economics? Is that really the question here? ( was RE: [Sigia-l] Re: "Best Bets" the Yahoo way)

[David Heller]

Oh man! 

Can someone please address the POINT of this thread instead of re-hashing
the hold thread here?  Geez! I try to take a different tact on all this, and
still the lame bickering...

There are indeed lessons to be learned about process, business decision
making, and responding to real user needs in the face of overwhelming
economic pressure and why responding to user needs is a better response than
trying to create a new business that doesn't really help the end user at
all.

Yahoo's decision makes sense from a business perspective that is out-dated
and out-moded and is surprising from a company that has usually been very
good at distinguishing between the value to the user vs. the value to the
perceived bottom line. That balancing act is tough for a public company that
has to "impress" investors w/ quick quarterly turn arounds, so I have no
judgement on that decision, but I do want to challenge it in this particular
forum which is one of many dedicated to the credo that good design in the
end will save business.

What question is Yahoo answer? Is there a way we can give a leg up to new
web sites so that they get included more quickly to our index? Is this "leg
up" worth a fee?

I think that the answer to the first question is yes and the 2nd question
should be no, unless you are going to for that fee not only add them to your
database/index but also push them to the top for the keywords they select
(ah! Buying keywords again).

Does this answer this question? Why are we loosing to google? What changes
and innovations in our service give us a competitive edge over the next 2-3
years to recover the staggering loss of ground that has occurred in the
previous 3 years?

I do not see how Paid Insertion answers that question at all. B/c as I said
in the first post of this thread, the problem isn't the index ... The
problem is the user experience. There are better ways to increase your index
and allow people to submit their info faster (maybe charging for it); but
don't make pretend that these will in the end help you catch up to Google.

Another question worth asking? Why compete with Google? There is so much
more that Yahoo offers. Is their search engine really the most profitable
part? Or are there other services that can be enhanced and maybe partnering
with Google is a viable answer indeed.

Maybe that partnership can be used to help each other create an even better
overall internet search tool.

Just some ramblings. 

-- dave