In His Weekly Column Mr. Michael Parker, S.V.P. For Coracleinc.com Writes at RISMedia.com

We constantly hear how Google® is King of Search, and by sheer numbers of searches conducted on all topics, perhaps that is true. More certain is that Google® has a lower click-through rate than other major search engines…considerably lower. It is irrefutable that Google® is the King of Pay-per-click: BILLIONS of dollars from this amazing artificially constructed mechanism accrue to Google®, and this single product has propelled them to the top of most people's buy lists.

And, taking a lesson from Mr. Gates, Google® now seeks to bundle their search bar (soon to come built-in with every Dell® computer) whenever you download any Google® product. When Microsoft® included Internet Explorer® with their operating system, that was decried as "unfair trade" and "monopolistic practices." Now, if you buy a Dell®, someone has already chosen your search engine for you. All this is wonderful for Google®, but is it good for you?."

Exactly, Mr. Parker! It is about time someone said so! He continues:

"Lately, some interesting information is quietly putting this 'Google® is King' mantra in question. For just one example, Cendant® and their 371,000 agents just chose MSN® to provide online mapping search, not Google®; for another, Google® and their new email client, G-mail®, apparently have not dislodged MSN® and Yahoo® from their positions as majority providers of email services to those on the web. Google® has a slight majority in pure search entries, Yahoo® Yahoo!"

I must insert here that I boot to yahoo all signed in! Michael Parker continues:

" and MSN® have a very large lead in folks utilizing their email services. This means that most people are choosing MSN® and Yahoo® for the most popular Internet application, email, and that 371,000 real estate websites are going to use MSN® mapping.. That would seem to indicate to me that those same people might choose their built-in search engine to search for things of importance. I work in the search business and I can tell you that I find MSN® far more pertinent when searching for a specific, real-live need. Just enter 'San Francisco Real Estate' on all three engines and see the disparity in 'search depth.' MSN produces 1,000,000 linked pages; Yahoo produces 11,000,000 linked pages, Google produces 34,000,000 linked pages. How can this be true? Why can Google® purport to 'find' 34 TIMES as many pertinent links to this search as MSN®?"

Mr. Parker is noticing a very seldom noticed trend, a 'quiet war' for the hits that originate from booting up computer with the homepage set to 'My Page', wherever that feature rich 'personal page' may be, you have to read this:

"Well, it isn't true. Pertinence is favored by narrower result searches. Setting pay-per-click rates by building hugely disproportionate search results favors, well, charging high pay-per-click rates. Can you observe who has the biggest search depth? Guess who has the highest p-p-c rates?

And, as a minor corollary to this observation, comes some new data, courtesy of Harris Interactive. People responded when asked where they surfed the Internet while at work, as follows: Map sites: 83%; News: 80%; Weather: 76%; Government: 69%; Educational: 63%; Personal e-mail: 49%. This means that the vast majority of searches (in this study, anyway) were NOT REAL ESTATE RELATED, and I submit that these may be the "search categories" where Google® is King. People looking up the things that may need looking up, but not necessarily real estate relevant.: don't you suppose one is more likely to come off one's e-mail client when searching for important things?.

Now, in that same survey, 32% of surfers indicated they searched for real estate. While there is not enough hard data to completely validate this assertion, I submit that real estate searches are done more often on Yahoo® and MSN® because people are already ON that browser by dint of that being their email client. Our own analysis of where searchers come from when they visit our customers real estate websites shows MSN® and Yahoo® as the leaders a majority of the time.

In recent weeks, both Yahoo® and MSN® have committed huge sums to improving their search engines and their functions. They're only going to get better.

If you're still with me, maybe you are asking: "When will this guy get to the point?"

Here's the point: Before moving heaven and earth to buy Google® adwords and pay-per-click, remember, there are far less expensive and arguably more effective alternatives. Do you remember when Netscape® was King of the browsers? Or when Yahoo® was King of Banner advertising (that spawned a whole new industry: pop-up blockers)? My point is that I am betting that not too far down the line, we will be asking: "Remember when Google® was King of Search?" Now that MSN® is rumored to be purchasing E-bay®, does the truth begin to register? MSN® cannot be left out of anyone's plans and they will be dominant in the final analysis.

My point is that you should avoid putting all your eggs in one basket, even if the basket belongs to one of the most successful marketing companies ever devised. It seems that these fabulously successful Internet companies sometimes fail to learn from their predecessors and ignore the great lessons: If you are too greedy, the market will circumvent your costs. If you are technologically vulnerable to a bigger, more well financed competitor, your temporary leadership can evaporate very quickly. If you have people suing you over your keystone product's costs, you have some problems that aren't going away anytime soon.

And, if you are a real estate professional, you need to remember that pertinence and solid performance win out in the long run. You need to make sure that you appear on MSN® and Yahoo® and other major search engines, too, because in our experience, a disproportionate share of real estate leads come from those engines. Before cashing in the kids college accounts to bid on pay-per-click, it might be good to keep that in mind. - - © 2006 Mike Parker as it appears in Real Estate Magazine"

My hat is off to my associate Mr. Parker, after he said it so well, I will leave it at that!
My point is that you should avoid putting all your eggs in one basket, even if the basket belongs to one of the most successful marketing companies ever devised. It seems that these fabulously successful Internet companies sometimes fail to learn from their predecessors and ignore the great lessons: If you are too greedy, the market will circumvent your costs. If you are technologically vulnerable to a bigger, more well financed competitor, your temporary leadership can evaporate very quickly. If you have people suing you over your keystone product's costs, you have some problems that aren't going away anytime soon.And, if you are a real estate professional, you need to remember that pertinence and solid performance win out in the long run. You need to make sure that you appear on MSN® and Yahoo® and other major search engines, too, because in our experience, a disproportionate share of real estate leads come from those engines. Before cashing in the kids college accounts to bid on pay-per-click, it might be good to keep that in mind. - - as it appears in "
Now, in that same survey, 32% of surfers indicated they searched for real estate. While there is not enough hard data to completely validate this assertion, I submit that real estate searches are done more often on Yahoo® and MSN® because people are already ON that browser by dint of that being their email client. Our own analysis of where searchers come from when they visit our customers real estate websites shows MSN® and Yahoo® as the leaders a majority of the time.In recent weeks, both Yahoo® and MSN® have committed huge sums to improving their search engines and their functions. They're only going to get better.If you're still with me, maybe you are asking: "When will this guy get to the point?" My point is that you should avoid putting all your eggs in one basket, even if the basket belongs to one of the most successful marketing companies ever devised. It seems that these fabulously successful Internet companies sometimes fail to learn from their predecessors and ignore the great lessons: If you are too greedy, the market will circumvent your costs. If you are technologically vulnerable to a bigger, more well financed competitor, your temporary leadership can evaporate very quickly. If you have people suing you over your keystone product's costs, you have some problems that aren't going away anytime soon.And, if you are a real estate professional, you need to remember that pertinence and solid performance win out in the long run. You need to make sure that you appear on MSN® and Yahoo® and other major search engines, too, because in our experience, a disproportionate share of real estate leads come from those engines. Before cashing in the kids college accounts to bid on pay-per-click, it might be good to keep that in mind. - - as it appears in "