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"... An SEO website critique showed us the best course of action for improving our website. - T. Williams, Marketing Manager"
There are literally thousands of search engines and directories available today on the internet. How do you decide which search engines are worthwhile optimising your site for? Here are a few ideas, of all those thousands of search engines and directories about a dozen will provide over 95% of the referrals to your site. An overview of these 'majors' is given below:
MSN
By default MSN is one of the major search engines. It is used by many millions of users who don't change the default settings provided with Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Google
Google started out as the 'geeks' search engine of choice, but its ability to provide relevant search results for most searches has made it a favourite of many ordinary internet users. Heavily promoted, Google now provides search results into many other search portals
Yahoo
Yahoo, the big daddy of internet directories has a massive worldwide user base and is a must for any serious search engine optimisation campaign.
Ask Jeeves
With many loyal users in the UK, the Ask Jeeves search engine is now well on its way to becoming a worldwide player with its recent acquisition of the Teoma engine. Search result relevance is now higher than ever before and is one to watch out for over the next year.
Lycos
The Terra Lycos network is a worldwide network of search portals. Although not as big as MSN or Yahoo it can still be a quality traffic generator.
Altavista
Now almost geriatric in internet terms the Altavista search engine, once the darling, has fallen on hard times, with popularity dropping to an all time low late in 2001. Recent changes to the results and new features have seen Altavista's market share stabilise and there are even signs of a recovery for this old favourite.
Overture
By far the biggest player worldwide in the PPC marketplace, good traffic can be gained from listings, but at a price. Top placement goes to the highest bidder.
Open Directory Project (ODP)
Large directory of websites all hand picked by a massive team of volunteer editors. The ODP provides the basis of many of the independent web directories, which although they won't provide much traffic in their own right, combine to provide steady traffic to a site.
ESpotting
Europe's answer to Overture in the PPC marketplace. This engine is let down by its Eurocentric focus in its attempts to become a worldwide success.
