Forum Moderators: open
ronin: Indeed, although it's good to see that most places still offer free inclusion for non-commercial sites.
I don't like the fact that PPC sites are billed as search engines - to me they are more like a searchable classified ads section.
What about if your website is selling a particular product or service? Then the Overture listings are relevant, and also put there by a company who is likely to be profitable if they can afford PPC.
Your comment makes sense for overture ads that show up for informational searches, but that doesn't mean overture is pointless. Lots of people click on paid listings and buy things, so Overture works for lots of people. I think we will see more and more people choosing to click on paid listings when they are looking to spend money - I know I do.
I'm the miser who never buys anything on the web except plane tickets and never buys anything off the web except food and train tickets, so I forget that people sometimes use the web expressly to purchase something.
From the perspective you've just outlined, I'd agree with you, it makes sense. But I'd also agree with the earlier comment that Overture is provides searchable classified ads - and the description 'search engine' can be somewhat misleading.
But I am talking about small business websites that nobody is interested in linking to.
Adwords
I'm the miser who never buys anything on the web
LOL, I used to be one of those. You're almost certainly in the majority. With regard internet searchers in general, the internet itself (and e-commerce) is still a relatively new idea. Once everyone is more comfortable with and has grown used to the idea spending on the web will increase across the board.
E-commerce is still in development IMO. There is widespread concern about the security of online transactions too. I shared those reservations a while back, but since then I have dealt with so many online transactions and e-commerce sites and learned so much about credit card processing, credit card fraud etc. that I know full well that online transactions are easily as secure as those offline, and there is almost certainly more protection for the consumer with online payments. And hey, if I buy things off the web, I'll know what other people who buy things want too. Places like Overture are great even if you're researching products and not buying.
>>classified ads
I don't disagree with you. But I do think that the difference between overture and other engines is not so great. If you remember Yahoo when it was directory results not Google, that would also be a a 'classified directory'. You pay for a listing, just like the Yellow pages. And Google is just a classified directory where you pay in SEO, not cash... ;)
Absolutely! OV is not a search engine, its an "ad network" - or in the case of their own site, an "ad search". great point. The only reason for people still talking about OV as being a "search engine" is its orgins as GoTo as a commercial content "search engine", before they started providing their ads to REAL search engines.
However, thats great. People do buy on the web. But the web would not have a high usership if it also did not provide communication tools like email and chat etc and content and articles. It would just become a virtual mega mall. I dont go to those at all - though some do - but that will not be enough to keep the web as a viable media laternative to tv, cable, newspapers etc. The web is a media, after all, which muct attract people via content and other stuff. Selling, like ads on tv and in classified content and blck ads in newspapers just sells (on the side) to pay for the content which is why people watch or read them.
At last we are getting to the stage on the web where "content" is better spearated from "ads". Soon hopefully, no longer will buyers have to crawl through useless content, or content searches have to crawl though endless commercial piches.
Its a sign of a maturing industry.
