tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70144200694530017022024-03-28T03:56:38.494-07:00Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine News, Blog SearchUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-53464098127662645092006-12-19T02:00:00.000-08:002011-02-08T02:01:23.057-08:00Search Engine JournalNow hosted at SearchEngineJournal.com : <a href="http://www.searchenginejournal.com/">Search Engine Journal</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-90823552661165731562004-04-22T02:00:00.000-07:002011-02-08T02:00:41.850-08:00Yahoo Mail Fixes Security Flaw, Was Open to Account HijackingYahoo Mail was open to hacker attacks due to a file size bug. ZDNet reports that a flaw in the Yahoo Mail system could have let attackers control victims’ Yahoo accounts<br />
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Yahoo has fixed a bug in its Yahoo Mail email system that would have allowed attackers to seize control of users’ email accounts. This bug enabled attackers to take control of a user’s account by simply sending them a specially crafted email.<br />
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The security flaw, according to eEye Digital Security’s Drew Copley:<br />
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Allowed attackers to by-pass the Web-mail system’s Javascript filters. Any message exceeding approximately 100kb in length would not be analysed by the filter, which is meant to strip messages of any potentially malicious Javascript.<br />
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“A remarkable note about this bug is that no one seems to have found it before,” Copley’s advisory reads. “As far as anyone knows.”<br />
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Technical Description:<br />
———–EXAMPLE EMAIL———<br />
<br />
SCRIPT<br />
[->a bunch of chars here [spaces are most stealth], the whole file size will be just about 100KB]<br />
[this causes the filter to not work… the code is then run automatically]<br />
<br />
———————————<br />
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The pseudo-diagram above explains the scenario rather well. For whatever reason, Yahoo’s email filter simply does not work on files which exceed a certain range. This kind of software issue is relatively common. A remarkable note about this bug is that no one seems to have found it before.<br />
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Yahoo has fixed the Yahoo Mail bug.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-11776050852425895352004-02-17T01:59:00.000-08:002011-02-08T02:00:12.031-08:00Yahoo Intros New Search Robot - Yahoo! Slurp the Search Engine JournalYahoo just got a step closer to dropping the Google search results from its search function and replacing them with Yahoo’s own Inktomi search engine- which will be a bit of a blow to Google, and a sign of potential dominance by Yahoo.<br />
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Yahoo has just unleashed a new site indexing robot to crawl the web with - Yahoo! Slurp.<br />
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Yahoo’s new robot keeps a similar name to the Inktomi Slurp crawler and some features listed on Yahoo include:<br />
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* Yahoo! Slurp has the ability to crawl dynamic links or dynamically generated documents.<br />
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* The Yahoo! Slurp crawler collects documents from the web to build a searchable index for search services using the Yahoo! search engine (this helps verify a soon addition of Inktomi to the Yahoo search results). These documents are crawled since other documents on the web contain links to these documents.<br />
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* Yahoo! Slurp crawls from your site in the Yahoo! search engines immediately. The documents will be indexed and included into the search database in the near future.<br />
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* Yahoo! Slurp will offer cache indexing (similar to Google) and obeys the noarchive meta-tag. If you place: META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noarchive" in the head of your web document, Yahoo! Slurp will retrieve the document, but it will not cache or archive the document for use in the PageCache system.<br />
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* Yahoo! Slurp also obeys the noindex meta-tag. If you place: META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noindex" in the head of your website, Yahoo! Slurp will retrieve the document, but it will not index the document or place it in the search engine’s database.<br />
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Last year, Yahoo announced that they plan to make the change over to Inktomi results in the first quarter of 2004, which gives them about 40 days to meet that goal. In addition, its nice to see that the Slurp robot and search functions are all branded Yahoo.<br />
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It gives it more of a unified feel to have all of its main functions together, indivisble, under the united brand umbrella of Yahooooo!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-53580512640451807352004-02-12T01:59:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:59:39.952-08:00Google Cash ReviewRecently I did a review of Google Cash. It may not be the best book for a seasoned veteran, but newbies could learn a thing or two from Google Cash.<br />
