Most Internet savvy people, are well aware that Google Sites have consistently been the leader in the U.S. core search market, followed by Yahoo! Sites, and Microsoft Sites. Recently however, both Yahoo! and Microsoft have experienced respectable search market gains; in the United States. Perhaps this can be attributed to the introduction of new website navigation, and the 10-year deal (between Yahoo! and Microsoft) announced in July 2009; that sees Bing eventually powering Yahoo! Search.

Regardless, as the search marketplace evolves, it is very important to be aware of the major search engine players; and the influence they have on consumer search. Here is a description of the current (April 2010) most influential search providers:

Google

Originally developed in 1997 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google is the most-used search engine on the Internet; with 64.4 percent (10 billion) of the searches conducted. Google utilizes a unique system that analyzed the relationships between websites; called PageRank. This technology determines website relevance, based on the number of pages that link to the original site; and also the importance of those linked pages.

Google’s mission statement from the beginning has been “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. The company’s popular and unofficial slogan (introduced by Google engineer Paul Buchheit) is “Don’t be evil.”

Yahoo!

Yahoo! Search began as a web directory of other websites, organized in a hierarchy, as opposed to a searchable index of pages. Throughout its evolution, Yahoo has partnered with a number of companies, including Google; to help it achieve it’s search engine goals. In July 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced a deal, in which Bing would begin to use it’s technology to power Yahoo! Search. As well, Yahoo! will have the right to sell advertisements on some Microsoft sites. Although it may seem that Yahoo! has been struggling, the number two search engine has seen it’s U.S. market share increase; to 17.7 percent (2.8 billion) of searched conducted.

To service search clients in international marketplaces, the Yahoo! Search interface is available in a variety of languages, and found in (at least) 38 international marketplaces. Yahoo! has a mentionable presence in Europe, Asia and across emerging marketplaces.

Bing (Microsoft)

Bing, formerly known as Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search; is the current web search engine solution from Microsoft. Advertised as a “decision engine”, Bing is the number 3 search engine; with 11.8 percent of the search market share.

In July 2009, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced that they had negotiated a ten (10) year deal, which will replace the Yahoo! search engine with Microsoft’s search technology; Bing. Yahoo! will retain 88% of revenues from all search ad sales on its website, for the first five years of the deal. Yahoo! Search will maintain its own user interface and brand, however, it will eventually be complimented by the “Powered by Bing” branding; as well.

Bing is available in many languages and has been localized for many countries.

Ask

Ask.com was originally known as Ask Jeeves. Affectionately named after “Jeeves”, the name of the “gentleman’s personal gentleman”, or valet; fetching answers to all questions asked. The Ask Jeeves concept was adapted to encourage users to seek answers to questions posed in everyday, natural language; as well as traditional keyword searching. The current Ask.com still supports this approach, however it has introduced added support for math, dictionary, and conversion questions.

Ask uses different websites offering localized services for many countries, outside of North America; including: France, United Kingdom (Ask Jeeves), Germany, Spain, Italy and Russia. Holding steady as the number four search engine, Ask has retained 3.7 percent of the U.S. search market share.

When scheduling your search engine marketing duties, take consideration of each search engine’s market share; and influence. Google is seen as the number one search engine, but still retains less than 65% of Internet searches. With the new implementation of Microsoft (Bing) technology at Yahoo!, their market share influence rises to 29.5 percent. This figure is half of Google’s total search percentage, however it still represents (approximately) 30 percent; or one in three search clients.

Connect with Kristoffer Howes, for more Internet marketing and brand building tips, strategies and advice.

Before you can receive the valuable webpage data that Webmaster Tools can provide, you must verify ownership of the website/s; you intend to monitor and study. Once you have done so, your Google account will allow you to submit (up to) one thousand URLs; including news and mobile websites.

The Webmaster Tools website data and reports, provide the best results when applied at a very basic level. Google recommends that each sub-website or sub-folder, be included as a separate entry. For example, the website keepstuffsafe.com has separate webpages for the different services it provides; and as such, specific sub-folders may have been created for Children, Property, and Business. If so, each of these important and relevant website page; should be submitted separately for verification.

To add and/or verify your website/s with Google, I recommend following these five (5) steps:

1. Sign into Google Webmaster Tools using your Google Account. If you do not have an account, you will have to create/verify one; before continuing.
2. Click Add a site, and type the URL of the website you want to add. Be certain to type the entire URL, with or without the established www. Webmaster Tools does support Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) when adding a website to your Google account. Simply enter your domain name in the usual manner, and it will appear correctly in Webmaster Tools. Regretfully, this only applies to the host. As such, Google recommends that you create your URL path, using only ASCII characters; that do not need escaping.
3. Click Continue. In a moment, the website verification page will open.
4. In the Name box, create a title for your website (for example, Footprints). This step is optional.
5. Select the verification method you desire, and follow the important instructions.

Over the past few years, there has been some Industry discussion about whether submitting a feed to Google Sitemaps (or Yahoo! Site Explorer), during verification; could be harmful to your ongoing SEO efforts. Without the sitemaps feed, a search engine will visit, index and rank your website pages, through the traditional means of established links; on and off the website. During this natural crawl of your website, a search engine will refuse to index webpages; that do not meet the algorithmic standard for inclusion. On the contrary, sitemaps may enable search engine spiders to crawl and index pages, that ordinarily may not have been included; in a natural crawl process. As such, if a webpage lacks internal/external link strength, meaningful/relevant content or any of the other notable criteria for indexing, sitemaps could encourage search engines to overlook these weaknesses; and include sub-standard webpages.

