The State of Search Engines

Hey, all!  ;-)

Can we talk about these beasts?  I am way curious to hear other's opinions 
and experiences.....   ;-)

Handling client expectations and bringing them down to reality about how 
these animals work, including the oh so popular spam "Top 10 Search Engine 
Listings Guaranteed" is requiring more of my time than ever.  I study 
everything I can get my hands on, have test sites out there to confirm 
suspicions, receive Search Engine Watch, etc.  Still and all, I have 
several questions that I have been pondering that I would be most 
interested in hearing others opinions/experiences:

Now that the LookSmart Network (Excite,AltaVista,Webcrawler,MSN and others) 
and Yahoo! are charging for pay-for-review the landscape has changed quite 
a bit.

What do you advise your clients in regards to acquiring and maintaining 
relevant listings?  Including a clause in my development agreement may 
become necessary so that legally I am not responsible for what clients 
"think" is supposed to happen in this area.  Or why I cannot produce top 10 
on every engine for every possible ONE WORD keyword.

My clients are advised that they shouldn't rely on SEs alone (just part of 
your overall marketing program) and how SEs work and the reality of the big 
picture, however, that does not negate the need to try and acquire decent 
listings.  With the massive amount of sites going online, only so many will 
fit on that top page (or second page for that matter).  Even if you know 
what you are doing and play by the rules - this is becoming increasingly 
more difficult to accomplish as time goes on.

I have had a strong program in place that has been very effective involving 
reregistration (if appropriate), monitoring, making changes to the 
site/keywords/content to pull more relevantly.  The clients who I have 
worked this program for do very well in maintaining their listings with the 
usual shuffle and fluctuations.

I am beginning to get a sinking feeling that we will be relegated to being 
listed by how each directory chooses (ala Yahoo) - leaving us without as 
much control or choice over where/how you are placed.  Ever try and get 
Yahoo to change the site description that is butchered or incorrect?  Even 
on the Business Express plan you can't get them to modify errors on their 
part.  Foe-ged-aboud-it!  ;-)

I am curious if any of the services that tout maintaining decent listings 
actual produce. If they are out there, I want to know about them and I'll 
hire them myself!  ;-) However, most that I have investigated spew the 
same-ole, same-ole and have way hefty fees.  The fees (no mention on the 
list please) would be worth it if the results were clear.

Thoughts, experiences, comments, perls of wisdom welcome!   TIA! ;-)
/j

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