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Why optimizing your pages for search doesn’t work

Written on June 14, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing, searchengineguide

by Mike Moran

What do you do when you set out to attract search traffic? If you start by optimizing your pages, you might not succeed, because you must answer the question, “Optimize for what?” You must optimize your pages only for a specific set of search keywords. If you accept at face value that you already know the search keywords you must optimize for, you might be in for a rude awakening. You might be wrong.

Image via Wikipedia

Often, we think that we know what people are looking for, but we’re wrong. We think that people are looking for our product names or other names we call our products, but they might be searching for something else. People often use different words than we expect. I remember when I worked for IBM that we insisted on calling our computers “notebooks” even though “laptops” was the word that searchers used the most. So, if you spend an enormous amount of time optimizing for “notebooks” then you might be surprised when it helps a lot less than you’d expect.

Back From the Dead: Lycos Search (But WHY?)

Written on June 11, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

Don’t you just hate it when someone doesn’t know they’re dead? Lycos Europe insists that it’s feeling much better after spending the last two years in come back attempts, the clearance rack and, finally, utter oblivion. Yes, they think they’ll go for a walk now!

At least that’s what TechCrunch reports from Lycos execs. In addition to regaining the European rights to trademarks on “Lycos” and “Hotbot” (holy 1996, Batman!), Lycos is making a for European domination to rival a nineteenth-century tyrant.

Only, you know, a lot less popular than Napoleon.

Lycos CEO Jungwook Lim says, “Lycos continues to have a loyal user base and we expect this consolidation to help revitalize and strengthen our search businesses within Europe.” And Edward Noel, General Manager of Search and Business Development for Lycos, is in on the act, too:

Over the next several weeks Lycos will be re-launching the provision of search services within the European territory. Locally targeted content verticals will gradually be rolled out and we will be taking steps to enhance our users’ search experience.

Sounds all too familiar, doesn’t it?

Oh, I get it—they’re on an alternate timeline, aren’t they? The one where Yahoo bought Google way back when and Lycos still has market share in Europe. Or anyone else.

What do you think? Does Lycos have a “loyal user base” or is this a case of wishful “if I say it, maybe it’ll come true”?

Continued here:
Back From the Dead: Lycos Search (But WHY?)