Ask Jeeves & Lycos Enter the SEO Field

[incrediblehelp]

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=1085

http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20041124AskJeevesandLycosofferSEOServices.html

I know this came public couple of days ago, but I wanted to start a thread on the topic.

What does this really say about the SEO industry as a whole. Does it add an overall legitimacy to it, finally?

Also what does it say about search engines like Lycos and Ask?

If you can't beat them, join them?

[sfowler]

Ask Jeeves is my number three referrer at the moment. Still behind Yahoo!, but definitely there.

[greeneagle]

Ask has been coming on strong for a while. Maybe they will surprise everyone.

Ken

[pdstein]

It doesn't surprise me that Lycos would offer SEO services. It seems to me that Lycos has no real identity or direction right now. They're sort of a search engine without a search database. A yellow pages without a real directory database. They've bought hosting/blogging companies. They've dabbled in marketing tools with pay-per-click management tools, paid inclusion tools, and now SEO services. They seem to be throwing whatever they can at the wall to see what sticks.

It's surprising that Ask would offer SEO services, since they have their own search database and have built an identity and reputation as a search engine.

BTW, I couldn't find any info on Ask.com about their SEO services. Can anyone provide a link?

[bhartzer]

By reading the description of the Lycos SEO, I got a good laugh--they obviously don't understand Link Popularity (they talk about you linking to them which is supposed to help your ranking. We all know that you need links to your site not the other way around.

And it's amazing to me that they talk specifically about PageRank, which belongs to another search engine. Great! Now Lycos is endorsing Google!

Here's a link (http://ranking.lycos.com/sitesidemore.html) to their SEO methodology.

[buddhu]

They also say they'll submit your site to search engines. Another indicator that the importance of a *proper* linking strategy eludes them.

LOL. Is it April 1st? Perhaps this is their idea of satire...

[incrediblehelp]

BTW, I couldn't find any info on Ask.com about their SEO services. Can anyone provide a link?

I know I can't find much on it either, just what was mentioned in these articles.

[pdstein]

It sounds as though Ask is not really going into SEO:

From http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/stein/archives/005148.html


There's a story floating about that Ask Jeeves is getting into SEO business.

It sounded a little odd, so Niki and I asked Daniel Read, VP of product management at Ask Jeeves. Ends up, the story is a bit jumbled. Here's his explaination:

MaxOnline was acquired by Ask Jeeves during the ISH acquisition earlier this year. MaxOnline provides a range of services for online advertisers, and has a third party relationship with an SEO provider. The relationship existed prior to the acquisition and Ask Jeeves has not made any recent movement with this relationship. This is a small component of the MaxOnline business and it is not directly affiliated with the Ask Jeeves search index.