Google appears to have been planning a browser for some time. In April of 2004 they purchased domain gbrowser.com (notice similarity to gmail.com) and recently they lured two of lead developers on Firefox browser project to join Google team. When asked what their role would be at Google, both developers were unable to specify what their roles were. Yet with Firefox’s relative success at chipping away Internet Explorer’s stronghold on browser market, Google is certain to take notice of minds that were able to make a dent in Internet Explorer stronghold.

Google Has a History of Attacking Strengths

The common thought when considering an attack on a competitor is to attack their weaknesses. Google, true to their history of bucking tradition, has a history of doing just opposite. Rather than attacking their potential competitor’s strengths, Google identifies its competitor’s strengths and attacks those strengths directly. This is exactly what they did when they launched Gmail.

Before launch of Gmail, search engine wars were being anticipated by SEO community. Yahoo! had acquired Overture and Inktomi and had announced its plans to abandon Google search results. Similarly, MSN had announced that they too would be leaving Google’s search results and would develop their own internal search technology. Both Yahoo! and MSN posed a real threat to steal a significant portion of Google’s search market. However, at time, Yahoo! proved to be more imminent threat as they would go to market with a proven search technology in Inktomi and an established advertising network with Overture.

Yahoo!’s real strength in attacking Google was draw that their portal had. The tool that offered Yahoo! most certain return traffic was Yahoo! Mail. Although Yahoo! has several different tools that bring users back time and time again, nothing was as powerful as their email system. As people came back to Yahoo! to use their e-mail, or other tools for that matter, hope was that they would grow to become loyal to Yahoo!’s search results as well.

Google realized strength of Yahoo! Mail, so they launched Gmail as an offensive on Yahoo!’s greatest strength. At time Google launched Gmail, they were offering 10 times amount of space, an obvious attempt to gain press and increase desirability of Gmail.

MSN Search Provides a Bigger Threat

Although MSN Search currently holds a smaller share of search engine market than Yahoo! or Google, they are actually bigger threat to Yahoo!. Yahoo! had ability to push their search results to millions of people who come to their portal to use their tools. If Google is able to provide users with same tools that they find at Yahoo!, users no longer have a reason to visit Yahoo!. However, any computer user who is using Windows most likely will use Internet Explorer, even if it is to eventually download an alternate browser, and we all know that most people are comfortable enough with Internet Explorer to not even look for an alternative.

Because MSN has constant attention of consumers through Internet Explorer, they have many more channels to push their search results through. Do not be surprised if next version of Internet Explorer comes with a search bar included as well as more redirects to MSN search results when a bad address is typed in address bar. As long as MSN has such a strong majority of browser market they will be able to push their search results.

Perhaps one of biggest misconceptions in SEO is that ranking at Google and Yahoo is all that counts in search engine optimization. Potential clients come to me with a single goal: "Get me a top-ten ranking at Google." Some will also mention MSN, and a few will rhyme off a list of search engines and want to rank well at top 200 of them.

It is time to separate fact from fiction.

Yes, your SEO consultant can get you a top-ten placement at Google. But...

1.If placement is for "dirty brown shoes", it probably won't help your shoe store one bit, even if I get you first place ranking. Few people are actually searching for that term.

2.Being number ten might not help much either, depending on term. People searching for "Essential Nectar liquid vitamins", will probably click on first result they see, or at least on one of "above-the-fold" results that do not require scrolling. On other hand, someone searching for "liquid vitamins" might check through two pages of results to familiarize herself with options available.

3.If your title tag reads like a cheap list of search terms, it will not be enticing. For instance, if it reads: "vitamins, liquid vitamins, multivitamins, multi-vitamins", you might skip over it in favor of next result that reads "Liquid vitamins from Liquid Vitamin Supplements Store".

4.If your description tag is a mess, people will more likely skip over your listing, even if it does rank number one, in favor of one that sounds like what they are looking for. Google and others use description tag usually when term searched for is found in it, so make sure to include your key search terms in a description tag that actually reads well.