Secret search engine wars!

Tired of the way search engines present results? Did you notice you
get 10 links, maybe 20, then you click for the next 10 — an ad banner
at the top of the page and ad banner at the bottom? I really don’t mind
the ads. The ads help pay for the machines, bandwidth, and employees,
etc. It’s the clicking and clicking to see more choices.

That takes time. I feel stuck. I can read faster than the search
machines can feed me the next batch. I find myself stuck in what I call
“click and wait syndrome.” How do you get around it? I have a solution.

However, first I want to bring to your attention the number one
reason I elected to abuse the search engines. That resulted in me
bypassing most of the ads.

How do search engines decide which 10 sites will be initially
presented? Basically, it’s the websites that pay the most that get
presented first. Yes, it cost money to be at the top. In mostly all of
the cases a site does not pay the search engine directly. For free, the
average website owner will simply submit a site using the simple form
provided by the search engine. This will get you listed on just about
any search engine. But how effective is that if you rank 200-plus down
the search engine’s URL link list?

On a search engine that provides the user with 10 link results per
page, your site appears 20 “next page” clicks away. Chances are the link
you submitted never gets displayed before the user wanders away. Users
almost always wander away from the search engine results before the
third page is seen.

A company pays if it wants to rate in the top 30 or so sites.
Companies with money hire talent that helps accomplish this task. There
are businesses based on placing your company in the top 20 or 40 search
engine results. Generally, you’ll see the big names or money name links
thrown on the first few results pages.

The search engines are aware of this. They know they don’t look fresh
if, week after week, the same links always appear. In an effort to
combat link-placing talent that determined how to make a link appear at
the top, the search engines tune their link presentation selection
formula.

With the formula changed the search engine database is read in a new
or different way to produce different results. However, the paid talent
is very sophisticated. They use special tracking software (they created)
to monitor exactly where the links they planted appear amongst the
results. The moment a link that they monitor no longer appears in an
acceptable position, they pounce on it like WWII code breakers receiving
a new message. Yes, they still have to do it by hand, using a great deal
of ingenuity, looking over the top 10 link results, analyzing what could
have possibly made those new links appear at the top. It’s our first
real virtual war. It’s a programmer’s war taking place behind the
scenes. Yet, you and I have the front row seats every time we perform a
search. You and I are playing the role of the civilian population in
this search engine war.

As a member of the civilian population, I often find that links with
substance are buried in the results many pages deep. That’s why, today,
I rarely use search engines in the same way most Internet users do. I
have been using a tool that hasn’t received much publicity. It’s a cool
tool that saves you plenty of time. I get 100 links per search engine
returned to me from a configurable variety of search engines. In most
cases my computer quickly searches 10 different search machines all at
the same time. That’s 1000 link result choices presented to me. My query
immediately goes out to all of them. The text-only results start
streaming back to me. The results appear as they arrive. I get more
variety. The graphics don’t appear. The ads don’t appear. Why do the
search engines allow this? Can they stop it? It feels like
link-way-robbery. It’s fun and fast.

I have been using Quest 98 from Inforian. A free 30-day trial is
available at their website. After that you must pay. It is loaded with
time-saving features.

For example, if you are searching for a technical paper you can
configure a group of technical search engines, then point your query at
that group. Every time you open the program Inforian will inform you of
new search engines and the type of engine. You can add or remove these
from your groups. Probably the best Internet tool I own is Quest 98. (I
haven’t upgraded to 99. I have to find the box for the license key.)

A great “FREE” search engine tool is WebFerret. This tool quickly searches the basic top
nine search engines, Yahoo, AOL NetFind, AltaVista, CNET, Yahoo,
Euroseek, Excite, GOTO, Infoseek and Looksmart. I couldn’t easily find
the free version of this tool for download on the Ferretsoft site. So
here is a link to download
it from ZDNet. This free version is a solution for most users needs.

There are hundreds of new search machines. New splinter search
engines and directories are becoming more popular. They focus on
specific topics. Like all the works of Shakespeare or the World Health Organization.

Do you use search tools? What other Internet tool do you find fun,
effective or time saving? Let me know via
e-mail.