Google has been dumped by Yahoo? Options

[Caissa]

Hi,

First we got to see the MSN beta is action. Now I think we are about to see Yahoo! in action.

My natural listings are all different at Yahoo! then they are at Google. This is not due to the dance. I have never been #1 in many keywords that I am now #1 in Yahoo!

Take a look and tell me .. am I dreaming again?

[NorthStar]

I saw this for a little bit last week. Then it disappeared. Now they are back. They aren't pure Inktomi results either. Perhaps some combo with AlltheWeb and Inktomi. Either way, I like the variety.

[rcjordan]

For the benefit of those that might not know what's happening:

Yahoo to Turn Off Free Web Traffic Taps from Google

Pages that have good Google ratings often have a majority of their traffic originate from the leading search engine. Those sites may see their gross traffic reduced by 25 to 40 percent.

I wouldn't count on the first version of the new index to be more than a work-in-progress --particularly on money terms.

[Grumpus]

Yup Caissa, depending upon the hour of the day and the term you choose, there are several (seems to be 3) different sets of results that are coming off Y!

G.

[Caissa]

Yes, I see that now. Back to Google listings. Do you think they are testing which SERPs are the best by number of pages needed to find a listing?

Do they have data centers like Google?

It was exciting, for a a little while anyway.

[Grumpus]

I haven't been able to figure out the source of the third set of Y! results, so I haven't been able to analyze them. One set is Google, one is pure INK, and the other is some mystery hybrid that's not quite AllTheWeb nor AltaVista.

Looks to me like they are doing some click tracking and customer satisfaction testing.

We do know that Slurp (the Iktomi robot) is changing its name to Yahoo! Slurp. But the source of those mystery results are, well, a mystery - at least to me.

G.

[NorthStar]

I wouldn't count on the first version of the new index to be more than a work-in-progress

Based on what has gone on with Google the past several months, this major change at Yahoo (that we've known has been coming for quite a while) and the fact that Microsoft is going to be making some major changes in the next year, I think its safe to say that all search engines are currently a work in progress and its best not to count on anything.

[rcjordan]

> best not to count on anything

That's the mantra of SEO, yes. But there seems to be a general attitude prevailing that it's going to be INK-as-usual. In the longer term (and 6 months is long-term in the search biz), we're going to see increasing influence from the other SE technology Y purchased.

[NorthStar]

I agree completely that it is unlikely that Yahoo will use pure Inktomi results. The new results I've seen on Yahoo (last week and this week) were not pure Inktomi. They appear to be something new. Yahoomi? InkTheWebi? AltaHooMi? Lots of fun possibilities. But they do seem to be rewarding on page factors with high rankings.

[rcjordan]

AltaHotHoo would be my guess.

[thehosst]

Hello, I really think that Yahoo will get number one this 2004 and maybe by 2006 MSN will be number one, Yahoo number 2 and Google number 3. MSN has been working in search engine technology just in the last few months with great progress in this field, using a lot of their resources and purchasing power they are also applying the search technology into Microsoft Office and Windows. All this is great for web users who want relevant results, no millions by search query but only a few relevant results. What do you think?