ? No. of categories allowed per site: ? Search method: ?
Things that help ranking: Local language: ? Local domain: ? Keyword in URL: ? Keyword in title: ? Keyword in description: ? Other: ?

Local people who can help with translations and advise:

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Updated 24 April, 2001

Edited by: rencke

[sommer]

ja, es hät au schwizer! ;-)
bisch au in münche gsi?

some info about importance of search.ch: they have a phone book, free sms service - this visitors count too. there aren't many visitors coming through search.ch! many people search for google at search.ch ;-)

bluewin is a portal of a provider like aol - many people don't even know that they can change the browser homepage... they also have news - i don't get many visitors through bluewin also. (bluewin = sear.ch)

google is most important!

maybe altavista and msn are also used, but like everywhere - google is leading.

[Onza]

I think that Search.ch is very important and will stay around for a while. They still offer a very reasonable alternative to google and their algo is pretty good. Also they come up with a new index at least every three weeks! SEO in Switzerland without Search.ch would be a sad thing. According to WEMF ( Swiss Market Research Company ) they are the leading Search Engine in Switzerland. ( Doubt that though )

I rank excellent with Search.ch with a lot of my sites, ( better then in Google with many ) but still get more traffic from Google.

Sinner_G: don't you insult our unique and wonderful language... doesn't it just sound like music to you?

[sommer]

quote: I rank excellent with Search.ch with a lot of my sites, ( better then in Google with many ) but still get more traffic from Google.

good rankings but no traffic => consequence: no users searching ;-)

[Sinner_G]

MMXI gives the following swiss search engine ranking:

Bluewin.ch 50%
Msn.ch 31%
Google.ch 30%
Search.ch 22%
Yahoo.de 10%
T-Online.de
Yahoo.fr
Altavista.ch
Lycos.ch

But these are visitors to the sites themselves. As was pointed out, bluewin for example gets a lot a visits as portal provider.

[Rumbas]

Good point Sinner_G.

Bluewind and MSN are portals and we don't know how many of their users that actually search.

On Google.ch you can't do anything else but search.

[Sinner_G]

Can anyone confirm search.ch uses keyword meta? I even have the feeling they get the different languages.