Search engines - Why has a university program or non profit started one?

Seems that most people access the Internet sites through Google and Yahoo. It has created crazy valuations for these companies. Sadly, now the first few pages of searches are "pay per click" and it makes these search engines similar to when the Yellow Pages had a monopoly. They are more interested in profits than true sites you might be searching for. Why hasn't a non profit or university group started a real open search engine to shift the balance of power back to the consumer?

 

The first few pages of google are not "pay per click". They are pages that google deems as "important" through their calculations.

 

So if you pay for "keywords" you don't get front page? That's not my understanding.....

 

You will be on the front page, but on Google for example, you'd be on the far right, or in a very small space at the top, clearly marked as a "Sponsored Link." The pages that are not marked as such, are not paid.

 

What he said.

And when the interweb first started the universities had web "Crawlers". they were very slow search engines. Yahoo and Google came out with better products in the search for profits.

 

More importantly, why haven't universities started Search Engine Marketing degree programs? It might help get rid of some bad info (like what's being spun here).

 

Do you know if Yahoo is the same?

Interesting info....

I know that Home Depot was using either Google or Yahoo paying close to $15/ per click.

 

Yes, Yahoo is the same. Try searching and you'll see the clearly marked paid areas.

Also for the record, a lot of tech companies, search engines included, started as research projects at universities. Google was started from a Stanford research project, as was Sun Microsystems. Yahoo was started by Stanford students but wasn't a research project. Etc etc.

Universities are in the business of getting research grants and charging tuition and not in starting successful businesses.

 

I remember when people used to "Google bomb" and when you searched for idiot or something like that, the first result was George W. Bush.

 

http://www.google.com/technology/

This is how PageRank works. All of the results in Google that are not classified/marked as "Sponsored Links" are organic results that are unpaid for.

 

Helpful - Thanks

 

About 5 years ago or so, it was pretty easy to manipulate Google Page Rankings. Right now, the fastest way for a company to enter the "front page" is to buy sponsorship links. One of the primary reasons that Google "works" is because their search results are not manipulated by money.

 

I think it's close to .015 a click, and hundreds of thousands of them a day add up real quick.
I'm sure it's not $15/click, if it was, the search engines would PAY people to sit at home and click-away all day long, let alone automate the process to do it for them.

 

I understand that most might be .015 but I was told by someone in the industry that Home Depot was paying $15 per click. I know it sounds crazy and it maybe incorrect but that's what I was told. The caught up with issue and have changed it now.

 

$15 per click? How can that even be profitable for Home Depot? Figure in those that click, but don't purchase anything, add on small margins on products and overhead, they'd be in debt!

 

Nope. A lot small businesses and SEM's pay a lot more than $15 per click and they don't go under. Expensive does not = clicks. Some of these keywords might only get one click every couple days.

Here's the most expensive keywords.

$78.30 chicago personal injury lawyer
$73.01 chicago personal injury attorney
$69.17 lasik new york city
$64.27 new york personal injury lawyer
$64.17 new jersey car insurance
$63.10 new york personal injury attorney
$61.64 chicago personal injury lawyers
$61.17 mesothelioma lawyers
$60.74 atlanta personal injury lawyer
$60.29 new york personal injury lawyers
$59.00 lasik dallas
$58.68 new york personal injury lawyers
$58.38 miami personal injury attorney
$58.25 what is mesothelioma
$58.08 best equity loan
$57.95 lasik new york
$56.88 whole life insurance quote
$56.75 new york car insurance
$56.55 the lasik vision institute
$56.40 what is mesothelioma
$55.98 mesothelioma attorneys
$55.39 peritoneal mesothelioma
$54.81 new york personal injury attorney
$53.74 lasik nyc
$53.46 whole life insurance quotes
$53.42 car insurance in new jersey
$53.12 las vegas personal injury lawyer
$53.12 term life insurance quotes
$52.57 mesothelioma treatments




Now here's the flipside of that...and the reason Google is so rich.


Keyword Cost Per Click Clicks/Day Cost/Day
insurance $17.41 49,893.5 $868,645.81
hotels $3.52 200,636.0 $706,238.75
film $2.88 183,044.0 $527,166.75
home $3.89 102,282.5 $397,878.91
car $5.09 52,069.5 $265,033.75
schools $4.13 60,913.0 $251,570.69
acting $2.28 106,337.0 $242,448.36
credit $8.67 25,705.0 $222,862.34
cheap $2.71 82,139.5 $222,598.05
digital $1.70 130,607.0 $222,031.91
hotel $2.38 84,776.5 $201,768.06
film school$5.64 35,501.5 $200,228.45
software $3.23 61,259.5 $197,868.19

 

Where do you find this info?

 

Just Google "Most expensive keywords" or "Most profitable keywords" and the like...

 

Hmmmm, why so many lawyers in the expensive click list?

 

15 minute phone call from the one click and they more than make up the cost once they send out their billing.