Introduction
We have known that at some point late in the summer of 2002, Google's search and Adwords results would appear on AOL, and as of Tuesday, July 23, 2002, the SEO world was given a sneak preview. While this appears to only be a test version of the new system, it gives some insight into this huge deal that is definitely going to open some doors for some, and close doors for others. Below we will take a look at what this means for Google, Inktomi, and for the SEO industry.

This Tuesday, a moderator from WebMasterWorld.com posted the URL to a Beta, or Test, of the new Google results on AOL. The search results at this test version of AOL/Google appear to still be buggy, and not a perfect match to the search results seen at Google.com. The AOL search portal is being closely watched by many in the SEO profession, and has been jumping back and forth from Inktomi results to the new Google format.

What Does This Mean for Google?
The new AOL switch from Inktomi supplied results to Google's search results is a large step for Google, as they continue to dominate the search engine market. AOL is currently one of the top three owners of total Internet traffic market share. What this means for Google is they will dramatically increase their audience reach, market share, and branding.

For Google this also means another avenue for their Adwords advertisements, which entails a number of points. For one, this will make Google Adwords more of a threat and competitor to Overture, who is currently the PPC advertisement market leader. This also means that Overture has lost their place as the PPC results supplier for AOL, which is a large source of revenue, traffic, and branding for Overture. Another potential issue that may present itself is the rising prices of Google Adwords advertisements. It has been seen with Overture, as the prices continue to rise in most markets, with some keyword markets hitting prices as ridiculously high priced as $20 and above per click. Google's Adwords advertisements will begin to see more audience reach and market share, and with this comes more customers. With more customers comes more competition, and with more competition comes rising prices and price wars. It is inevitable.

What Does This Mean for Inktomi?
Inktomi has been in financial troubles over the past few quarters, with reports of financial losses and recent layoffs in the hundreds. The loss of AOL is another hard hit to Inktomi as they are losing a large customer, and have had trouble lately establishing new ones. Finding another customer of the same size may turn out to be a hard task for Inktomi. As Yahoo! and Google's deal ends in a few months, it is feasible for Inktomi to fill Google's shoes, but this may also be easier said than done. For Inktomi to win this spot as Yahoo!'s web results provider, they will need to compete with Google, FAST/AllTheWeb, WiseNut, AskJeeves, and Teoma, to name a few.

What Does This Mean for the SEO Industry?
This switch from Inktomi to Google for the search results of the AOL portal is an excellent deal for all search engine optimization professionals. This will account for a number of changes in how we optimize, how we target our campaigns, how much we pay for inclusion into databases, the quality of search results on the web, and more.

The optimization techniques and campaigns will change when the final switch is thrown and Google's results are on the main results pages of the AOL portal. One of the main changes will be that optimizing for Inktomi will have less importance, as the only major player that still uses their results will be MSN. Although MSN still uses Inktomi's results, it is not pure Inktomi results, as Looksmart listings appear first for most keyword searches. See Understanding MSN Search Results for more on MSN's search listings. After seeing virtually all search engines and directories go towards a pay-for-inclusion (PFI) model, the new AOL/Google deal will release one of the big search engine players from the grasps of PFI. There are currently two ways into Inktomi's database: 1) get in for free through pure luck; 2) pay the $25 per URL registration fee. As Google is free for submission, this new AOL/Google deal will save webmasters and SEOs a substantial amount of money. Targeting our search engine optimization campaigns will not change dramatically, as in 2002 most SEO campaigns were designed with Google as the major goal. When the final switch is thrown, it will become even more important to acquire a listing in the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, which both help ranking in Google, and as a result in AOL. It will also allow SEO professionals to target more broad terms that are likely to bring in high amounts of targeted traffic, as is currently done with Google. This was not the case with Inktomi as a result of their algorithm and the current situation with MSN, which has forced many SEOs to target more specific, 3 and 4 keyword phrases.

The search results across the Internet will get a boost in quality as well, as Google's database has a considerable amount less spam than Inktomi's database. The Inktomi algorithm is designed in a different way with different variables from Google's, and is more susceptible to spamming.

Overall, the new Google/AOL deal is going to bring many good things, and everyone is looking forward to what's to come.