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Here is my Google Cash Review.<br />
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- AaronUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-14706491193579348022004-01-29T01:58:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:59:14.774-08:00Update Austin: Google Update Florida AgainRecently Google has performed another crazy dance which has struck fear in the hearts of many webmasters. Learn what the did Update Austin: Google Update Florida AgainUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-88448035416680337622004-01-26T01:58:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:58:40.490-08:00Microsoft Search Toolbar to Rival Google & YahooMicrosoft is reported to announce today that it will introduce a browser based toolbar that includes a window for searching MSN search using. This directly reflects that MSN has decided to take a serious run at establishing itself as a search engine giant, in turn- a search advertising monster.<br />
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According to a Wall Street Journal report, the toolbar, which will be voluntarily placed below the control panel on a browser, also includes shortcut buttons to other Microsoft services such as Hotmail e-mail and its MSN Messenger product. However, it is not reported if the toolbar will be automatically added to the browser in future updates.<br />
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The search toolbar more or less takes a stab at similar toolbar products launched by rivals Yahoo and Google- which both now include pop up blockers and shortcuts to their own respected services. With the implementation of the toolbar, Microsoft hopes to introduce millions of Internet users to its search technology and other MSN online services.<br />
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The intro of the new Microsoft Toolbar comes at a time when MSN, the once search and portal power, has been trying to play catch up with Google and Yahoo for control of the search engine market. Google and Yahoo have also been making many changes recently. Yahoo bought Inktomi and Overture Advertising Services last year which Google has expanded its AdWords advertising program into one of the largest ad networks on the web.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-73397814761372476762004-01-24T01:57:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:58:09.794-08:00Booble - The Google or Porn SearchFile this one under the ingenius section. If you like dirty movies and sites, or even if you don't, you still may be able to appreciate the silliness behind Booble- the Google of Adult search engines. <br />
<img align="absmiddle" border="0" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20070717091540/http://www.searchenginejournal.com/booble_logo.gif" /> <br />
Sure, Booble doesn't have a HUGE index, but a search for an adult star's name may give results of sites that sell a paid subscription service to their content. An unnamed New York-based former internet executive has pumped his own money into the new website that has styled itself as a light-hearted parody of the world's largest and best-known search engine, Google.com. <br />
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"What was a bit fun and a joke became a business. People like it. It makes people smile. It's funny and I think it'll grow," the man in his mid-40s said. <br />
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The adult sites to which Booble users will be directed have been filtered to exclude illegal or extremely hard-core material, using criteria including whether a site is worth the price it charges viewers and the quality of its images. I'm sure each site indexed in Booble's search database is linked to the site's affiliate program. If Google doesn't sue the living hell out of these guys, they may even get to sell some ad space on the site. Will they keep the theme going and do a porno version of AdWords?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-71428832850716723002004-01-24T01:56:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:57:07.549-08:00Yahoo vs. Google + MSN = Uh Oh!Yahoo, the old superpower of the search engine world is now going to go head to head with the current superpower of the search engines, Google. Uh-Oh, look out, MSN is starting to play the game too! Ok, let me put it simpler, Google is the super search engine, Yahoo is the super directory and MSN, well, MSN is not much currently. Stay tuned though, Bill Gates is stirring the pot.<br />
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The speculation is rampant about Google becoming a public company. Google is in discussion with investment banks about possible offerings within the first quarter. If this is true, then get your cheque books ready, and prepare to spend when Google goes live on the stock exchange. It is speculated that it will be one of the biggest events in years on the global exchange. With a possible 1/3rd of the company going up for public investment. What does this mean? Well, unlike other public search engines, Google is all privately owned, which means you don’t currently see advertisements on the homepage, etc. Once a public company, just like Yahoo, you may begin to see changes depending on what the public advise. This is exactly why Google has become so popular. It is private and delivers quality results, not quality advertisements. Well, did provide quality results until last November. See the impact. A new look Google that annoys you with a homepage just like Yahoo and MSN. Fight through the rubbish to get to search!<br />
