I use Overture for a nickle a click on many search words which makes
me a sponsor and adds a great deal of traffic to my site through
Yahoo, etc. My problem is with AOL since anything you do with them
costs a fortune. If you look at my site, www.theeveningstore.com, you
will see what I do. My keywords like Prom Dresses, Evening Wear,
Evening Gowns, show up so far into AOL search engines that you would
die before you find me. Others, less significant sites, appear much
higher, even though over the years I have done everything possible on
AOL, within their directories, one can do. My question becomes what
can I do to raise my rankings on AOL since they have no Overture type,
pay per click, of system in place and it seems to me they really only
play with the big boys, not small companies like mine. Our traffic,
some 3,000 people and 100,000 hits per day ain't bad, but AOL
referrals are way down on my list, where Yahoo, Google, are high. I am
interested in the keywords I listed above and I am curious to know how
I can get listed within the first few pages with them on the AOL
search. You do them, I think, so what is involved? I have been going
crazy with AOL for many years. I have an Ebay Store, a Yahoo Store,
our own store, Overture accounts for the US, Germany, and the UK, but
I still rank low within AOL searches. Can you help me, I cannot afford
to pay people, who at least call me all the time for my business, that
tell me they can get me higher rankings on AOL for 30 cents a click.
That could break me. I really appreciate your help? Also I know AOL is
coming out with a Local Search pay per click, but that is only in your
local area and will not help me nationally or internationally. Many,
Many Thanks. Take your time, look me over, and let me know. Barry

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Request for Question Clarification by robertskelton-ga on 27 Jan 2003 13:42 PST

Hi,

I am confused by your question. AOL uses Google for its search
results, so your ranking on each should be identical. You can use
Google's Adwords to achieve the same sort of exposure you get using
Overture.

Evening Wear - Google
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Evening+Wear

Evening Wear - AOL
http://search.aol.com/dirsearch.adp?start=&from=topsearchbox.%2Fdirsearch.adp&query=Evening+Wear

---

Clarification of Question by bigbugs-ga on 28 Jan 2003 07:05 PST

Hello,
       I have done extensive research on Google and do not find
Adwords anywhere, if you give me the link I will study this and get
back to you. I understand how Google works, but if you are an AOL
member and click Internet while online, type in your search word, I
appear way, way, down the list. As far as I know nothing Google offers
compares to Overture, which I pay 5 cents a click on my selected Key
Words. Remember I am talking strickly about AOL. If Google offers a
mirror of Overture for your AOL search engines I cannot find it and I
will be happy to look at it. Many, Many, Thanks.

Request for Question Clarification by robertskelton-ga on 27 Jan 2003
13:42 PST
Hi, 
 
I am confused by your question. AOL uses Google for its search
results, so your ranking on each should be identical. You can use
Google's Adwords to achieve the same sort of exposure you get using
Overture.
 
Evening Wear - Google 
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=Evening+Wear 
 
Evening Wear - AOL 
http://search.aol.com/dirsearch.adp?start=&from=topsearchbox.%2Fdirsearch.adp&query=Evening+Wear

I think you are asking two very interesting and different types of
questions.

The first issue is the issue of traffic from various websites. You
say,

"AOL referrals are way down on my list, where Yahoo, Google, are high"

and you want to know how to raise your referrals from AOL.

The above clarification was correct in many ways. AOL uses Google as
its serch engine, so the way to improve your refers in AOL is to have
better placement in Google. Now since you say the majority of your
traffic comes from Google (and Yahoo, via Google, I suppose) then by
logic, if Google serves as AOLs search engine, you assume you be
seeing increased AOL search results.

However, your plight is similar to many on the internet, including my
own. Please consider the following thread on Webmaster world. These
are webmasters such as yourself who are comparing their Google, Yahoo
and AOL search results. Eight out of the nine respondants also say
that their AOL referrs are very small. They offer some very compelling
hypothesis as to why this is true.

1. "It all comes down to market share...a lot more peopele use googgle
search than AOL search so you get more referals from google than AOL."

2. "I actually think it's more to do with AOLers. They won't leave
AOL-Land or they're just used to going into the AOL content."

3. "When you look at Media Metrix and similar ratings on what search
engines are getting traffic, AOL is pretty low however, - a lot of
users but not many are using search."

I also agree with their basic reasoning. My content web site gets
similar traffic to you and my referrals are similar...Google and Yahoo
lead the way and AOL rounds out the bottom.

Webmaster World AOL-Google Discussion
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/6187.htm

Having said all that, you do want to know how to improve your
placement on AOL and as somone else noted, you can try to do that via
Google AdWords™

Here is the link.
https://adwords.google.com/select/?hl=en

Please note: I do not work for Google, I am an independent contractor,
who, by the way, does have a very high opinion of Google search
capabilities. Google AdWords advertises itself as,

"Google AdWords ads appear on Google and partner sites including AOL".

So, you know that if you sign up for Google AdWords, you might get a
bit more traffic from AOL, but perhaps not much more, because
basically the AOL Google search does not, on average for the vast
majority of websites, generate a great deal of traffic.

However, if you do sign up for Google AdWords, you know that your
search terms will have premium placement on all Google, AOL, EarthLink
and other Google AdWord partners. It's basically set up like Overture,
so you should be able to get up and running in a few minutes.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by bigbugs-ga on 28 Jan 2003 08:23 PST

I found Adwords and signed up, I still do not see significant
improvement and I wrote to them. I will see what happens and keep you
informed, Thank You in the mean time.
                        Barry

---

Clarification of Answer by pm3500-ga on 28 Jan 2003 14:29 PST

"I found Adwords and signed up, I still do not see significant
improvement and I wrote to them. I will see what happens and keep you
informed, Thank You in the mean time."

Hi Barry,

Thanks. Please do keep me informed. As I said, it might just be that
the google search via AOL just does not generate the type of traffic
you are hoping for.

Also, as a way to manage things while you are experimenting, I hope
you saw the "Traffic Estimator" and examine the "recommended daily
budget amount", you may be able to save on a few dollars while you see
how traffic patterns emerge.

I did visit the AOL search and found your site right on top for a
search on evening gowns, so it looks as if the AdWords really does
spread throughout the system instantly.