Yahoo vs Google

[Tom]

See Danny Sullivan's Newsletter No. 88 (http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/3319331). Yahoo has ditched Google and you can try the new Yahoo Search (http://search.yahoo.com/). I'm pleased to report that David's Cadtutor comes out top for a search on Cadtutor but less pleased that I only got 'a third in garden history'. Google gives me a second!

Another interesting point is that Danny is using a fluid column width. He used a fixed width for years. I think Yahoo will have to go all-fluid someday. They have already done so for Yahoo Search. In fact I find their search returns page easier to read than Google's. The typography is lighter and the numbering helps. There is no 'YahooSense' at present but there is a white space on the right which might just be intended for this purpose, given the millions Google are raking in.

The competition between the search facilities from Yahoo, Google and, sometime next year, Microsoft, is due to become very interesting. Yahoo has a lot going for it re their experience in garnering advertising revenue. Microsoft hopes searches will be initiated from within all its applications. As mentioned before, Google could find itself Netscape-ed.

[David]

Yahoo! Search are already employing an AdWords equivalent on the site. They are using a 3rd party system called Overture (http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/bjump/yah.jhtml?o=U5266&b=25&c=Yahoo%20Results%20Page%20Link&n=Yahoo!%20Link&r=yahoo.com&t=Aff). The results look remarkably similar to the Google Ads. See this page (http://search.shopping.yahoo.com/search?p=autocad+tutorials&ei=UTF-8&fr=sfp&cop=mss&__yltc=s:2766679,d:14489115,sec:srchtab,slk:produc ts,k:autocad+tutorials) for an example. I can see no evidence of an AdSense equivalent but I imagine that it's just a matter of time. I also imagine that it will not be possible to host AdWords from both Google and Yahoo! on the same page/site if and when it happens.

As for the CADTutor rank; a much better measure of success is the position when searching for "AutoCAD tutorials". On Google, CADTutor comes 5th and on Yahoo it comes 7th. I may have to work on this. I must admit that I haven't done any search engine optimisation for some time and things have definately changed.

The interesting thing is that "FBE online learning" (University of New South Wales) comes top in both and always has done. I have no idea how they manage this because the site does not appear to be optimised in any way. I do know that they are linked to by lots of sites and I suppose that counts for a lot.

[Tom]

David, do you have a page for outgoing links, one which to reward people who provide incoming links? If so it was not easy-to-find (the only section I found was Resources).

Also, have you seen the UCLA online course in Autocad for Landscape Architects (http://www.uclaextension.edu/index.cfm?href=/online_landscape_arch/index.cfm)? We could easily validate a course like this if you were interested in running it.

[David]

I have an affiliate link section on the home page - bottom of the left column. Many sites similar to my own run this sort of scheme. I must admit that I haven't really had time to develop this to date. What I should be doing is contacting other webmasters and trading links - actually, what I *really* need is an assistant to do it all for me :)

[David]

Originally posted by Tom Turner@Feb 29 2004, 4:04 pm
Also, have you seen the UCLA online course in Autocad for Landscape Architects (http://www.uclaextension.edu/index.cfm?href=/online_landscape_arch/index.cfm)? We could easily validate a course like this if you were interested in running it.
Hmm, I hadn't seen that. Looks interesting. However, unless human cloning becomes a reality in the next few months, I'm unlikely to get round to running anything like that. I am only just coping (some would say not) with what I've got on at the moment :blink: