The Rise of AskJeeves?

Reaction to Yahoo!'s switch to Site Match has been prompt and almost universally negative. The switchover by not only Yahoo! but also its web properties, including Inktomi, AllTheWeb, and AltaVista, means that a significant portion of the popular search engines have now gone PPC, and the move is not a popular one. One noted industry newsletter referred to it as "bold and less than brilliant". Others have reiterated our position at SharpNET, that this is NOT an inexpensive option, and will price smaller businesses right out of the market, thereby losing some really great sites and products. One woman took a Yahoo! representative to task about it at an industry conference, and was cheered. After the dismal failure of LookSmart's virtually identical program, many people are wondering just what Yahoo! could be thinking.

SitePro news then commented on the coincidental (?) timing of Ask Jeeves' latest move, which was to dump their paid inclusion program entirely. In an interview with Ask Jeeves, the VP of Product Management, Jim Lanzone, gave several very logical and valid reasons for their switch, which had nothing to do with Yahoo!'s latest move. However, it seems safe to assume that the Yahoo! move did not go entirely unnoticed or ignored at Ask Jeeves. And from where I stand now, it seems like a pretty smart move on their part.

MSN take note: The backlash against Yahoo!'s Site Match has already begun. Whether it will fizzle out or gain strength remains to be seen, but the basic flaws of the program cannot be denied. I have already given my opinion that this could lend a great deal of strength to Google again, as a last bastion of free web searches. Ask Jeeves now stands poised to take a share of that as well, and their search algorithm is one of the best out there. The relevance of results is quite impressive, and outstrips almost any other engine. On the downside, they have a much smaller database, but are actively working to correct that. Smart money would encourage MSN to learn from Yahoo!'s mistakes, and make sure that free listings are an integral part of whatever new search they reveal.

I'm not sure if I will go so far as to predict the rise of the smaller search engines, and their gaining power against the paid inclusion programs. I will, however, go on record as being 100% in favor of such an event, until such time as Yahoo!, and all of its web properties sees fit to still give free listings somewhere. I don't like seeing someone try to create a search engine monopoly, and force you to pay for the privilege.