Paid Inclusion Under Fire at Search Engine Shindig:
"The debate over the fairness and relevancy of paid search spilled onto the stage at the Jupitermedia's Search Engine Strategies 2004 conference here on Wednesday.

On one side: Google Inc., which objects to any commingling of paid search with its Web index. On the other: Yahoo Inc., which embraced this week a program for letting Web sites pay to be included in its recently launched Web index. "

And in the middle: Ask Jeeves Inc., which has dropped one paid program, where Web sites could provide XML feeds into its index, while maintaining another for paying to submit sites for crawling.

The varying positions demonstrate the evolving field of Web search. The battle to deliver the most relevant results, and to make money, has intensified now that Yahoo has switched from Google's search results to its own technology and as Microsoft Corp. builds its own technology.

The latest shift was Ask Jeeves discontinuation of its Index Express program for direct XML feeds into its Teoma search engine index. Paul Gardi, Ask Jeeves senior vice president of operations and planning, said the company was not denouncing the practice of paid inclusion but dropped that form because it didn't return relevant results for users.…

Ask Jeeves, of Emeryville, Calif., is continuing its Site Submit program, where sites pay to guarantee that their pages get crawled, Gardi said.

But Google and Yahoo, in a far-reaching panel discussion here on the future of search, did stake out clear opinions on whether Web sites should be able to pay to ensure their pages are indexed.

Google will continue to ban any paid inclusion into its Web search index, said Craig Silverstein, Google's director of technology, which drew applause from the audience. The Mountain View, Calif., company follows a strict division between its advertising business for sponsored search links and its ranking of regular results, he said.…

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