Re: Is Overture Overtaking the Web??

From: Kyle Yamnitz <Kyle_at_EdScope.com>
Date: Thu 27 Feb 2003 20:17:18 -0600

> It has come to my awareness that in the past week that Overture is in
> the process of purchasing two of the web's premier search engines;
> AltaVista and FAST.

Indeed, it does sound as though Overture is taking over web searching. I find
it interesting that Overture just raised their minimum bid to 10 cents as
well. I am leaving Overture and taking my money elsewhere because of that.
I'm surprised that hasn't been brought up here yet. I remember it caused a
big stir here when they raised their minimums from 1 cent to 5 cents in March
2001. The minimum is now 10 times that! As a content-only site with income
only from advertising, more than a penny bid isn't really worth it for me,
certainly not at 5 or 10 cents. In my eyes, Overture will suffer as the
quality of their search results decline because they eliminate the small
companies like my own. We'll see.

I wonder if the public is catching on to the idea of "sponsored listings" and
realizing they don't always provide the best results? I wonder if in turn,
that will increase the popularity of Google, the open directory project, and
other search engines? Take care,
        --Kyle Yamnitz
          Expanding the Scope of Education:
                http://www.EdScope.com




Received on Thu Feb 27 2003 - 20:17:18 CST