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With that in mind, Yahoo over the past year has been conducting its own little monopoly with the purchase of Overture and Inktomi. As Yahoo currently enhance their directory results from Google, it is speculated that once Google go public, as Yahoo already is, then Yahoo are going to drop Google like a hot rock and take up results from their own company assets almost immediately. As Yahoo owns All The Web (ATW), and ATW has the largest web search database, it is unknown whether Yahoo will utilise its own ATW or Inktomi database to provide results to Yahoo search results.<br />
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All you had to do was rank well in Google and that transferred to Yahoo with little difference. Ranking well in Google will not have any impact on Yahoo in the near future. If your website is not optimized to perform across this wide range of engines, and included within their results, then your in trouble. Yahoo will utilise Inktomi results as it wishes and sell the results to other engines as currently occurs. The good news is, my customers don’t have to worry as my work is never specific to one search engine. I guess that Yahoo paid submissions will once again increase to be listed within their directory. Once officially announced, if Yahoo go with Inktomi, then their price may go up and let the wars begin at Inktomi for rankings.<br />
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If Yahoo kicks Google into touch, then guess what? Surprise, surprise, it will also kick Looksmart Australia over the fence from supplying paid sponsored results to them. Yahoo, owning Overture, will utilise Overture results in Australia very soon as they already do in most other countries. Yes, Overture has plans to open in Australia very soon. Hopefully the picture is starting to come together for you.<br />
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Here’s the left field player, MSN. MSN are starting to play the game with Internet search and pay a little more attention to their search features and services. MSN have been supplied by Inktomi, but wait, MSN now have “MSNBOT” crawling around the web building a substantial database for themselves. Now with MSN releasing some impressive features lately, targeting broadband users, it is anyone’s guess what is to come next. I believe that Bill Gates has not bothered before because he’s been too busy monopolising world IT and Internet browsing.<br />
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Searching the internet is about to get a whole lot more funkier. Good old Bill Gates and his little family, Microsoft, are paying some attention to their own Internet features. Lets see now, Google - “x” Billion dollar company, Yahoo - “xx” Billion dollar company and whoo….. Microsoft, I mean MSN - “x” Trillions of dollars. With Google and Yahoo possibly splitting and Microsoft coming up behind real quick, I somehow think MSN may end up the superpower of search engines in the coming years. Money wins, lets face it. Google can have all the PageRank they want, and Yahoo all the other engines they want, but lets face it, Bills money will buy technology and supremacy if need be.<br />
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In conclusion, all those listed with Google will now have to concentrate on Yahoo submissions and ranking to remain listed within Yahoo. You will also need to keep abreast of whatever Microsoft comes up with. No longer will there be one clear winner, but possibly three (3) search engines going head to head to win users. Some SEO’s are about to get a real wakeup call.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-89911113893563235832004-01-19T01:55:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:56:28.689-08:00Yahoo! Establishes Yahoo! Research LabsRecently Yahoo! has announced the release of Yahoo! Research Labs to help advance search engine technology an innovation. Yahoo! research labs is to help Yahoo! compete against Google Labs.<br />
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by aaron wall @ SEO Book.comUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-9317299380671827482003-12-16T01:55:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:55:52.467-08:00Google #1 Search Engine for Business UsersThe search engine business searches go to first is Google, which 66 percent of the respondents say they use most. The other top search engines among the business community include Yahoo (15.25 percent) and MSN (7.8 percent).<br />
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Google: 66.37%<br />
Yahoo: 15.25%<br />
MSN: 7.8%<br />
AOL/Netscape: 4.16%<br />
Lycos: 0.55%<br />
AltaVista: 1.55%<br />
FastSearch: 0.35%<br />
Excite: 0.70%<br />
Hotbot: 0.30%<br />
iWon: 1.21%<br />
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To an even greater extent than the online public at large which uses Google about 23% of the time , the business community overwhelmingly uses Google to conduct its searches. Yahoo (at 15.25%) and MSN (at 7.8%) combined only represents 23% of use.<br />
