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1. I think it will be a mix in any variety of ways for the initial period, with overture predominating paid ads..
2. They will move to using Ink as their technology and spider over time, and the present actual database will change very quick. eg: i dont think that an existing position in ink is worth much medium to long term
3. They will use ink for many things - spidering/paid listings/free spiders/PFI/ etc It wll become a major part of their spidering indexing accross many areas..
Then I predict Yahoo will really push (PFI and index connect), now that Ink results are the "primary" results at a major portal...
Even though they are giving Overture more "real estate" now, they "dump" Overture completely, and go with their own CPC based bidding environment.
The directory get's more prominence again, but never the Top Billing it once had....
Yahoo pushes "Paid Directory" listings as a way to get link pop. in Inktomi... :)
It's all about the Benjamins....
Zero chance of Yahoo dumping Google anytime soon. The model is clear: use Google to be better than Google.
<--Side note;Google goes public and introduces paid listings--->
As a side note: giving sites listed in the directory a boost of Y!Rank (Y!R) in Ink: it will be much more attractive if they continue to syndicate Ink results to other portals and engines. The more outlets using Ink the more people will belly up and pay, not only for PFI, but also for that Y! directory listing.
Second it makes perfect sense because they are taking an expense (paying google for results) and turning it into another revenue stream (with the paid inclusions on inktomi)
Third I think the googler's WAY overplay the importance of search quality, sure if I'm looking for something detailed I will take the time to go to google, no doubt there results are better ... BUT
Most of the internet users have no clue about search quality, the majority of the people on AOL click around AOL thinking they are on the internet. 17 million people last month did a search for Yahoo or Yahoo.com and another 12 million did a search for Google or Google.com
If you had 1/2 of a clue why would you do a search for Yahoo or Google instead of just going there? People to Yahoo for the email, the chat, the games and everything else ...
I'm interested to see how it all plays out, but as a webmaster, I'm totally in favor of paying a fee and being able to save the untold hours of time google requires to play their game.
Ah ha! that's what google wants you to think! - though they would prefer you to spend your money on Adwords though... They are quite happy to compete directly with Y!/Ink for your listing/PPC dollar.
I agree that on a cost-effectiveness basis PPC and advertising is becoming increasingly appealing, though i expect costs to advertiser will creep up fast. Basically Google does not in any way want you to do SEO, they prefer to be left alone to decide what are the best/most relevant pages by themselves. Makes for less spam and a better index which is how they get the eyeballs that may click on the top and the right.
They dont ask you to play their game (after all its YOU playing your own game, not google's) - just hope you give up and get used to paying directly. After all, that money goes into Search engine pockets, not SEO's pockets..
I agree with your view that many users do not care about search quality to some extent, but certainly its not as big a proportion as it was when Y! had its golden age, and its declining as the average experience of internet users reduces as internet use becomes mainstream, users get smarter, and new user uptake slows as it approaches the ceiling level in many markets.
I haven't read much on these boards about Overture raising their minimum bid amount to $0.10 AND raising all grandfathered <.05 bids to .05 at the end of march ...
I think this will be a nice boost for the google ad words business, though I never saw the return from google adwords that I did from overture.
any idea how much yahoo pays google for the results?
but don't kid yourself it's not me playing my game, its everyone on this board playing googles game, making up ridiculous "content" and trading emails to exchange links,
when you get right down to it ... is a user better off hitting a simple doorway page that sends them to a merchant through an affiliate link or reading through a bunch of paragraphs and linked pages to end up at the same merchant through a different affiliate link ;-)
don't get me wrong I love the game, and love these boards as well
I agree!
I gave up on this game long time ago. I pay the fee and happy with the results (including on Goolge)
I think if you make a living from the internet and search engine marketing is a big part of it. You can't effort to play the Google game. Too expensive and you don't have to worry about the update every month. Results are almost always the same.
But then again if you are doing it as part time or for extra cash then you can pay the 'Google game' or if you are SEO then you have no choice.
Weiner reiterated Yahoo's commitment to its search partner, Overture, but also said the company wants its search product to be as self-reliant as possible.
"Given the importance of search to Yahoo we don't want to be dependent on any one third party," Weiner said. "We want to control our own destiny."
==
Bye bye Overture.
For me, I would love a new PPC in Yahoo. I'd get several months of cheap clicks before the muggles jumped on board and outbid me into oblivion.
but I still think that (from the greedy Yahoo's point of view) showing directory as primary results is the most effective way; as they are no more the "good guys" directory, they might even afford to prefer annual paid listings to "grandfathered" and free listings;
so I would expect the following structure of results:
1. Yahoo proprietary PPC (3-5 results on every page)
2. paid Yahoo directory + paid Inktomi results
3. free Yahoo + free Inktomi results
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