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So, I registered a domain name 5 days ago, put 2 links on two websites pointing to the newly developed site and here is the result:
Google picked it up instantly. The site is already in the index in top five for many competitive words, and is ranking no.1 for dozens of less competitive ones. Good. Google already helped me get a few enquiries. I love google. So you do, I believe.
The strange thing is, however, that on some of the listings, google has placed (intentionally?) a space between the root folder and the rest of the URL (e.g. widgets.com / information/more-information.html, instead of widgets.com/information) This seems to cause some problems, for who users end up on a 404 page. Freshie came twice, spidered one level deep from the root and that's it.
Google - 9 points out of 10.
Inktomi - PFI. Paid some $39 for inclusion, almost three days later, no sign. Finally, the site appeared. Bad results. Not enough spam by me :) - Points awarded - 6/10
Fast - three days after paying $34 - no sign from 'Fast'. Finally it came, grabbed the index and disapeared. Do not expect good results. 5/10
And the last competitor was an uninvited one. Ask/Teoma.
Came out of the blue and started digging deep into the site, listing 100's of pages. Have no idea whether my site will be included in their next update, but hey, no investment made there. 8/10.
The bottom line: Paid $72 on PFI, and no results yet, no enquiries, no business.
Once again Google is the king, and no matter what some say, it is still the number 1 SE out there.
That's it.
Anyone with a similar story?
As for all the other engines we are no.1 on almost all of them without paying a cent.
Google maintains 80% of the market share of the search engine of choice for a reason. They offer the best, most relevant results.
Yahoo was, and still is a great resouce, and with the inclusion of Inkotmi, they have the resources to do even better - but the Yahoo stronghold has always been a human edited 'directory' service rather than a search database. Humans can not keep pace with a computer that is running a good algorythim (I wish it wasn't that way, but it is).
Ask / Tehoma made their name with the coding to remove words like 'a', 'for', 'how', etc. Great programming, and kudos to them for their work. But I digress........
My guess is that MSN/Looksmart and their 'paid inclusions' will always have a market, if for no other reason than it is the default "search" for a Microsoft PC. Will it become the default for searches?........... Nope, too many folks know about the search world. Will it help the big business guys who have the bucks to spend on pay per click, I'll send you $300 if you put me at the top of the page for a month......... yep.
As far as fast/fastsearch goes, I really haven't quite figured them out yet. They aren't consitant.
PFI? ... not unless you've got big bucks to throw at it. The $30 - $50 per word thing won't get you anywhere. And if you DO have the big bucks, the TV adds will help as much as anything.
Just my 2 cents worth from a newbie
google has placed (intentionally?) a space between the root folder and the rest of the URL
d_fused - I just noticed this problem last night when I was checking some serps. It seems to happen on asp pages, from what I can tell. I don't remember seeing it previously.
As for the question of PFI, I can imagine if you're doing a lot of retail with a fast turnover in product line, PFI might be worth it. I've never paid for inclusion, and I've always gotten my sites indexed, though it sometimes takes patience (also, an ODP listing helps a lot in getting listed in the other engines).
Inktomi is the only engine besides Google that's brought me significant traffic (from MSN, for terms where there's no LookSmart competition). It's possible that AllTheWeb driven engines would produce traffic in Europe, but they don't have much market share here.
To throw in an additional thought, I think it's good to rank well, if you can, on all the main engines. That way you know you have a lot of different algo criteria covered, which tends to make your position on Google more stable over time. Also, every little built helps.
Actually it is PHP in my case with quite a few Rewrite rules in my .httacces.
However; I noticed it on other SERPs, too, even on pages that are done in F(r)ontPage with no SSI, PHP or any other server-side technology used.
Looking at the stats now, I wish I had never paid for inclusion ;)
I maintain about 50 sites at the moment and this is the first one that got those unexpected spaces.
In regards to Inktomi, yes, you are right. If there are Looksmart results, combined with the sponsored ones... well, it gets kind of messy.
Thanks for the input.
Regards.
So, I registered a domain name 5 days ago, put 2 links on two websites pointing to the newly developed site and here is the result:
If you don't mind me asking, what were the page ranks on the two sites that you added links to the new site?
Is it sufficient to simply have a site that has been indexed or do they need to be PR4+ to have any effect?
I am new and still learning, thanks in advance for the info.
e-TN
A wise man will hear and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto WISE COUNSELS: Proverbs 1:5
The sites I used are both PR4 (or used to be PR4 before I uninstalled my toolbar). They both have less than 10 incoming links, and they are both, well, sites that I use to send and receive email only.
Briefly; you should be fine, as long as you have several incoming links and plenty of fresh content to start with.
Needless to say that submitting to directories such as DMOZ, JoeAnt, etc is desirable.
As far as PR is concerned, I started getting higher in serps, when I stopped worrying about my site’s PR.
The same applies to those so-called rank checking programs, page critics, keyword density analyzers, etc.
imho.
Regards,
d_
Google has a 4 week cycle to index and update old and new sites in its database. It seems you caught Googlebot at the right time by those 2 links on other sites. I doubt if you can consistently repeat the 5 days miracle with more sites even if you use the same sites to place the links.
