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Humans do it better; or do they?
On 24 Jun 2001 we published on our site an article regarding: Internet advertising, search engines, links . We were making an attempt to determine which are the major search engines that will direct significant numbers of qualified visitors to a particular site. Some already published studies regarding the subject, published data which we did not trust (they probably included the 20-25% of all Internet surfers looking for sex and porno and another significant percentage looking for information such as: "how to loose 30 lbs. in 30 days for $30"). They show a much closer "race" among search engines, when in fact we consider only 3 of them to be major and 4 of them of some importance, with a huge gap between these two groups in terms of directing visitors. We also concluded that Internet directories are almost useless, and also questioned the integrity of some "search engines".
We already concluded in an article, prior to our removal from ODP's database, that Internet directories are almost useless. The removal was considered a minor event, and would have been probably completely ignored, if it was not for the letter we received from an ODP's editor. Interested in knowing why we were removed, and maybe to learn more what to do to improve our site, we wrote the following letter:
"... Our site: (http://www.powersupplies.net), was listed on ODP for several years. A couple of days ago we noticed that was removed from your database. We are following all known rules established by search engines. Have we done something wrong to be removed, or it is just temporarily, while you are updating your database ..."
To be honest, we estimated we had only 10% chance to actually receive a response, and the matter was already closed to us. However, we did receive a response that puzzled us:
"Hi Simona, I have a problem with your site, because you are not a manufacturer so you can not be listed under: Business: Industries: Manufacturing: Electrical: Power Supplies. Concerning the category: Science: Technology: Electronics: Power Electronics I select only web sites with a high technical level, containing usefull technical information, and generally non commercial sites (exeption made of very interresting technical articles). My opinion is that your site doesn't meet these criteria, and that the information it contains doesn't help. Please note that I don't question your level of expertise, but only your sites content. I am ready to list you site back in this category if you improve its content. Maybe you can find another category where your site will fit better..."
Our response:
Section I - Ethics
The ODP's letter was received a few days after we discovered, looking at our site statistics, that MIT, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, placed a link to our site, without telling us or asking for a link exchange. Other opinions regarding our site:
The above samples of e-mails we receive, confirm that our site is not just a "commercial site". It DOES contains valuable information, useful to a variety of people and professions (design engineers, SMPS gurus, university professors, marketing professionals), even when they do not buy a product or service from us, or receive a service in exchange.
We searched the Internet and found that the ODP's editor is working for a company making power supplies. His company is listed 5 times in the ODP under 5 categories, 2 times under its own name but with different webpages, 3 times under a mirror URL on the NBCi website with different pages. It is called "deeplinking" by ODP. We suggest the reader of this article to check the ODP rules, and make its own mind. We have no further comments.
Section II - Internet directories value
We already concluded in a different article that the Internet directories are almost useless. To start with, it makes no sense to have two databases (unless it serves particular "objectives", whatever those may be). Second, it is a nightmare to navigate back and forth between categories before you can find something useful. See Vivisimo's excellent approach to solve the bottleneck and organize the search.
Extremely "interesting" was the ODP's editor response: "... I select only web sites with a high technical level, containing usefull technical information, and generally non commercial sites" (our underline). We are puzzled and confused at the same time. It is a "discrimination" that all commercial sites should be concerned about. Mainly all Internet directories are asking for a fee to be included. They give priority for inclusion to those commercial sites that are paying a fee. Many if not most Internet surfers believe that Internet directories are mainly for commercial sites. They are probably wrong.
Also disturbing is this ODP inclusion policy, especially because it may be in conflict with the code of ethics published by some search engines using ODP's database.
Section III - What Internet directories should do
We talked to an ODP editor (on a category completely unrelated to our field). He confirmed that ODP is trying the best it can to avoid being used by some editors to promote their own business. He also suggested contacting the staff, trying to understand how the system works and using it. This is exactly what we were doing in the last couple of years. What the editor did not know was that we already concluded, based on feedback from many businesses in the Industry, that directories, including those maintained by reputable industry magazines, are generating very little customers compared to other marketing methods. We did our research to understand better how the search engines and Internet directories are working. We did it mainly for our internal use. And most of the data is kept for our internal use only. We wrote several articles mostly for our customers, trying to give them more information and help them make an informed decision regarding marketing methods.
The editor also suggested that we should not forget about being listed on the ODP because it is used by Google directory, which is very important, and we may loose visitors. Here we totally disagree with the editor. Goggle is very important with its own database and objective search and positioning algorithm, and not the directory. I am also wondering how marketing departments of companies that are advertising over the Internet will react to ODP's policies to exclude commercial sites. Also visitors is one thing and customers another. One thousand visitors plus one customer, minus one visitor, stil leaves 999 visitors and 1 customer. We know very well how visitors are coming to our site and how customers are coming to us for buying. So does many Internet related businesses. Do you remember the days when LookSmart and NBCi were claiming to have more "audience" or "market penetration" than Yahoo!? We smiled and never took it seriously. The importance of Internet in doing business is still grossly overrated. And you better believe us, who were choosing from the beginning to do most if not all of our business over the Internet. Ignoring the realities, rather than "unforeseen market downturn" put out of business NBCi and Go.com search engines. And more will disappear.
Regarding Internet directories (ODP in particular), and what they should do, here is my suggestion. Consider the task of building a huge pyramid today: would you choose to use 100,000 slaves to move the rocks, or 100 scientists and engineers to design and build the machines for moving the rocks? Let the humans do what they do best: thinking. Use the ODP's editors and their huge knowledge to "design" the categories of the Internet directories, to design the algorithms of including and ranking the sites automatically by software programs. Let them monitor the software performance and not the performance of other editors.
Comments and suggestions are welcomed and encouraged!
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