|
/pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> |
Google, Yahoo!, Pandoras Box And The Lottery
In the fall of 1990, the musical group Snap had a monster number one hit record called, "I've Got The Power."
Nowadays, a search engine and a directory (AKA) Google and Yahoo!--number one and number two respectively, have "the power," and we handed it to them on a silver platter.
The aforementioned search engine and directory are the two biggest players in the multi billion dollar pay-for-search industry.
Our stubborn and foolish reliance on search engines have helped to open up a "Pandora's Box" of greed, arrogance and theft.
Yahoo! Express is a perfect example of all three of those evils! Check out their terms:
"Please keep in mind that payment does not automatically guarantee inclusion in the directory, site placement, or site commentary. As with all sites suggested to us, final judgement remains solely with Yahoo! editors. Yahoo! Express Guarantees All Yahoo! Express submissions will be evaluated within seven business days. You will receive an email response within seven business days, stating whether your entry is accepted or declined. (If your entry is denied, you will be told why.) The Cost of Yahoo! Express Yahoo! Express requires a US $299.00 non-refundable, recurring annual fee per submission, or US $600.00 non-refundable, recurring annual fee for submissions offering adult content and/or services. Yahoo! Express does not guarantee a listing in the Yahoo! directory, nor does it guarantee the type of placement or description that your site will receive if accepted. Please read our Yahoo! Express Terms of Service to review the terms and conditions of Yahoo! Express."
I mean, think about this for a second. You pay $300 to $600 to get listed in their directory, and they tell you they can't guarantee your website will be listed. And by the way, if your website is rejected, we'll just keep your money!
Why does Yahoo! do that? Because like "lambs going to slaughter," we allow them to!
Here's another example of greed, arrogance and theft? Check out this statement from Google:
"We are exposed to the risk of fraudulent clicks on our ads. We have regularly paid refunds related to fraudulent clicks and expect to do so in the future. If we are unable to stop this fraudulent activity, these refunds may increase. If we find new evidence of past fraudulent clicks, we may have to issue refunds retroactively of amounts previously paid to our Google Network members."
Now, I don't know about you, but I for one refuse to believe that bunch of poppycock about Google being powerless to stop click fraud. The problem is, there's no incentive for them to stop it. It really doesn't matter to Google how many times someone fraudulently clicks on your ad. Why should it? It doesn't affect their pocketbook. They still get their money either way!
And they don't even have to worry about processing an avalanche of refunds, because many of their advertisers don't even know how to analyze their log files. Therefore, they have no idea how much money they're losing. So, they just keep right on replenishing their pay-per-click accounts, foolishly hoping to catch "lightning in a bottle!"
Why isn't Google doing more to prevent click fraud? I don't know exactly, but I have a couple of theories. First of all, Google's advertisers haven't expressed the necessary outrage to effect change. Secondly, I believe Google has looked at the bottom line and determined, it's actually a lot more cost effective to issue a few refunds than to develop the technology to eliminate click fraud.
Otherwise, Google would have stepped up to the plate like a true leader and said something similar to this ficticious statement:
"Nothing is more important to us than our customers. They helped make us who we are today, and we will not let them down. We are determined to meet and defeat click fraud head on--no matter how how long it takes or how much it ultimately costs!"
By not issuing the above statement or something along those lines, Google revealed its true colors!
In my article, "The Truth About Search Engines: Playing A Game You Can't Win," I compared the odds of getting a high ranking in the search engines akin to winning the lottery. This is what I wrote:
"If you go strictly by the numbers, Yahoo!, MSN and Google are the "Big 3" of search engines and directories. Between them, they index millions and millions of pages in their directories. Although Google claims to index over 4 billion.
However, that's a subject for another day. The point is, out of all those millions and millions of pages, there's room for only a very few websites at the top of the results pages.
That means, if you go strictly by the number of indexed web pages in their directories, you have a better chance of winning the lottery, than getting high enough in the results pages to where it's going to make a significant difference in your traffic. That's not my opinion, it's a fact!"
After that article was published, you should have seen some of the e-mails I received from angry SEO experts, telling me I didn't know what I was talking about, and writing something like that was reprehensible and irresponsible journalism!
Irresponsible journalism. Really? As the saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding." So, I'm going to let my readers do the math:
According to a recent study by Inktomi and NEC Research, there are currently over two billion websites on the Internet. Google, Yahoo and MSN are considered the "Big 3" of search engines and directories. In other words, those three generate the majority of traffic.
Now, we all know the top 10 is considered prime real estate, with regard to the search engines. Studies have shown that if you're website is listed outside of the top 10 spots, there's a significant drop-off in traffic. Unfortunately, there are only a total of thirty top 10 spots among the "Big 3."
Are you still with me so far? There are only thirty available top 10 spots, and an estimated two billion websites on the Internet. You do the math! Thirty and two billion sure sound like lottery odds to me. What do you think?
