Hello ceodan-ga
Here are some findings to highlight the fact that there are more than
3 databases of information that power the World Wide Web's searches:
Search Engine Watch which is one of the respected authorities on the
subject published a list of 8 major providers (there are others)
updated September 12, 2002
1. Google ( ://www.google.com )
2. Overture ( http://www.overture.com ) previously know as GoTo
3. Open Directory ( http://www.dmoz.org ) Also known as Dmoz
4. Inktomi ( http://www.inktomi.com )
5. LookSmart ( http://www.looksmart.com )
6. Teoma ( http://www.teoma.com ) previously known as DirectHit
7. AllTheWeb ( http://www.alltheweb.com ) brand of Fast Search &
Transfer ASA ( http://www.fastsearch.com )
8. Lycos ( http://www.lycos.com ) also known as Terra Lycos also owns
Hotbot
"Many major search engines get their results by turning to third-party
"search providers" to "power" their listings. To make matters more
confusing, these search providers may run their own search engine
sites, as well...
Search Providers: These are listed at the top of each column. Read
down to see what they power at major search engines. Click on their
names to learn more about them. The most significant providers are
listed first, in terms of the reach Search Engine Watch feels they
have across the major search engines.
Search Engines: These are listed at the beginning of each row, in
order of "search hour" popularity, as explained on the
Nielsen//NetRatings page."
- excerpt from "Who Powers Whom? Search Providers Chart" By Danny
Sullivan Editor, SearchEngineWatch.com Updated: Sept. 12, 2002
http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/alliances.html
Google ( ://www.google.com )
About -
"Today's major portals and corporate sites from all over the world,
spanning all Internet platforms, have selected Google search services
for their search technology requirements. Google WebSearch corporate
customers include Yahoo!, and its international properties; the three
largest portals in Japan-Yahoo! Japan, Fujitsu NIFTY and NEC
BIGLOBE-as well as NetEase (China), and Yam.com (Taiwan) in Asia;
Vodafone Global Platform and Internet Services Group (U.K.),
Retivision (Spain) and Sapo (Portugal) in Europe. Bellwether portal
customers, including AOL/Netscape and the Washington Post in the
United States, and Virgilio in Italy are long-time customers that have
renewed their agreements with Google, while Cisco Systems, Procter &
Gamble, IDG.net (comprising more than 300 sites), and
MarthaStewart.com among others use Google SiteSearch capabilities on
their sites."
excerpt from the Google Press Center Google Inc. Company Overview
://www.google.com/press/overview.html
Who owns? -
"Google is a privately held company. Funding partners include Kleiner
Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital. Other investors include
Stanford University; Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems
and current vice president at Cisco Systems; and Ram Shriram, who has
held the positions of president of Junglee and vice president of
Business Development at Amazon.com...
Contact Information
Google Inc.
2400 Bayshore Parkway; Mountain View, Calif. 94043
Telephone: 650.330.0100
Fax: 650.618.1499
Email: info@google.com
Web: www.google.com"
from ://www.google.com/press/facts.html
Overture ( http://www.overture.com )
About -
"Overture (Nasdaq: OVER) is the world’s leader in Pay-For-Performance
search on the Internet. The company created the market for
Pay-For-Performance search by redefining how businesses market online.
In the second quarter 2002, Overture facilitated 515 million paid
introductions on a worldwide basis between consumers and its more than
67,000 advertisers, who bid for placement on relevant search results
and pay Overture only when a consumer clicks on their listing.
Following a rigorous screening for user relevance by Overture’s
100-person editorial team, the company distributes its search results
to tens of thousands of sites across the Internet, including Yahoo!,
MSN and Lycos, making it the largest Pay-For-Performance search and
advertising network on the Internet. Overture is based in Pasadena,
California, with offices in New York and San Francisco, and subsidiary
offices in the UK, Germany, Ireland, France and Japan."
http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=OVER&script=2100
Who owns? - shareholders
Shareholder Information
Exchange NASDAQ
Stock Quote (OVER)
22.5
Minimum 20 minutes delayed
Listed Security OVER Common Stock
Transfer Agent Mellon Investor Services
South Hackensack, NJ 07606
Phone 1 (800) 356-2017
URL http://www.mellon-investor.com
Independent Accountants Ernst & Young LLP
Contact details -
http://www.overture.com/d/USm/about/company/contact.jhtml
Open Directory ( http://www.dmoz.org )
About -
"The Open Directory is the most widely distributed data base of Web
content classified by humans. Its editorial standards body of
net-citizens provide the collective brain behind resource discovery on
the Web. The Open Directory powers the core directory services for the
Web's largest and most popular search engines and portals, including
Netscape Search, AOL Search, Google, Lycos, HotBot, DirectHit, and
hundreds of others."
