Overture sets its hooks into Excite

Anyone surprised?

[pmac]

Email from Overture edited. (Fluff removed)

We have just expanded our existing partner agreement with Infospace (Excite)

all searches conducted at www.excite.com will now include
Overture's top five search listings at the top of the page. For selected terms,
10 additional Overture search listings will be displayed.

Users will see the same implementation when they conduct searches at www.webcrawler.com,
Excite's Web search directory.

[Laisha]

*lol* I saw that this morning and realized that there's little point in SEO anymore...simply manage GoTo accounts and you'll be okay! :)

[ggrot]

Yeah, if you can afford goto traffic!

[nicebloke]

this is news?

^{please excuse my sarcasm}

>little point in SEO anymore

Cobblers.

[mivox]

Cobblers.

Does "Cobblers" mean roughly:

a) poppycock, nonsense, etc.
b) right-o, agreed, 100%
c) none of the above (please explain)

Thanks... always good to further international understanding. ;)

[Laisha]

>Does "Cobblers" mean roughly...

It means bollocks. :)

See also: the Worldwide Words entry for the word [google.com].

Or, it could mean "I didn't know what the *lol* and smiley face meant, so I'm taking you seriously." :)*

* The smiley face in this post means "I'm joking."

(edited by: Laisha at 12:00 am (gmt) on Dec. 11, 2001)

[mivox]

so, a) would be correct then... :) Thanks

Worldwide Words
Great resource...

We now return to your regularly scheduled topic:

Overture sets its hooks into Excite
Anyone surprised?

I, for one, am not surprised in the slightest.

[grnidone]

I'm a little surprised: I thought the search part of Excite was going away. (?)

[oilman]

>>if you can afford goto traffic

as long as you're doing the math correctly it really doesn't matter how much traffic you get as long as your conversion rate can hold out.

PPC is a game of percentages: your conversion rate is a percentage, your profit margin is a percentage, the amount of money you are spending on ppc should be looked at as a percentage. When all you are dealing with is percentages, as long they stay within your tolerances you'll be fine regardless of 100 clicks a day or 1000 clicks a day.

I know in reality there are other factors but all things being equal if PPC is done right you will not go broke because of too many clicks.

It's doesn't surprise me in the least that Goto is now on Excite nor do I think this is the end of SEO. I have one site in a highly competitive industry with all kinds of PPC players and I'm still doing fine with no PPC.

Yes, good old fashioned SEO is fading away but we've still got some time.

[nicebloke]

hahha yeah bollocks! :)

[Laisha]

>hahha yeah bollocks!

:) Not to be larey, but I'm truly not naff. :)

(Don't mind me, I'm showing off for my tutor.)

Actually, SEO encompasses much more than simply search engine rankings. I know that I deal with the entire area of web promotion, as I'm sure most of us do.

I'm frankly rather happy with the encroachment of GoTo -- I refuse to call it Overture -- because it complements search engine results so well.

[nicebloke]

Hey Laisha, sorry. I rarely take anyone seriously :)

Seems to me right now across forums there's so much whingeing going on nowadays.

from Middle English, from Old English hwinsian; akin to Old High German winsOn to moan

[ggrot]

Oilman, I just mean that my conversion rates and profit margins can't handle the cost per lead.

[oilman]

ggrot:
ah - I see. Gotcha. I just recently had a light bulb go on for how to effectively work PPC and was eager to share :)

I feel you pain. I'd love to try out my new found knowledge but I can't afford to jump in the game - the bar is already to high.

What I really meant to say was: if you're already in the game more traffic won't hurt you.

[lawman]

Anyone who uses arcane words that require a normal person to use a dictionary is a jackanapes.

Lawman

[nicebloke]

Depends on what you call normal. :)

[mivox]

Or which side of the Atlantic you're standing on when you choose to insult someone thusly. ;) (Normal! Imagine!)

[nicebloke]

This is getting warped now. I'm off to bed (without looking up thusly!) and I hope nobody's been insulted.

[lawman]

I had no idea no one on this board would have to look up 'jackanapes'. I presumed everyone would know that I intended for the word to apply to me. Guess next time I'll use a more arcane word and a smiley face. ;)

Lawman

[mivox]

everyone would know that I intended for the word to apply to me
Oh, I knew that...
;) :) ;) :) ;) :) ;) :) ;)
However, sprinkling a liberal handful of various smileys about is only safe in such situations.

Aren't we getting a wee bit off topic though? ;) (Just one more, for good measure)

[ggrot]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I had to look it up. But armed with my handy dandy opera dictionary, i looked it up with a swoop and two clicks. =)

[wolfy]

Sorry but I can't see Overture listings on Excite.com, I only see the first two from Findwhat.
Is it the same thing of Yahoo that displays Overture listings just to people resident in US?

Thanks
wolfy

[seoboy]

wolfy -

i dont think the listings have gone live yet. i'm not seeing them either, and i'm in the US

[namniboose]

To get back to the more interesting topic of the atlantic language divide: I thought for a long time that 'lol' was 'lots of love' and signed my letters thus!

And do you lot (in the US) know what F.A.O. is, or is it used solely in the UK?

[skipper]

I don't think it matters much, as Excite no longer seems to drive much traffic per comments from Find What on another post here. (I think it was titled the End of Excite). Anyway, has anyone noticed the new Looksmart effort to get money from us?
Quoted from email I received from them:
>LookSmart has created a free, personalized user account to help you keep track of the Web site you’ve submitted. Using your account, you can view your Web site description as it appears on MSN, AltaVista, Excite, iWon, and the rest of the LookSmart Network. You can also update your Web site description, add your site to new categories in the directory, or get your site included at the top of relevant search results with our new Site Promote product!

Log in NOW to see your account and learn how Site Promote can drive more traffic to your Web site. Try Site Promote within the next 10 days and receive a $15 DISCOUNT OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH - that’s up to 75% off! It’s an easy, low-risk way to get more clicks! You can cancel at any time.

Here's how to get started:
1. Log in to your account using the information below.
2. Click "Promote this Site" next to the site you want to promote.
3. Use the coupon code below to save $15 off your first month!

URL: [listings.looksmart.com...] <

In so many words, they now want a monthly fee from you if you have a listing with them, if you want to keep your site updated and well-promoted/listed in their directory.

[backus]

I'd say bollocks was the correct word! SEO will be necessary. The normal, everyday Mick will soon workout what Overture is and move away from that Search Engine. It won't take long. Overture can't possibly work.