“Search services have long been a consumer Web favorite. But the
latest generation of search tools have become so precise that
they’re becoming powerful tools for enterprises as well. E-commerce
managers at Office Depot, Iomega, barnesandnoble.com and Bell
Canada are using search tools like Ask Jeeves, Northern Light,
Google and Copernic 2000 to help boost customer service, improve
site design, increase site traffic and learn more about their
users….”
“Heavily financed, 2-month-old start-up Google Inc. has already
signed up Red Hat and The Washington Post as customers. Google is
distinguishing itself by not only analyzing the words on a Web
page, but also by looking at what other sites are linking to that
page. For example, RedHat.com is using Google to search its own
site as well as selected sites devoted to the Linux operating
system.”
“Google factors these sites into its search rating system.
The more high-traffic sites that link to a particular page, the
more important that page becomes and, therefore, the higher up in a
list of search results it appears.“