What are the most important SE's?

[beasscr]

Question: I know that each search engine is important in their own way but my question is:

1. If you had to choose the top 3 most important search engines/directories which would they be and why?

Again, I know they all are important somehow but I'm curious if there are 3 that are a must.

[agerhart]

Good question!

I think my TOP 3 important ones would be:

1) Yahoo
2) Google
3) Looksmart

[beasscr]

Angerhart--Why would you choose those?

[Macguru]

If I rely on global statistics:

1)Yahoo!
2)MSM
3)Google

[agerhart]

I chose these 3 because:

Yahoo: Not always the #1 referrer, but always either #1 or #2

Google: Same as Yahoo, always either #1 or #2

Looksmart: Quick listings and results, expensive but a great referrer, listings displayed in numerous places

[caine]

My answer is for now and the future.

Them all - is a simple answer.

However for a more tenable goal, probably this:

1. Yahoo / ODP = Google
2. INK = LS & MSN
3. Fast = Lycos

The simple truth is i don't look at an engine or directories as seperate entities, which can be exiled by choice from all others.

Yahoo and ODP both feed google, good listings with them is half the battle won with google.
ODP alone, feeds pretty much every other engine at some time or another on the planet.
INK, LS and MSN and the other partners i see as completely inseperable, because a good listing with one is a good listing with them all (hmmmmm!), and ink will come from a listing.
Fast is a major player in Europe and Feeds Lycos and many other directories.

So i suppose the 3 choices, have now turned into many, but i could'nt seperate them. lol.

[ritualcoffee]

Google
Yahoo
GoTo (it feeds a lot of others)

[satanclaus]

ditto to caine's post.

I've gotten many good 1st page Lycos listings due to directory traffic created by DMOZ.

[IanTurner]

My top three are

Google
Fast
Ask Jeeves

Replace last with looksmart if customer is able to afford it.

Google -> Yahoo web pages
Fast -> Lycos
Ask Jeeves -> lots of backdoors (certainly with uk version) - gives good traffic for me.

But I am not as experienced as many here.

However a lot of where you target depends on your marketplace. GoTo is less important for UK players, but for global I would have to consider it a must. Find out which are the top five engines for your marketplace and look at targeting them.

[rencke]

beasscr: You didn't specify which market you were interested in and your profile doesn't say where you are located. So far you have been getting good answers for North America. But the engines mentioned are not very important in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, where - except perhaps for Google - they generally play a minor role only.

[IanTurner]

rencke,

Got any tips for the Asia/Pacific region - I haven't much experience in that area, though some of my sites may be relevant.

All the best
Ian

[bill]

In Japan...

Yahoo/Google

goo

Excite
but that's for Japanese language sites

[rencke]

Sorry Ian, you'll need Woz for that. Haven't read as much as I should in the Asia-Pacific forum. All I know is that the situation appears to be similar to the one in most European countries. A local engine has the lion's share of the market, with the majors way down on the list.

[beasscr]

Thanks for pointing that out rencke! I was interested in more North America se's. But I still find all these answers pretty interesting!

[Brett_Tabke]

My top three would be:

- Google
- ODP
- Alta

Google because they have the traffic at home and at yahoo at current.
ODP because of the intangibles of link pop.
AV because in the categories I float in, they still have traffic.

Bottom 3:
Yahoo Directory - the cateogories I float in there, just don't have the search traffic. Google searches suffice.
Looksmart. Too little value for $.
Goto. If I want to advertise, I'll call Alta or Google.

Future:
Wisenut, Teoma, and a couple of new spidering engines coming online this fall.

Less than concerned list:
Ink (just die already), Fast (submit & forget), Excite (global warming is happening faster that they update), Northern "I got a referral once" Light.

[IanTurner]

Northern 'I got a referral once' Light

Poor 'Gulliver' he does a lot of work for very little reward!