[thelist] RE: keywords and optimization/Alta Vista

[JenniferE at mif.com]

> i've read that altavista has stopped indexing alltogether in the past couple months..
I just got this today from http://www.marketposition.com.  I'm not vouching for accuracy, I'm  just happy to have something relevant to post here! :)

Jennifer

AltaVista Buries Newly Submitted Pages 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ever since AltaVista added what people are now calling "the
Ransom note" feature on their Add URL page...

http://add-url.altavista.com/cgi-bin/newurl?

..they've been burying most of the newly submitted pages at
the bottom of the search results. Only recently (finally!)
have we started seeing pages that were submitted months ago
slowly making their way towards the top. Therefore, be encouraged
that your recent submissions to AltaVista are likely to improve
in ranking after a couple of months from the time they are
submitted to AltaVista as they get better with "age."  

-- * ---

Note:  The above article was reprinted with permission from
Planet Ocean Communications.  Planet Ocean, in my opinion,
offers some of the most extensive and up to date search engine
news on the Web.  If you're one of those who are always looking
for that extra tip to gain a competitive edge, you owe it
to yourself to check out this in-depth resource:

http://www.searchenginehelp.com/positioning/

BONUS TIP: In regard to AltaVista, since the pages appear to
get better with "age," you may want to avoid re-submitting
pages that have already been indexed by AltaVista.  Use WebPosition's
URL Verification feature to determine when this occurs.  Also
make sure you carefully optimize the pages with the WebPosition
Page Critic before submitting them.  You don't want to waste
two months waiting for it to rise in rank only to discover
you were using the wrong number of keywords on the page.