Excerpt from dmoz about page http://dmoz.org/about.html
Sites using Open Directory data are listed here:
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Searching/Directories/Open_Directory_Project/Sites_Using_ODP_Data/
Who owns? -
Netscape Communications Corporation (`Netscape')
referenced from http://dmoz.org/socialcontract.html
"Netscape Communications Corporation hosts and administers the Open
Directory Project (ODP), and has discretion over its content, use, and
operation as described in the ODP's Terms of Use. The ODP is an Open
Source inspired initiative created and maintained by a vast, global
community of volunteer editors. The following is a social contract
that we created to reflect Netscape's commitment to the Web community
to keep the ODP a free and open resource. It has been inspired by,
derived from, the Debian Social Contract."
Contact details -
The only contact details I could find were one the newsletter
http://dmoz.org/newsletter/2002Summer/index.html
Please send all comments, questions or suggestions to the newsletter
editor, or staff@dmoz.org
Inktomi ( http://www.inktomi.com )
About -
"Inktomi's worldwide base of more than 2,500 enterprise customers
includes eight of the top ten Fortune 500; nine of the top ten U.S.
universities; seven of the top ten pharmaceutical companies; as well
as leading banks and insurers, manufacturers, government organizations
and technology companies worldwide. The company that pioneered Web
search, Inktomi is also the market-leading OEM provider of search
services, providing highly relevant search capabilities for leading
consumer portals, Internet destinations and e-commerce sites
worldwide."
http://www.inktomi.com/company
Who owns? - shareholders
Exchange NASDAQ
Ticker INKT
Transfer Agent
Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota
P.O. Box 64854
161 North Concord Exchange
St. Paul, MN 55075
Phone: 800-468-9716
Fax: 651-450-4033
Email: shareowner@aol.com
Independent Accountants
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
http://investor.inktomi.com/
Contact details -
http://www.inktomi.com/company/contact.html
LookSmart ( http://www.looksmart.com )
About -
"LookSmart helps more than 80,000 businesses harness the power of
Search Targeted Marketing to generate qualified leads. LookSmart
commercial search listings enable businesses to reach 77 percent* or
nearly four out of five U.S. Internet users, through top portals and
ISPs including Microsoft's MSN, AltaVista, Netscape Netcenter,
Inktomi, Prodigy, Juno, CNN, Road Runner, Cox Interactive Media,
InfoSpace (Go2Net, Dogpile, MetaCrawler) and Ask Jeeves. As publisher
of the world's most widely distributed search directory, LookSmart is
the only company that provides both pay-for-placement and paid
inclusion search listing platforms, to meet the needs of medium and
large advertisers. BTLookSmart, LookSmart's joint venture with BT,
deploys LookSmart directories and provides Search Targeted Marketing
solutions in the U.K., France and Asia-Pacific. LookSmart is based in
San Francisco, California, with offices in Los Angeles, New York,
Detroit, Montreal, London, Melbourne and Sydney."
http://aboutus.looksmart.com/about.jhtml
Who owns? - shareholders
(with contact information)
http://www.shareholder.com/looksmart/marketguide.cfm
Teoma ( http://www.teoma.com )
Who owns?
Ask Jeeves, Inc.
Address:
5858 Horton Street, Suite 350
Emeryville, CA 94608
Stock Symbol: ASKJ
Exchange: Nasdaq NM
http://sp.teoma.com/docs/teoma/about/generalcontacts.html
About -
"Through advanced technologies, Ask Jeeves Web Properties provide
consumers with authoritative and fast ways to find relevant answers to
their everyday searches. Ask Jeeves delivers its search technologies
and services through its own Web sites at Ask Jeeves (Ask.com) and
Teoma (Teoma.com). The Ask Jeeves Keyword NetworkSM, the Company's
advertising services network, provides advertisers with innovative,
targeted and effective tools for reaching a broad base of highly
valuable customers. Ask Jeeves Web Properties also syndicates its
technologies to portals, infomediaries, and content and destination
sites to help companies increase e-commerce and advertising revenue
through powerful search."
http://www.irconnect.com/askj/index.shtml
Contact details -
http://sp.teoma.com/docs/teoma/about/generalcontacts.html
AllTheWeb is a brand of Fast Search & Transfer ASA (
http://www.fastsearch.com )
About -
"The FAST Web Search index powers portals that reach the majority of
European searches and over a quarter of all US searches--over 70
million users worldwide.
Unlike other search engines, every query we receive is submitted
across the entire catalog and results are returned in less than half a
second. In addition to our industry-leading relevancy algorithms, we
are committed to providing our users with the largest and freshest
catalog on the Net. "
http://www.fastsearch.com/products/internet/websearch.asp
Who owns? -
http://www.fastsearch.com/investor
Contact details -
http://www.fastsearch.com/contact
Apart from the major data sources above,
other search concerns compile their own content e.g. Yahoo!, which is
one of the largest human compiled directories on the web.
