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Search Engines Fail to List Official Candidate Web Sites in Top Results

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

A recent survey conducted by Danny Sullivan, editor of internet.com's Search Engine Watch Web site, found that several major search engines fail to list the official candidate Web sites for Democratic frontrunner Al Gore and Republican frontrunner George W. Bush in their top results. In contrast, the sites for Democratic candidate Bill Bradley and Republican candidate John McCain could be found on 15 out of 18 major search engines. This lack of visibility for Gore and Bush's sites raises concerns about the importance of having a strong online presence in the digital age.

Key Takeaways:

  • The survey found that Al Gore's official campaign site could be found on only 10 out of 18 major search engines when searching for him by name, and was not listed in the top results of major search engines such as Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, GoTo, AltaVista, and Northern Light.
  • George W. Bush's site fared slightly better, with his site found in the top results of only 11 out of 18 search engines, but was still missing from major search engines such as HotBot, AOL Search, and LookSmart.
  • In contrast, the official campaign sites for Bill Bradley and John McCain could be found on 15 out of 18 major search engines, with seven search engines, including Ask Jeeves, Go, and Google, providing direct links to all candidate Web sites.
  • Internet.com's survey highlights the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) for political campaigns, as well as the need for search engines to provide consistent and accurate results.
  • The survey also raises questions about the impact of search engine results on the democratic process, particularly in the age of digital politics.

Statistics:

  • 10 out of 18 major search engines failed to list Al Gore's official campaign site when searching for him by name.
  • The Vice President's campaign site did not appear in the top results of search engines such as Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, GoTo, AltaVista, FAST, Northern Light, and LookSmart.
  • 11 out of 18 search engines failed to list George W. Bush's official campaign site in the top results.
  • 15 out of 18 major search engines listed Bill Bradley's and John McCain's official campaign sites in the top results.
  • 7 out of 18 search engines provided direct links to all candidate Web sites.
  • Total "views" on internet.com, which include Web site page views, e-mail newsletter views, and e-mail discussion list views, are over 170 million per month.
  • Total page views on internet.com are over 110 million per month.
  • The survey was conducted by Danny Sullivan, editor of internet.com's Search Engine Watch Web site.

Sources:

  • Business Wire, "internet.com Survey Reveals Search Engines Fail to List Official Candidate Web Sites in Top Results" (March 2, 2000)
  • Search Engine Watch, "Can You Find Your Candidate?" (http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/00/03-president.html)
  • internet.com Corporation, "About internet.com" (http://www.internet.com/corporate/about.html)
  • internet.com Corporation, "2000 Annual Report" (http://www.internet.com/corporate/annual00.html)

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