Since December 2003, StepForth has been using Clicktracks to analyze the statistics associated with some of our client web sites and the results have been very revealing. We are extremely impressed with the results provided by this software which is why were glad to hear that the smaller company Clicktracks tied with statistics giant WebTrends as the Best Marketing and Analysis Product available. The award was handed out by the prestigious website SmallBusinessComputing.com and has been added to the long list of amazing awards that Clicktracks has won since its inception. Read more…

The following is an interview I had with Garrett French, Editor of WebProNews.com. The article is focused on the nuances of the Inktomi Database. Enjoy!

You can find this article at the following WebProNews Forum URL:

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=11431 (at the bottom of the page) Read more…

The duplicated article was pulled from SEOinc.com, however, Google remembers:

The Google Cached Copy – Live Version

Now since this cache is not likely to stick around either, here is a downloadable version of the Google Cache in PDF format – Archive Version

Garry Grant, CEO of SEO Inc. replied to Lee Roberts, The Web Doctor when he asked about using StepForth’s copyrighted content (see Jan 8th, 11:18 AM Post for background info):

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I have no clue who is copying from who but this was written by our PR firm. I am going to remove the info as there is no way to confirm or deny what transpired.

Do you find it as odd as we do that a PR Firm is writing the articles under Garry Grant’s name? Or even more odd that the PR Firm is taking content from StepForth’s newsletter or web site?

I don’t know about you but I believe in writing my articles myself.

Oh and again, if you have any doubt as to who wrote this article click here to see a search for what the world other than SEO Inc. thinks.

What do you think? Tell us at info@stepforth.com

On December 5th 2003, Search Engine Optimization Inc. published and broadcast a newsletter in which the second article bore a striking resemblance to one of ours. Read more…

We all know just how sadly irrelevant the results can be at Google. The reason for this is that Google has difficulty distinguishing the intended relevance of a search. As a result, search results often include results from web sites that may only include the words searched without actually proving relevant to your needs. Read more…

If you have yet to hear of blogging then let me warn you now, you will be hearing a lot about it over the next few months.

What is a blog? Here is the answer straight from the pioneers of blogging at Blogger.com:

“A blog is a web page made up of usually short, frequently updated posts that are arranged chronologically like a what’s new page or a journal. The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction.” Read more…

The federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (view the entire act here) currently holds any search engine liable for linking to a web site which may be infringing copyrights. As a result, if a search engine refuses to remove all links to an infringing web site, the copyright holder can sue. What is wrong with this? Search engines such as Google with over 3 billion web pages indexed simply do not have the time or the legal backing to investigate every claim of copyright infringement. Despite this obvious limitation, however, Google is forced to review and rule on all complaints summarily. For example a claim by the Church of Scientology requested an anti-scientology site be removed because it contained copyrighted excerpts from their writings. When Google promptly removed the web site, free speech advocates made quite a commotion, citing that such censorship reduces the freedom of speech that the Internet naturally provides . (click here for this story)

Should search engines have to deal with this or should all legal preceedings be focused on the infringing web site? The search engines don’t believe they should have any liability. Unfortunately, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act cannot be reviewed simply on the basis of this claim. In the future there are chances that a culmination of other unrelated claims will prompt a review, but until then we just may not know what we are missing on the search engines.

What will Microsoft do to increase its presence in the search engine industry? For a long time MSN has barely been a going concern in the search engine industry, but now with Google whispering about a ’04 IPO and Yahoo! buying Overture and Inktomi, there doesn’t seem to be many options left for the software giant. Here is some insight from MSN product manager Lisa Gurry:

“Lisa Gurry says the company plans to move aggressively to develop its in-house search expertise while continuing to rely on Yahoo as a supplier. ‘We will make the right investments to stay competitive in this space,’ says Gurry.” (USA Today)

Does “make the right investments” highlight a potential buyout of a known search service? This target has long been debated but the field of potential targets have narrowed considerably if we rule out a major buy of Google or Yahoo! by Microsoft.

“For the record, Gurry says Microsoft is not considering buying Yahoo or Google ‘at this time.’”

Who does that leave? Our money is on an acquisition of Teoma/AskJeeves. Teoma is really the only search engine that I can think of which has demonstrated the potential to innovate and maintain the clean search image that Google so quickly rose from. I suppose, however, that this prediction is a no-brainer since there is really very few to pick from.

Till our next news.
- Ross Dunn

StepForth SEO Manager Jim Hedger discusses his thoughts on a potential IPO at Google with Sally Hardcastle of the BBC World News.

Listen to this BBC interview (in MP3 format)

Here is the interview transcribed:

StepForth’s BBC Interview
Sally Hardcastle (SH) asks what Jim Hedger (JH) thinks of Google’s potential public offering:

JH: “I think the Google IPO is the most watched game in town right now. I don’t think they will be going for it until late next year, it would make sense for Google to issue an IPO, they certainly need to beef up their warchest to fight off MSN and Yahoo!, and we know that MSN is investing about 50 million dollars this year alone in their search feature. Google is the #1 search engine in the world and search is, this year, a 2 billion dollar a year industry and is projected to be a 7 billion dollar a year industry within the next 5 years. So, there is a number of companies that want a share of Google’s action.”

SH: “What kind of share does Google have of the market?”
JH: “Either through someone entering www.google.com or through Google’s distribution to other search engines about 76% of all search traffic goes through the search database.”

SH: “Why has it been so successful?”
JH: “Mostly because it is concentrated on focusing on relevant results with a very clean interface,”
SH: “Don’t use the jargon; they just keep it simple and it works.”
JH: “Yes and that is very appealing to search engine users.”

SH: “Now you are saying that others are batting down the door, but the others don’t have this simple way of doing things. Can they change their act? I wouldn’t have thought they could.”
JH: “Oh I think they are trying to change their act, MSN specifically is trying to introduce a new search engine probably within the Spring of 2004, thats going to be very simple, stripped down, much like Google.”

SH: “So is 2003 a pretty crucial year for this business? Which I should say is obviously an important business nowadays.”
JH: “Yes, 2003 has been the year of big changes. I guess the business end of search engines has dominated in 2003, with mergers, acquisitions, and all of the companies, including Google trying to grow as big as possible quickly, to fend of their rivals. But 2004 is going to be radically different; I think we are going to see a number of the smaller players either absorbed by the big three or simply put out of business.”

- Ross Dunn