Gimpsy Turns Five

I was browsing our list of search engines and directories on Search Engine Wiki the other day and noticed that Gimpsy recently celebrated their 5th Birthday!

Back in April 2002, I remember when Gimpsy was just a sparkle in the eye of founder Mordechai Chachamu and some colleagues. They were working on a new kind of directory and were getting feedback from mods and members in the various webmaster forums.

I was a moderator in the iHelpYou Forums at the time when Gimpsy was finally launched in October 2002 and MC invited members to try it out. We gave it the thumbs up and I've been submitting client sites to Gimpsy ever since.

If you're not familiar with Gimpsy, you should check it out. Gimpsy operates on unique natural language queries and is action-oriented. In other words, you tell Gimpsy what action you want to take (e.g. I want to buy, I want to insure etc.) and Gimpsy finds for you the sites that provide the required service. Combine this with a cute little pet hamster mascot and that's Gimpsy in a nutshell.

A very Happy Birthday Gimpsy! And congratulations Mordechai and team for building up Gimpsy into the valuable resource it is today.


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World First: Search Engine Wiki

We've done it! After many months of preparation, today we officially launched Search Engine Wiki (BETA). Search Engine Wiki is the world's first vertical wiki dedicated to search engines and search engine marketing. Here is the official press release.

The idea behind the site is to provide a collaborative online library of search engine marketing (SEM) resources, complete with resident librarian, Ms Parker (pictured). Some of the extensive resources found on the site include:

• Lists of international search engines - categorized by country, type and industry.
• A glossary of definitions for common terms used in Search Engine Optimization (SEO),
  Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
• A library of search engine marketing articles.
• Employment resources listing SEO, PPC and SEM job vacancies.
• A collection of popular search engine marketing blogs and news feeds.
• Frequently Asked Questions about search engines and SEM.
• Lists of popular search engine marketing tools and time saving software.
• Links to upcoming search industry conferences and events.
• Introductions to well known search industry personalities.

Search Engine Wiki is designed for interactivity. Wiki users can suggest resources and definitions to be added or sign up to become editors and add these resources themselves. Search Engine College students are also encouraged to collaborate and contribute to the Wiki during their training and beyond.

Search Engine Wiki is now in BETA release and welcomes your contributions and feedback.


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Q and A: How often should you review your target keywords?

Dear Kalena...

I have been reading about keywords. I know the importance of them. But one thing I have not been able to find a definitive answer on is keyword age. I believe that over time the keywords and phrases become aged and eventually become old or obsolete. Right? How often do keywords need to be changed or re-tailored?

Chris

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Chris

Thanks for the caffeine injection! Regarding your question, you are spot on that keywords can age. The keywords that searchers use change from month to month based on world events, popular culture, seasonal trends and economic fluctuations. You can see this in action by looking at Google Hot Trends, which lists the 100 most popular search queries on any given day.

That's why it's so important to review your keywords on a regular basis to ensure you are targeting keywords and phrases that people are actually searching for. I generally recommend that my clients review their keywords at least every 6 months. That means conducting a fresh round of keyword research using tools such as:

• Keyword Discovery
• WordTracker
• Good Keywords
  

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Q and A: What are the top 100 most used search engines?

Dear Kalena...

Firstly, thank you for the free newsletter. I am looking forward to reading it. I'm in my 62nd year of life, but have only had access to the Internet since mid April this year, but it's an absolutely amazing, thrilling, life enriching experience!

Could you please help me with some info? As there are an incredible amount (+/- 4,500?) of search engines to utilize on the net, would it maybe be possible to find out which are the 100 best, most used, search engines on the planet? I would be terribly grateful were this info to be available.

Dave

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Dave

In terms of total search market share, latest figures from Nielsen/NetRatings show that 95 percent is still dominated by the top 5 search engines. These are:

• Google
• Yahoo!
• MSN / LiveSearch
• AOL
• Ask
  

Apart from the major search engines, you might want to look at:

- popular minor search engines

- popular pay per click search engines

- popular meta search engines

- worldwide search engines

- sites that list search engines

Happy surfing!


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Q and A: What's the difference between these two Google backward link searches?

Dear Kalena...

As always, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Much appreciated! Here is yet another question: I have been recently mystified by Google's link:www.yourwebsite.com search feature. If you do the search with a space between the colon and www you get different results. Example link:www.yourwebsite.com vs. link: www.yourwebsite.com

Can you explain the difference?

Thanks!
Marco

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Marco

That's easy. The first search is the correct query to use for determining the number of backward links pointing to your site that Google considers significant (note this is not your *true* number of backlinks. To see a more accurate list, you need to view your site within Google's Webmaster Tools).