There are many smaller search solutions like
A. Techno Trade's Web Directory SQL search engine
( http://www.technotrade.com/search )
that power Florida Y'all ( http://www.fla-usa.com )
with it's own unique content and EgyptSearch.com (
http://www.egyptsearch.com ) these search sites do not rely on
external databases and individual sites gather their own content.
B. Macurious Spider Search Engine ( http://www.macurious.com/spider )
that allow websites to spider and gather their own content forming
their own databases.
Also engines from China e.g. Tom.com ( http://www.tom.com ) and
China.com ( http://www.china.com ) I believe do not rely on western
databases, the same can be said of some Korean, and Taiwanese search
sites.
I would suggest to 'get in' to the major search engines, you submit
via the official channels which will give you the most coverage due to
their content being used on partner sites, and read this resourceful
guide "Search Engine Submission Tips" as a starting point.
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/webmasters/index.html
Here are some statistics on search engine usage
"Nielsen//NetRatings Search Engine Ratings" By Danny Sullivan, Editor
SearchEngineWatch.com, Sept. 17, 2002
http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/netratings.html
Jupiter Media Metrix Search Engine Ratings By Danny Sullivan, Editor
SearchEngineWatch.com, April 29, 2002
http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/mediametrix.html
Some submission links are listed below, some are paid services, some
free:
Google - ://www.google.com/addurl.html (free)
Overture - http://www.overture.com/d/USm/about/advertisers/ays_home.jhtml
(paid)
Open Directory - http://dmoz.org/add.html (free)
4. Inktomi - http://www.inktomi.com/services/web_search/sms.html
(paid)
5. LookSmart - http://listings.looksmart.com/?synd=none&chan=lshomepg
(paid)
6. Teoma - http://ask.ineedhits.com (paid)
7. AllTheWeb - http://www.alltheweb.com/help/webmaster/submit_site.html
(free and paid)
8. Lycos - http://insite.lycos.com/searchservices (paid)
There are of course many other search engines you can submit too, e.g.
Yahoo directory ( http://www.yahoo.com ) Sprinks (
http://sprinks.about.com/index.htm ) Splut ( http://www.splut.co.uk )
etc, which in itself implies more than 3 databases.
If you need to 'get in' on a larger scale on an information
procurement level, I would suggest you go through the corporate /
business development channels and negotiate a deal to supply content
as a partner.
Although the theory of 3 databases controlling the World Wide Web's
search content is an interesting one, the factual information proves
otherwise, particularly if you take into account foreign search engine
content.
However the search engine scene has seen large rationalizations, and
the search content to the western world is beginning to look like you
can count the major content providers on one hand. If there were 3
databases it would make life easier for webmasters who submit their
sites.
To ensure your company gets maximum exposure to generate new leads, I
would submit to the major search content providers above. Basically
there are two types of model to be found (once you have your site
successfully submitted).
Pay per click (like Overture) - the more you pay the higher you will
be ranked, money talks in this situation. Then there is traditional
ranking where the content, structure and popularity of your page
determine your ranking... this can be a fine art and there are search
engine optimization experts that focus on this. Pay per click
guarantees a fast entry and high ranking (at a price) and you only pay
for results i.e. when somebody clicks your link.
As to your friend's mention of strategic partnerships with Google,
Yahoo, MSN.. here is a search for the keywords 'contax t3' which is a
point and shoot camera.
Search on Google:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=contax+t3&btnG=Google+Search
Search on Yahoo:
http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=contax+T3&hc=0&hs=1
Search on AOL:
http://search.aol.com/dirsearch.adp?start=&from=topsearchbox.%2Fdirsearch.adp&query=contax+T3
- Notice the similarities of the rankings? - they are the same.
So if you rank in Google you will also rank in Yahoo (secondary
results) and AOL.
The ranking however on MSN is different:
http://search.msn.com/results.asp?RS=CHECKED&FORM=MSNH&v=1&q=contax+t3
as the results are served by Inktomi, but a ranking on Inktomi would
also show his site in Overture's secondary results with are displayed
in turn on Lycos, AltaVista, InfoSpace, Netscape, CNET and Netzero.
(Not bad coverage for being listed at Google and Inktomi)
Search Strategy:
SearchEngineWatch.com
http://www.searchenginewatch.com
CGI-resources.com
http://www.cgi-resources.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Searching/Searching_the_Web/
I hope that explains the search engine content situation.
If you need any clarification of the answer, just ask.
Kind regards
lot-ga |