About The Author
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net.
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net
Search Engine Optimization: Site Structure and Popularity
In the Global Internet era the industry presence is undoubtedly related to the company online presence. Where is the scope of the online presence limitations and does it refer only to the search engine optimization aspect or it broadens into many related components.
Getting One Way SEO Links - The Easy and FREE Way
What we are hunting for?
Optimize Your Website or Get Lost In The Crowd!
It used to be that designing an attractive website to promote your company and products was fairly straightforward. After you designed your site and built a few keywords into the code, you would simply submit the site to the search engines or a directory, grab an iced tea and wait for the traffic.
Google Adsense Optimization Tips
There are plenty of tips to help you enhance your adsense revenue in the net, and I'm always seeking for new points. Today, I come back to the Help section of my google adsense account and find treasure there...
Abandoned by Google! Googlebot, Wherefore Art Thou Googlebot?
As a search engine optimization specialist I often optimize existing web pages for small business clients, upload them to the site and see pages re-indexed by Google within a week. This only happens with existing business sites that have been online for a few years. Google seems to be updating their index as often as every other week at this point and older established sites that are already indexed seem to be re- crawled on that twice a month schedule on a fairly routine basis.
Press Release + PRWeb = Top Google Rank... True or False?
I've always been a big time press release aficionado.
Meta Tags - What Are They and Which Search Engines Use Them?
Defining Meta Tags is much easier than explaining how they are used, and by which engines. The reason is very few engines clearly lay out what they do and do not look at, and how much emphasis they put on any one factor. So, we'll start with the easy part
Beginners - Getting Listed In Search Engines
Once you have your web site complete and ready to be listed you need to take a slow step by step approach to get listed in the search engines. If you do it right the first time and then build on that formula, your profits and your site will benefit in the long run. Those willing to spend the time and put these techniques into practice are the ones that will benefit and are more likely to be successful.
Submitting Your Site to Search Engines and Directories
Regardless of which type of business you currently have, you will definately want to have a website and begin marketing it on the world wide web. After you have designed your website, the next step is to ensure it is properly "optimized", meaning that it's body text(the text you see), title and meta tags(the text that you don't) all have the words you are trying to be found for on the search engine results.
Google Love - Five Top Tips To Make Google Love Your Site
1. Google love ...
The Search Engine Optimization Game Is Getting Tricky
For more than 4 years now I have been modifying my work from home based web sites trying to optimize for the major search engines, Especially Goggle. Today with much disappointment I have come to the realization that search engine traffic alone will not make me rich. Yes my search engine rankings are now worse today than when I started 4 years ago.
Here Today Gone Tomorrow
Its a matter of here today, gone tomorrow at the moment with Google so don't get complacent if you are on the first few pages of the searches. Its great, you are making money and think now you can relax and forget about it for a while. No chance, Keep up with linking and adding the odd page every week or two or you will disappear in a twinkling.
How to Get One Way Backlinks
Don't be fooled into believing that all backlinks are created equal because their not! Why, you may ask? It's no secret that many webmasters trade links left, and right, for the benefit of a higher ranking in the search results, but search engines have caught on to this technique, and are very aware that this is major threat to the relevance of the search results.
Search Engine Algorithm Quandaries
Before you make drastic changes to your website after a rocky search engine update, take time to study your web server logs, changes in traffic to your site, and your ranking in the search engines.
Link Building: To Link, or Not to Link, That is the Question
Lately, there have been a lot of heated discussions regarding link building. Is it ethical to create a link building campaign? Does Google or any other search engine penalize for "link farms" (a bunch of non-related links created for the SOLE purpose of increasing search engine ratings)? Is the "link building era" over?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Fix Your OffPage!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is something you should be aware of before creating a site. Make sure you've done careful researches on the best keywords to use. Using the wrong keywords would eliminate your site from search engines forever!
DIY SEO - Part 2 Tags n Things
Part 2 Tips 4 tags
Keyword Targeting Strategy In Your Site
Once the keywords have been decided for the site one has to come up with a strategy to target those keywords across the site. Here is a primer on that.
5 Simple Steps to Great Search Engine Rankings
Having your website rank well in the major search engines is crucial to a successful Internet business. However, the information on doing so, which abounds on the Internet, can be perceived as complex and contradictive. Many website owners end up overwhelmed by all the data and simply quit and move on to other areas of promotion. By following the handful of steps presented in this article you will be well on your way to solid rankings.
How to Choose Keywords to Theme Your Pages and Boost Your Traffic
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is in the choice of keywords for a new site, specifically secondary keywords.. These are the words or phrases that you use when writing your content to help theme the page so that the search engines know what your page is about. These secondary keywords also help to bring in more traffic, because they add more depth to your page, meaning that your page is found for a lot more phrases than just the primary phrase you page is built around.