Ok, so we all know the “Big 3″ search engines in Australia – namely Google, Yahoo! and Live (ninemsn.com.au), as well as the stalwart Altavista (owned by Overture/Yahoo!), but I recently delved into local search engine alternatives and was quite surprised at the breadth of choice.
Let’s have a look at some of the alternatives:-
Continued – Nine Alternative Search Engines in Australia
2 responses so far ↓
Russell R // May 8, 2007 at 11:20 am
Absolutely concur regarding Sensis. They have no idea what they are doing! Their search results are little better than random.
My experience with Web Wombat however indicates they are very good at giving relevant results.
Perhaps your problem was that not many people search for terms relevant to your site.
Also, I don’t think you can compare directories with search engines. They are different things. A directory can guide a visitor to a site, whereas a search engine user must actively enter particular search terms to get a match.
BTW, it wasn’t good that you didn’t get a reply from Web Wombat. I’ve contacted them before and found they’ve been responsive, so maybe the email got lost or spam trapped?
Meg // May 8, 2007 at 11:56 am
Hi Russell
I hear what you’re saying about people not searching for the terms, but when you test the search yourself and find you are not coming up AT ALL in the results (let alone at the top where you’re meant to be), then it’s just not right!
I agree with your distinction of directory vs search engine see:-
http://blogpond.com.au/2007/03/22/local-search-frustration/
In terms of not getting a response, I used the contact form via their website