Death of a Search Engine
By Garry Grant
President, Search Engine Optimization, Inc.
The search engine wars have always been brutal, and they just got a little rougher.
Here’s the latest news from the frontlines: Yahoo has officially announced that it will cease supporting Alta Vista and AlltheWeb. Although Yahoo will keep the two search engines open, they are essentially being phased out.
A little bit of history: Yahoo bought Alta Vista, AlltheWeb, and Inktomi in a bid to unseat Google as the premier search engine. Yahoo quickly found out that supporting the development of three search engines was a tremendous drain on resources, and that none of the properties could compete with Google’s algorithms (the formula a search engine uses to find relevant Web pages).
So out with Alta Vista and AlltheWeb, and in with Yahoo Slurp! (Yahoo’s in-house proprietary technology meant to compete with Google).
Alta Vista’s demise is an interesting case study on the life cycle of a search engine. This search engine once was top dog, but hemorrhaged market share once a better search engine came along – namely, Google.
The death of Alta Vista and AlltheWeb also shows that the search engine industry is finally consolidating. Second-tier search engines will follow the fate of Alta Vista and AlltheWeb: they will either be acquired or fade away.
Four key players will slug it out for market dominance: Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, and the soon-to-be-launched MSN search engine. With billions of advertising dollars at stake, it is going to be a ferocious fight.
So what does this mean to your business?
Since the vast majority of users will turn to these four sites for information, you have to get top rankings on Google, Yahoo, and Ask Jeeves or you’ll be saying ‘last rites’ for your e-commerce initiative.
Search Engine Optimization, Inc. knows how to use the Google, Yahoo, and Ask Jeeves algorithms to your best advantage. Contact us to learn how we can give new life to your online initiatives.