DIANE Le Tendre does not work for Google, the operator of the Web's mont popular search engine. But she depends on Google for her income
amount of sales generated by Google, he said, "but I would imagine it would be sufficient to run a good- size country."
Think of it as the Google The Google search en- conomy. Much as eBay tina directa more than spawned an army of entre prenearial auctioneers, Google has become enough a Web gatekeeper that ita leada now prop up plop
3,000 people day to Le Tendre's Web ite, Bareboat EIVI.com, for her of brokerage service for yacht charters in the British Vir- gin lelanda. Hur four-year- old company has always relied on Web visitors, but the traffic and to come from a wide range of search sites. Now, the visi- tors who arrive from Goo gie generate about 85 per cent of her business, pro- viding her with a comfort. able living
And because her site show up prominently in the search engine's free listings for queries like "British Virgin Islands yacht", she haa never had to pay Google a penny.
ty of commercial sites. Companies can pay Goo- le to promote their sites, although the paid listing ara labelled ns such and are listed separately from the unpaid resulta. But many smaller merchants in specialised niche like Letendre's rely on their sites turning up in Goo- gle's free search results
Google uses many vari ables ia la automated ranking process, but a key one is the number of other pape linking to a parties lar page, because links en serve an a kind of endone ment. Google regularly ahuffles ita rankings to re ods or in the Web's link
Le Tendre says she us- me that there ar many thousands of propri- fect changes in ita meth tors like herself who are dependent en Google trad die for their income.I couldn't even us at the
structure and content That makes it free list ingu a risky platform on
which to build a busines Google alss routinely slashes the rankings of sitee that appear to be us ing tricks such as hiding keywords in invisible text that ean be read only by search engines
But it is hard to dincour age those who see good to sitioning in Google's search results as the path to riches. On Webmaster World.com and ether dis- caution boards, site own. on and consultants gather to exchange tips on the black art of what is known AS search engine optimise- tion and to analyse Goe gles every hiccup.
Traffic from search in gines in especially Impor tant ta small sites that, unlike those of Amazon. com or Gap, da net have the brand recognition to attract shoppers on their own. Only about 18 per cont of consumers woeda search engine to lecate their most recent online purchase, according to Carrie A. johnson, A se for analyst at Forrester Research And yet search engine users tend to be more technically savvy,
ahe said, "those are the people who spond tht moat money online
A common complaint on Webmaster discussion site is that Google, through deala to provide in search results to Ya. hoot, America Online and other partners, controls too large a share of the search market. The com- plants grow leader in Oe tober when Yahool deroot ed ita directory listing and give more prominence to Google's rule. With its sites included,
The Google search engines emphasis on heeping unna happy. run of the expense of Sweaters
Brin naid.
Sometimes site's rank, ing plunge drastically or disappears from Google al- her. Often thia meana that Google detected some all search engine traffic to evidence that the site's owner was using deceptive tactica such as building network of linked items to create the illusion of popu- Iarity and thereby receive a higher ranking
partner
Google in now responsible
for about thre-quarters of
Website, according to re- search firm Star Market. Sergey Brin, ene of Goo gle's founders and ita pres- ident of technology, ae- knowledge that Google's large market share can nave Web site ownern vul nerable to fluctuations in traffie. But he waa unapol- egito about Google's su cess and its emphasis on keeping users happy, even at the expense of Webmas ters. "The only ronton peo ple come to Google is be cause it work for them,
a
Online merchants can guarantee their appear ance on Google's search pages by signing up with Google's advertising pro grammes. They can ensure placement on other search sites by using similar services from companies like Overture Services, which aupplies paid list-
in to MSN Search und others. These keyword tar get ads have been popu lar with advertisers and lucrative for search en games. But merchants who have learned how to do well in the free listings through careful uSe of my words and site structure Bay they receive more traf fe through the nan-paid methode
The free ride may not last, however. Johnson nya larger companies have been discovering the power of search engines and site optimiantion. It's going to he more and more difficult for mail eller to get noticed. The free listings lunch may be end