Website owners and operators should understand that successful verification does not affect their PageRank, or directly affect website performance; in Google’s organic search results. With that being said, the data received in your Webmaster Tools, from a natural crawl of your website; is incredibly valuable to improving your search engine marketing results. However, if you choose to take the verification one step further, and submit an XML feed, the natural process of website inclusion (based on algorithm); could be lost. If a webpage is inaccessible, requires additional links, or lacks unique/relevant content, website owners and webmasters should be confidently aware; to make the necessary changes. Submitting a sitemap feed, could unduly influence the data reflected in your Webmaster Tools reports, and simply reflect quantity; not quality.

Connect with Kristoffer Howes, for more Internet marketing and brand building tips, strategies and advice.

Originally launched in 2005, Yahoo! Site Explorer was designed to promote feedback between website owners/webmasters; and the Yahoo! search staff. Looking to improve it’s poor reputation for customer service, when responding to search and ranking inquiries or directory complaints; Yahoo! hoped this direct approach would inspire a change in public opinion. Yahoo! Site Explorer continues to offer website owners/operators, a dependable interface for accessing the following valuable information; and webmaster services:

• Comprehensive list all sub-pages of a website domain, or path.
• Back-links (Yahoo calls them “in-links”) for both website domains, and paths.
• Free single or bulk submission of websites, not yet indexed by the Yahoo! search engine. The bulk method of submission, requires that website owners/webmasters identify the location (URL) of an online text file; with the list of URLs to be submitted.
• Download up to 1000 search results in TSV format (TSV can be read by Excel).

To further recognize the full benefits of Yahoo! Site Explorer, search engine marketing managers and website owners must authenticate their website/s; with Yahoo!. This allows for continued viewing of detailed reports, which contain important information about each individual webpage; within the associated website/s. This SEO treasure includes:

• The last time your webpage was indexed by Yahoo! Slurp.
• The language of the page.
• A list sub-domains that Yahoo! has identified.
• RSS or Atom feed submission, and management.
• Automatic page update notification service, allows you to notify Yahoo! when webpages have been updated; encouraging a re-crawl.

In order to authentic a website, and demonstrate to Yahoo! that you are the website owner, or search engine marketing manager; you should follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Yahoo! Site Explorer.
2. Enter the website URL, into the My Sites box, and then click the Add My Site button. The My Sites webpage will open.
3. Locate your website’s URL, and then click the Authenticate button; next to your URL. This will open a verification page, complete with instructions on using the file upload; or a meta-tag verification method.

Once the verification page opens, you will need to select one of the two available verification methods; for authenticating website ownership:

To upload the verification file to your website:

1. Download the authentication key.
2. Upload the verification file to your website, at the root level of your website directory.
3. When the file is successfully uploaded, click the Ready to Authenticate button.

Or, you can add a meta-tag; to your Home page:

• Copy the meta-tag and paste it in your website’s Home page, in the first <HEAD> section of the webpage; before the first <BODY> section.
• Once the meta-tag is added, click the Ready to Authenticate button.

Authenticating a website in Yahoo! Site Explorer, gives website owners/webmasters access to detailed information; pertaining to the over-all functionality of a specific website. In most cases, Yahoo! will authenticate website ownership; within twenty-four hours. To check the status of a website authentication, go to My Sites in Site Explorer and check the Status field; next to the desired URL. Once website authentication has been successful, website owners and search engine marketing managers can begin to build a closer relationship, between the website/s they are optimizing; and the formidable Yahoo! search engine.

Connect with Kristoffer Howes, for more Internet marketing and brand building tips, strategies and advice.

The Google snippet is a collection of the information, that Google has determined is the most relevant to the consumer’s search query. Made up of several important parts, the Google snippet utilizes a number of resources; to return its results. Where are some of the places a search engine could get this information from?

If you visit the website and (right-click to) view source, you will notice that the title of the Google snippet and the title tag of the website are the likely same. Furthermore, the description in the Google search result, and the content of the meta tag description are likely a match; as well.

What if your website does not have meta tags, or Google could not crawl your website? In these instances:

• Google will sometimes rely on the contents of the Open Directory Project -DMOZ. The directory editors are a scrupulous team, so carefully review your submission, to increase your chances of meeting their standards. The editors do not send rejection letters or any such notices. It is your responsibility to closely monitor the directory for your inclusion. If you have not already done so, submit your website to the Open Directory Project (DMOZ); immediately.
• Google will gather relevant data from multiple parts of a webpage, and even the website. This approach enforces the true value of maintaining well written, descriptive website content.

A Google (or other search engine) snippet, also provides a window for website owners and search engine marketing managers, to closely monitor how a Web crawler perceives their website and webpages. The information available in the snippet, will display valuable data; including crawl and keyword frequency:

1. You will note that the Google snippet contains a “cached” page. This page displays (at the top) the last time the website was crawled, as well as the text on the page that is relevant to the query. When measuring your keyword density on a webpage, the cached pages can provide a valuable opportunity to finely tune your ongoing Do it Yourself SEO campaign.
2. Furthermore, Google has highlighted (in bold print) the presence of the consumer’s search words in the snippet. It is also very important to note, that Google is able to apply synonyms to search results as well. For example, a search result for automobiles, may also display cars; and vise-versa. This factor should also be strongly considered, when selecting keywords, phrases and description; for your meta data content.

With all things considered, it is highly recommend that your title tag, description, keywords and website content, are current and properly optimized to accurately display the most keyword-rich description of your company; and support your brand building efforts. This consistent approach will substantially increase the likelihood, that your website will return favorably in Google search engine results, for the keywords/phrase that best describe your business’ offerings and brand.

Connect with Kristoffer Howes, for more Internet marketing and brand building tips, strategies and advice.