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The survey of business users and their search behavior conducted by WebAdvantage.net, a search engine marketing and interactive agency, also reveals that members of the business community rely more heavily on organic search results than paid search listings.<br />
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The survey, which was conducted between October 1st and 31st, polled 475 respondents and has an overall margin of error of 2.6 percent. A white paper with survey results can be accessed at<br />
http://www.webadvantage.net/news.cfm?news_category_id=1&&news_item_id=140&&a=2Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-62112850697905272612003-12-09T01:54:00.001-08:002011-02-08T01:55:15.573-08:00Open-Source Search Engine : NutchA group of international developers are working together to produce an open source search engine that may rival the commercial search bandits. From the Nutch project’s site:<br />
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Nutch is a nascent effort to implement an open-source web search engine.<br />
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Web search is a basic requirement for internet navigation, yet the number of web search engines is decreasing. Today’s oligopoly could soon be a monopoly, with a single company controlling nearly all web search for its commercial gain. That would not be good for users of the internet.<br />
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Nutch provides a transparent alternative to commercial web search engines. Only open source search results can be fully trusted to be without bias. (Or at least their bias is public.) All existing major search engines have proprietary ranking formulas, and will not explain why a given page ranks as it does. Additionally, some search engines determine which sites to index based on payments, rather than on the merits of the sites themselves. Nutch, on the other hand, has nothing to hide and no motive to bias its results or its crawler in any way other than to try to give each user the best results possible.<br />
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Nutch aims to enable anyone to easily and cost-effectively deploy a world-class web search engine. This is a substantial challenge.<br />
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Nutch will definately be worth keeping an eye on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-6060772984344809942003-12-09T01:54:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:54:46.041-08:00Search Advertising Blocker Threatens WebMasters in Addition to Search EnginesFirst we had spam filters, then pop-up blockers, and recently spyware removal tools have become popular. Time to add one more to the list which has the potential to hurt the search engine marketing industry even more than a Google update, search engine sponsored listing blocking.<br />
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The InterMute, Inc. company announced today the latest version of its best selling Internet ad blocking software which gives users the option to block paid or sponsored Search Engine results, the fastest growing segment of the online advertising industry.<br />
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There may be some credence behind the need for more regulation of the search advertising industry, according to a recent study, nearly half of those surveyed among the business community state that they do not recognize the difference between paid search listings and unpaid.<br />
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While some search engines, Google for example, make an effort to differentiate its ads from its organic search results. Other search engines like MSN search do not do so good of a job, cloaking paid results with organic.<br />
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Intermute’s AdSubtract Pro with search engine advertising blocker has the potential to start a worrisome trend which could put a large dent in the search advertising industry.<br />
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Their new feature, dubbed New Search Sanity, lets the user block paid or "sponsored" listings from showing up on the most popular search engines including, Google, Yahoo, Overture, MSN, AOL, AltaVista, AllTheWeb and LookSmart. The tool even has the power to block contextual advertising, such as Google’s AdSense.<br />
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The ability to block AdSense ads will put AdSubtract Pro in the sites of webmasters, since AdSense dollars go to the owners of the sites it is advertised on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-74023277949674807852003-12-06T01:53:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:54:03.359-08:00Hotrate Reborn as IllumirateIllumiRate.com -- lighting your way through the web<br />
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I asked Barbara York the new owner why the name IllumiRate. Here is her response: "First, one of the platforms for the directory is the fact our editors' assess many of the sites we add. Therefore, I wanted to keep the "Rate" portion of the name.<br />