The second search is a malformed query. What you're actually searching for with that query is all documents that have references to the word "link" and "www.yourwebsite.com" on the same page. Look at the cache for one of the listings for the second version and you'll see both items highlighted.


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Business.com Sells to R.H. Donnelley

This one caught my eye as I had recently blogged about an Interview with Jessica Bowman of Business.com and renewed my listings with them.

Turns out that Business.com is being acquired lock, stock and two smoking barrels by Yellow Pages marketing company R.H. Donnelley. I wonder how/if this will impact Business.com advertisers like me?


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Jennifer Plays Hide and Seek With Google

After the success of her 30 Days series, Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide has set herself a new challenge: See how well a new site can survive if it hides from Google and other big search engines.

Jennifer has built a new e-commerce site and (wait for it...) she's preventing Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask from indexing it. The point?

"Whether it's the struggle to gain strong rankings in the organic index or the razor-thin margins associated with running a paid search campaign, new business start-ups seem convinced that they can't get anywhere without Google. I'm here to tell them that they can... In fact, I'd argue that without the crutch of Google propping you up, you'll be forced to build the type of business that can ride the ups and downs of search.

I'm kicking Google (and Yahoo and Windows Live and Ask) to the curb and telling the world that you CAN build a business, increase traffic and drive sales all without the major search engines."

In lieu of major search engines, Jenn's going to be using the power of social media and viral marketing to help the site's growth. I'll be watching this one with interest.

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Q and A: Do we need to start over with our web site?

Dear Kalena...

Thank you very, very much for the thorough analysis of our site. That is just what we were looking for. We built the site with Microsoft Frontpage 2003 (and still use it) a few years ago. I thought 'tables' were the staple of all websites, what is CSS? So you are saying we need to start over right? What web building software should we use? Do you ever do this sort of work (correcting all the problems you described with our site)? The background and a few other small things we can fix now. Can we use a light grey background or does google like white better? Also what is "anchor text link" and "Your internal links could also use some work from an anchor text angle." How do I find these "Trusted Sites"?

Thank you very much Kalena!

Mike

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Mike

That's a lot of questions! Think I'll need some more caffeine :-)

Let's take them one by one:

1) What is CSS?

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and is a way to store the design and layout code for your site in a separate file so you don't have to include it in the HTML code of every page. Instead, each page simply refers to the CSS file. It's a much neater way of designing a web site than tables and search engines prefer it too because there is less code for them to index and less chance of your code tripping up a search engine bot while it's indexing your site.

2) So you are saying we need to start over right? What web building software should we use?

Yes, preferably. Tables are old technology and very difficult to design with. Also, the site could use an overhaul - no offence but it does look a little "home made". I have a confession to make - I am also a Front Page junkie! But I have learned over the years that Front Page adds a lot of unnecessary code to web pages and most sites built with FP aren't very search engine friendly so I try not to use it anymore. It's best if you build a site from scratch using HTML code and CSS or hire a designer who can build one for you in PHP or HTML. There are web site templates you can purchase online, but often these are built with tables. The alternative is to use an Open Source Content Management System (there are available free of charge) but it will require a steep learning curve. If you'd like some recommendations for reasonably priced web designers that understand how to build search engine friendly sites, please let me know.

3) Do you ever do this sort of work (correcting all the problems you described with our site)?

Yes, I offer search engine optimization services via my hourly consulting rates and my company Jordan Consulting Group can provide a quote for web design using a Content Management System. Use the Ask Kalena link again and ask for a quote on either service if you're interested. If you want to learn quickly how to optimize your own site from scratch, consider taking one of our online search engine optimization courses.

4) Can we use a light grey background or does google like white better?

Light grey should be fine, as long as it has a different HEX color to your table background in your HTML code.

5) What is "anchor text link" and "Your internal links could also use some work from an anchor text angle."

Anchor text, (sometimes known as the link label), is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. The keywords you use in a link to a site can have an impact on how well that site ranks for searches utilizing those keywords. In other words, if you want your site to rank well for "gold dipped roses", then you should incorporate links within your site that use "gold dipped roses" in the anchor text of the links. You can do this by linking from internal pages of your site to other internal pages of your site with such anchor text. But the keywords you use in your link text should always be relevant to the page content you are linking to. You should also try to encourage other sites to link to you using anchor text in their links.

6) How do I find these "Trusted Sites"?

Ah, that's a time-consuming task. You need to research and look for popular directories to submit your site to and approach sites that have a similar theme to your site to ask for a link. Try looking for niche directories, regional directories and industry portals relating to your business as a source of one-way incoming links Some sites will require a reciprocal link placed on your site to theirs before they will link to you, but reciprocal links don't have as much search engine value as one-way incoming links. If you don't have time, you can hire a company to run a link building campaign on your behalf.

