[Sigia-l] "Best Bets" the Yahoo way

Tue Mar 2 20:11:23 EST 2004

I know that can't be true, because Boxes and Arrows is in, and we didn't pay
a thin dime.

Sorry if my insider comment wasn't explicit enough: I have worked on Yahoo
Search.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Lyle_Kantrovich at cargill.com>
To: <sigia-l at asis.org>
Cc: <cwodtke at eleganthack.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 5:06 PM
Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] "Best Bets" the Yahoo way

> Christina,
>
> Well said.  No flames here, but I will point out that you forgot to
> mention that you work for Yahoo...but a lot of us "here" already know
> that.
>
> Pay for inclusion doesn't bother me.  Requiring payment for inclusion
> irritates me both as a user and a site owner.  E.g. when Yahoo decided
> you had to pay to be in the directory.  If my memory serves, they
> "grandfathered in" everyone already there and required new sites to pay.
>  Requiring payment to get added at all would, over time, reduce the
> quality of a directory or index...since you're in a way forcing a large
> number of potentially good sites to become part of the "dark web."
> Those sites that can't pay or who don't for some reason (e.g. lack of
> time, sponsorship, etc.).  Think of what the white pages would be like
> if you had to pay to be included.
>
> Yahoo's pay for inclusion plan sounds good - basically everyone can be
> included (if the Y! spider finds you), but if you pay, you may get added
> faster and indexed more often.  Sounds okay to me.  Buyers actually get
> something for their $$, searchers still get good results (must), and Y!
> actually get revenue and stays in biz so people can search and sites can
> be found...glorious.
>
> Free markets are great things - I'm glad to see Google get some
> competition.  I'm a die-hard Googler and have been converting the
> unwashed masses since Google was in beta.  If Yahoo builds a better
> mouse-trap, then they'll get me on their extended sales team -- for
> free.  Competition will also keep Google on their toes - they're not
> sitting still either.  This is going to be better than the "rumble in
> the jungle."
>
> Thanks for correcting the bad subject thing - I noticed that too.  Best
> bets are a great pattern (IMHO) that more site searches should use.
>
> Again, take that flameproof suit off girl!  You deserve some "props" for
> helping Yahoo keep search competitive.  You done us IAs and UX types
> proud.
>
> Lyle
>
> ----
> Lyle Kantrovich
> User Experience Architect
> Cargill
>
> Croc O' Lyle - Personal Commentary on usability, information
> architecture and design.
> http://crocolyle.blogspot.com/
>
> "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
> - Leonardo da Vinci
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cwodtke at eleganthack.com [mailto:cwodtke at eleganthack.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 8:59 AM
> To: sigia-l at asis.org
> Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] "Best Bets" the Yahoo way
>
>
> Yahoo has always had people to pay to be included in the directory, but
> it
> has never been the only way to be included. Inktomi has always offered
> folks
> to pay to be indexed, but is not the only way to be indexed. Both of
> them
> are just ways to guarantee you get included in a timely manner.
>
> there are two core concepts in web search: pay for placement and pay for
> inclusion.
>
> pay for placement are those adsense and the overture ads you seen on the
> top
> and right of your "real" results. On a given query then can be more
> useful
> than the results, on others they are merely in the way.
>
> pay for inclusion means you pony up for the crawler to be pointed you
> way.
> this is extremely useful for a brand new website that has no there way
> to be
> found, since it is too new to be linked to yet. Yahoo does not let paid
> inclusion affect the algorithm, though there has been conversations that
> it
> might actually improve relevancy, since a paying company *might* be a
> more
> authoritative source. Liek all elements of their algorithm, Yahoo relies
> on
> strict blind testing to determine relevancy.
>
> <snip>
>
> BTW, this is a disingenuous title-- a best bet is when someone has done
> a
> query analysis and has crafted the first few results to be the "best"
> ones.
> You could stretch it to include for PFP, but not PFI. You could make a
> case
> that the "Inside Yahoo!" sections are best bets.
>
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=define+disingenuous&sp=1&ei=UTF-8&n=20&fl=0&fr=slv2-
>
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=94306+chinese+food&ei=UTF-8&fr=slv2-&n=20&fl=0&x=wrt
>
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=slv2-&ei=UTF-8&p=701+first+ave+sunnyvale+ca
>
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=david+bowie&ei=UTF-8&fr=slv2-&n=20&fl=0&x=wrt
>
> Okay, now I'm donning my flameproof suit.
>
> ------------
> When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
> *Plain text, please; NO Attachments
>
> Searchable list archive:   http://www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/
> ________________________________________
> Sigia-l mailing list -- post to: Sigia-l at asis.org
> Changes to subscription: http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigia-l