1. Pick twenty popular search terms.

2. Enter them at selected search engine.

3. Review first twenty results for each search and write down answer. Write a 1 if answer to your question is true for that listing and a 0 if it is false.

4. If answers are all same (either true or false), you may need to use more than twenty results for your study. If so, be consistent with all search terms.

5. If answers for second half of your results for all search terms is zero, you may need to include some more search terms until you have a non-zero result in second half of your results.

6. Total answers for all search terms for first half of your results. Separately total answers for all of your search terms for second half of your results.

7. Divide total from first half of your results by total of second half of your results.

8. If your answer is very close to number 1, then you will need to expand your search to more than twenty popular search terms... or review more than top 20 results... or possibly accept that answer to your question is that this particular factor is not very important to this search engine either way (positive or negative).

9. If your answer is significantly more than 1, then answer to your question is true.

10. If your answer is significantly less than 1, then answer to your question is false.

If your question is regarding formation of title, description, domain name or URL, this method is all you need. If your question regards something about underlying sites (ie: keyword density, use of header tags, hidden text, etc), then you may have to visit each site listed in order to answer your question.

I find it easier to turn each question into a true/false question, but you can also use this method with questions that have a numerical answer.

Now real challenge is finding questions, not answers. Recently a popular search engine started ranking sites with dead links lower than sites that quickly removed their dead links. This became obvious when above study was performed. The challenge was to come up with question: Do dead links on your site hurt search engine ranking?

Feel free to drop me a note at JamesBrausch@TargetBlaster.com with any interesting finds using this method. Happy hunting!

A new agreement has just been signed which will allow LookSmart's listings to appear on InfoSpace's meta-search product over at Excite and WebCrawler.com . Looksmart also provides results to InfoSpace's other sites http://www.Metacrawler.com and http://www.Dogpile.com

9) AOL Search: http://search.aol.com/

Recently signed with Google to use their search results and to display their sponsored links from their "Ad Words Select Program." Listings also come from The Open Directory Project. You can submit at ODP, or search through categories at AOL and find best fit and click "submit a site" link at bottom of page, which will take you over to ODP for submission. The top 3 sponsored links on AOL's search results page are pulled from top 3 ads in Google's Ad Words Select Program.

10) Hotbot http://hotbot.lycos.com/addurl.asp

Hotbot is owned by Lycos and is presently making some changes to their free submission page - how they will affect you remains to be seen. Results on Hotbot also come from Direct Hit and some from Inktomi and ODP. You can also add your listing here by submitting to Lycos at http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/

You can still submit for free, but you'll have to sign up as a member of Lycos first before they'll let you have privilege. Hotbot also displays top 3 results from Overture on their search results page.

11) MSN Search: http://search.msn.com/

MSN Search pulls results from Looksmart, then when no more listings are found they pull from Inktomi's database. They also pull some results from Overture.com which they display at bottom of page called "Web Pages."

You can't submit directly to MSN; you'll have to submit to Looksmart at http://listings.looksmart.com/?synd=zdd&chan=zddresults to show up here.

12) Ask Jeeves: http://askjeeves.com/

A different sort of directory where you perform searches by asking a question. There are two ways to get listed. The free way is to send an email to url@askjeeves.com with a URL and a brief description of your site. The other way is to go to http://ask.ineedhits.com and pay for inclusion. The first URL will run you $30.00; 2 or more only $18.00. The subscription period is 15 months. Since Ask Jeeves also owns Teoma, paying for submission will get you listed there, too.

Ask Jeeves also displays "Sponsored Links" on their results pages, with top 4 bid positions from Overture being displayed there.

13) Netscape Search: http://search.netscape.com/

Results on Netscape come from The ODP and Netscape itself. Starting in August of 2002, "Partner Search Results" that are displayed will be pulled from top bids at Google's Ad Words Select Program. Overture had contract to supply sponsored links but recently lost out to Google. However, you'll still see Overture's links being displayed until August.

To get your site listed you can submit at The ODP http://dmoz.org/add.html

14) Teoma: AKA Direct Hit http://www.teoma.com/

Formerly called Direct Hit, this is now owned by Ask Jeeves and renamed Teoma. These guys are now positioning themselves to give Google a run for its money. Teoma also provides search results to Hotbot. Sponsored results are also pulled from Overture and displayed at top of their search results pages.

The only way to submit directly to Teoma is to pay for submission at http://ask.ineedhits.com/ The first URL will run you $30.00, 2 or more URL's only 18.00 each for 15 months.

15) Lycos: http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/

Lycos also owns Hotbot. Some of their listings come from The ODP, Fast Search/AllTheWeb with sponsored listings shown at top of search results pages coming from Overture.com.

You can submit for free at.... http://searchservices.lycos.com/searchservices/lite_step1.aspor or opt for "Lycos InSite Select" pay submission, with an annual membership fee of $18.00 and annual cost per URL of $12.00. If you go pay route you are guaranteed inclusion within 48 hours of submission.

16) AllTheWeb.com: http://www.alltheweb.com/

Owned by Fast Search, you can still submit your site for free with no guarantee of inclusion at http://www.alltheweb.com/add_url.php Some of AllTheWeb's search results are pulled directly from The ODP and Fast Search.

There you have it, who's and what's of who's still playing in search engine games. Search engines /directories are always in a state of flux and it's quite possible by time you read this some of information I've gathered for you may have changed. To keep abreast of changes I strongly suggest these sites and subscribing to their newsletters:

Search Engine Watch http://www.searchenginewatch.com/ Search Engine Guide http://www.searchengineguide.com/ Search Engine Headlines http://www.searchengineheadlines.com/

Bruce Clay has an excellent chart that shows relationships of search engines and who's feeding off of who that is continually updated at:http://bruceclay.com/searchenginechart.pdf

You need to be quick to keep up with all of changes in this field so pay attention, because "Times they are a Changing" FAST!