Good luck!

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Breaking news: Google Rolls Out Predictive Search

Just got the scoop from Marketing Pilgrim that Google has rolled out what they're calling a Universal Search Model that incorporates web search results with related results from Google Images, Google News, Google Video, Google News and Blogger in the one search interface.

Why is this important? Three reasons off the top of my head:

1) It is the first step towards a true predictive search model, based on a new algorithm integrating user search patterns and predictive formulae.

2) It will change the way people search as a whole, therefore impacting the existing business models of SEO and SEM firms.

3) It will boost the importance of non-text content within web sites - image and video content will become a major marketing channel in it's own right, rather than a tool to attract visitors to text content.

Wowsie!

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Q and A: How do I change my default search language in Google?

Dear Kalena...

When I go to write in Arabic language in Google search or any other search, it shows different language, but English language is ok. Please tell me the solution.

Thank you
Shahana

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Shahana

I'm going to rephrase your question as follows: "how do I change my default search language in Google?" If I've misunderstood your question, my apologies and please email me again.

Now, it sounds like your Google searching preferences have somehow been changed. Next time you are at the Google home page, click on the preferences link next to the search box. This will take you to an area where you can choose your default Google interface language, as well as the language/s of web pages you'd prefer to be shown when you are searching. You can see a full list of Google's supported languages here.

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Q and A: What are your Top 10 favorite search sites?

Dear Kalena...

Hello Kalena (Cool name by the way), Greetings from the USA. My name is Frank. Some information about me is Age: 49. Gender: Male. Astrological Sign: Libra. Industry: Research, Training and Education /Modeling and Simulation. Occupation: Senior Functional Area Analyst at the moment. Location: My Office : Arlington, Virginia USA.

I am, as you, very much intrigued with Search Engines and how they can be effectively employed for productive searching. Kalena, I would like to know what your TOP 10 Favorite Search Engines/Sites are. And why? Also, any information/sites that list multiple search engines on the same page/site. It seems many are just stuck on Google.

Being a researcher though, I understand the hazards of doing that. I am sure you understand as well what I am saying. Also Kalena, congratulations on holding the position of Director of Studies, Search Engine College. Well deserved I'm sure. Thank you Kalena, in advance, and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Frank

Kalena's Answer:

Dear Frank

Glad you like my name. I share it with a cool band in the UK. It's apparently Hawaiian for Karen and it's also a common Russian name. But I am neither. Just an Australian girl whose father couldn't spell "Colina" accurately on my birth certificate - and thank goodness he didn't!

But on to your question. My Top 5 most visited search engines / directories are: (drum roll please...)

1) Google
2) Yahoo
3) Ask
4) JoeAnt
5) LookSm... Just kidding! Actually, I've been visiting Accoona a lot lately.

The Top 5 search engine related sites I most often visit are :

1) Search Engine Guide
2) Pandia
3) SiteProNews
4) Search Engine Watch
5) ISEDB

Want more? Try this list of sites that publish extensive lists of search engines and directories.

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Jatalla Now in Beta

Remember back in June I blogged about a new search engine powered by human computers? Well Jatalla is now in Beta. Why not register and check it out? Submit some lexivotes to see how it works.

New Search Engine Powered by Human Computers

A company based in California has developed a new search engine that works via distributed computing technology. But the computers are human!

Jatalla.com uses the brain-power of humans to provide search results. How? In the same way that a Wiki uses a social bookmarking service, (also known as a folksonomic tagging system), Jatalla.com offers user-created and user-maintained content. Any registered user can submit a vote called a "lexivote", which consists of a word or phrase and a list of up to three URLs. This lexivote is counted along with all other lexivotes that include the exact same term. Thereafter, when a user queries the search engine using that term, a list of URLs - ranked according to these lexivotes - is returned. Each user is limited to only one lexivote per search term.

The service was developed by Inventerprise LLC, a product development company based in Los Angeles, California, and Viking Web Development, based in Fargo, North Dakota.

"We provide the vessel; users themselves provide the search results."

states the press release on the Jatalla web site.

"Jatalla relies only upon relevance rankings performed personally by actual human beings. You and people like you are literally the ranking mechanism used by Jatalla. When you perform a search on Jatalla.com, you are interviewing the entire world of Web users, and only those opinions matching your query -- character-for-character -- are counted in generating search results."

Unfortunately, judging by the site FAQs, it seems that relevance can be entirely biased by the person submitting the Lexivote:

"Q. Is it okay to be completely self-centered when casting Lexivotes?

A. Yes. Whatever web site you think is the best one -- including your own web site -- with respect to a particular search term is the one you should vote for."

So it remains to be seen how useful the data will be. Jatalla.com is expected to launch in BETA release in July.