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Don't know if you had a chance to see our logo, but I think the candle that stands in for the first "I" in our name pretty much explains the concept.<br />
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IllumiRate is a "turn" on the word "illuminate" -- thus the slogan "Lighting your way through the Web".<br />
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Have you been "illumiRated"? Browsing this directory is an "IllumiRating" experience? For editors: Become a member of the "IllumiRate Nation"!<br />
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There are all sorts of phrases that could be used in connection with upping the power, high-voltage, etc., and other "light" connotations that are possible with the name.<br />
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Finally, having been a student at William & Mary, and an overall huge fan of the Williamsburg, VA, area, I have a soft spot in my heart for the holiday Grand Illumination celebration. Thus, when having a huge brainstorming session in my kitchen, we all came up with the name "IllumiRate".<br />
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Hope this better explains my objectives when choosing "IllumiRate" as our directory's new moniker. :-)<br />
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BTW, we do have a direct free submit for sites to be added to our waiting list at http://www.illumirate.com/IllumiRate/add_your_site.cfm."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-48041006964197982632003-12-01T01:53:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:53:27.150-08:00Directory For SaleAbout a month after splitting up the GoGuides.Org Directory is now on sale with a minimum bid of $10,000. On their home page it reads "Notice: GoGuides.Org is for sale! If you think you have what it takes to run one of the fastest growing and most popular human edited directories on the net then this opportunity is for you. Offers will be accepted till 12-3-03. If the minimum reserve price is not met the directory will not be sold. If the directory is sold the buyer must agree to continue running all advertisement, all listings, and agree to continue developing this directory as a spam free community. Minimum Bid Price: $10,000.00 US Dollars. All offers must accompany a 20% down payment of the bid amount via paypal to be considered legitimate. For more information contact us at teamsupport@goguides.org with your offered bid."<br />
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by Aaron Wall of Search Marketing InfoUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7014420069453001702.post-58555257095773547102003-11-27T01:41:00.000-08:002011-02-08T01:52:46.049-08:00CNET Search Show Best Conversions for Consumer Electronics SitesIn a independent study of millions of visits to Web sites selling consumer electronics and gift items, WebSideStory, Inc. ( www.WebSideStory.com ), today announced that from May-October 2003, visitors from CNET.com’s search engine had the best visit-to-order conversion ratio. CNET’s conversion ratio was 28% higher than the conversion rate from the next most efficient search engine. <br />
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CNET topped the list with 1.64 % of all visitors converting to immediate orders, followed by AOL (1.28 percent), Overture (1.25 percent) and iWon (1.15 percent), according to the new study by WebSideStory’s StatMarket ( www.StatMarket.com ), a leading authority on global Internet user trends. The data for the study is based on more than 10 million search engine visits to prominent e-commerce sites, which sell a broad range of gifts and electronics products and services. <br />
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These sites use WebSideStory’s HitBox Web analytics services. “StatMarket has always been a leading source of reliable data on the quantity of visitors that search engines refer to other sites globally,” said Geoff Johnston, vice president product marketing for StatMarket. “This new study focuses on the quality of the visitors the search sites are delivering.”<br />
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The data on visitors to electronics related sites is part of a larger study on visit-to-order conversion ratios from search engines to e-commerce sites overall. The full study from StatMarket analyzes more than 29 million visits from hundreds of search engines worldwide to dozens of prominent e-commerce sites. The search engine visits include those generated by both paid search keywords and organic listings. All orders resulting from search engine visits were generated in the same session. The study does not include shopping-specific search engines. <br />
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Search Engine Gifts/Electronics Sites<br />
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Order Conversion Ratio<br />
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CNET 1.64%<br />
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AOL 1.28%<br />
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Overture 1.25%<br />
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iWon 1.15%<br />
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LookSmart 1.14%<br />
<br />
MSN 1.04%<br />
<br />
Yahoo 1.01%<br />
<br />
Netscape 0.93%<br />
<br />
Lycos 0.92%<br />
<br />
Google 0.85%Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1