JamesA

I apologise in advance for being off topic but very interested in everyone's opinions. A good friend who owns a small resort up in Chiang Mai is contemplating spending vast sums to get his place promoted on Search Engines, which I though probably was unecessary as few people use the likes of Looksmart etc, and I wondered which search engines people use and do you use same ones for everything or particular ones for particular subjetcs?

To get the ball rolling I use, in order of use:

1- Google/Yahoo
2- Zapmeta
3- Alltheweb
4- MSN ( just occassionaly )

None of 'these' charge so it's my opinion he is wasting money for Lycos/Looksmart and the such.

simpsonc510

Here's one vote for Google/Yahoo.

SaraL

Ditto for Google

rhkkmk

i start with yahoo most of the time...i also like alltheweb (they have actually had things i could not find elsewhere)...jamesA is a great search engine also (hahahahaha)....my wife likes ask jeves...i find it hard to use...

Kathygo

Absolutely.....Google

slowboat2002

There was an AP story in my paper today that had a chart of usage of US search engines for May 2003. The popularity was:
Google 32%
Yahoo 25%
AOL/Time Warner 19%
MSN/Microsoft 15%
Other 9%

The source listed was "ComScore qSearch"

trammie

Tell ya mate to spend his hard earned on GOOGLE.

JamesA

This is actually interesting: Apparently except for paid advertising the results on GOOGLE and the same as on Yaoo and AOL.
MSN search results were honestly loussy and a waste of time.
I checked AlltheWeb and was reasonably impressed. Ask Jeeves only accepts paid listings, so most of the reulats are from thoese who can pay.
Looksmart waste of time, costs a fortune to get listed.
The trouble my friend has and I also get when searching 'anythwere(including Yahoo/Google )' is the amount ofsites that have no connection with your search but are 'big'. So a guy with a small guesthouse in Chiang Mai offering brilliant service and cheap price does not get into the Top 200, hence no-one find his site. A few days back I was searching out Ranong, Chumphon and a few other places and the first searches were packed with mainly U.S and European travel sites and I had to really 'search' to find anything relevant.
So I have now learnt that you nowadays have to have hundreds of other websites listing oyur own site to get any decent listing. Our company's website gets listed about 150th on Google when you search for our business type and include Thailand and/or Bangkok, there are only 3 or 4 companies like ours yet none of use get in the top 100, they are all taken up with sites that I guess have included the 'words' bangkok and Thailand yet bear no connection at all.

My computer guys tell me that you really need to deep-search these days to find the good sites, that means not usuing just one or two words, you should put in 4/5/6 wrods of exactly what you are after to find those good sites.

So maybe when searching for local information in countries it's a tip to be as detailed as possible on the search, instead of putting in 'Chiang Mai' you should go for 'Chiang Mai guest house guesthouse cheap rates discounts central location' or something like that, I tried similar for our own business and we shot up from 150 odd to No 2 on Google, and all our competitors(friends) in BKK were also in the top 5.

I guess experts will say 'hey didn't you know that?'..but anyway, may be uof use getting better info.

ms_wiley

I use Yahoo and MSN. Searches are often frustrating, though, unless I know specifically what I'm looking for. As you all said, just too many unrelated sites come up. When looking for accomodations, I never look for ideas from search engines. Without specifics, it would be a shot in the dark and a useless search. First, I always go to the travel guides - online and print - like Fodors, Lonely Planet, Let's Go, etc. Is your friend listed in those? Maybe he could be??

JamesA

It takes 2 years to get listed in any of those guides even if you hit it as early as possible, to get into a 2005 guide apparently it is already too late, that is why those guides often have out of date rates. Thanks for the suggestion though.