Internet in Russia and Ukraine - Part 2. Major RuNet and UaNet
Search Engines and Directories
This article offers an updated list of the Russian and Ukrainian
search sites to webmasters and website owners who seek to expand
internationally. To read General Information on RuNet and UaNet,
please go to http://www.azurel10n.com/ar_runet1.htm
Russian Search Engines and Directories
Yandex.ru Founded in 1997 as a search engine and directory, the
site currently provides some additional search and indexing
services via Yandex projects such as zakladki.ru, narod.ru,
smart system for choosing goods, link popularity check, etc.
Yandex indexes the Russian portion of the Internet,
Russia-related resources and some Cyrillic Web resources in
languages of ex-Soviet republics, Ukrainian in particular. The
search engine reads meta tags and considers keyword density and
link popularity in its ranking algorithm. The Yandex directory
still accepts sites without payment, but the free inclusion
procedure may take months and provides no guarantee for
placement. To be listed in the directory within three working
days, commercial and non-commercial sites must pay US$249 and
$49 respectively, plus VAT. Generally speaking, Yandex looks
like Yahoo when it comes to the controversial idea of charging
for listing in a directory, while a free-inclusion search engine
drives primary search results on the site. In addition to
HTML-formatted content, the Yandex search engine indexes PDF,
RTF and dynamically generated pages. By mid-September 2003,
Yandex had indexed about 110 million pages with unique content.
Rambler.ru The site is a search engine combined with two
directory-based rating systems: Rambler's Top100 and Rambler's
TopShop. Since its foundation in 1996, the search engine has
been indexing the Russian Web segment and the content with
domains of other post-Soviet countries. Rambler ignores meta
tags. Being listed in the Top100 directory is very beneficial to
a site, because the Rambler search engine reviews the listed
URLs daily, while other sites are visited every two weeks at
most, except news sites that are spidered five times a day.
Rambler offers free inclusion service. The search engine
conducts over 1.1 million searches a day.
Aport.ru Search engine and directory. Aport indexes the Russian
Web segment and the content with domains of other post-Soviet
countries. The ranking algorithm considers meta tags, alt and
title tags, keyword density, inbound links, commentaries and
some other factors. The search engine indexes dynamic pages. The
integrated directory is based on @Rus, once an independent
search site. Both search engine and directory offer free
inclusion. Aport operates as a constituent part of a Rol.ru
portal that, in addition to its search options, offers services
nationwide as an ISP and provides access to news (Rol.ru/news),
sample essays (Referat.ru), entertainment pages (OMEN.Ru) and
online games (Absolute games).
Google.com.ru - Not Google.Ru! Despite Google still lags behind
the above search engines in Runet / Uanet search traffic, it
becomes increasingly popular with the local searchers. Some
opinion polls state that Google still accounts for three to nine
percent of Runet search traffic, but many webmasters and
analysts believe that its share in total searches on the Russian
search sites is 10 percent at the very least. Google applies its
general indexing rules to any Web content in Russian or related
to Russia, whether or not a domain name is specific to Runet.
This is a big advantage over its Russian competitors that are
not so friendly to the websites with domain names like
"yoursite.com", "yoursite.org", etc. and require them email
their applications for inclusion. However, there seems little
chance of Google taking the lead in Russia and Ukraine unless it
improves its search algorithm in terms of the Russian and
Ukrainian language morphology (flexions, synonyms, etc.). The
drawback to morpheme search also means that web copy in Russian
or Ukrainian should be crafted specifically for Google.
Many users still confuse Google (www.google.com.ru) with
Google.Ru (www.google.ru). The first address is the true URL
path to Google's standard interface in Russian, while the second
domain name has been cybersquatted on since August 2001. The
site "Google.Ru" now operates as an information portal that
delivers brand-name Google's search results.
Lycos.ru Lycos Russia, a branch of Lycos Europe, first appeared
on the Internet in August 2001. You can add your URLs to Lycos
Russia's search engine and directory for free. The search site
is very helpful in doing the combined global-and-regional
searches. Obviously, Lycos Russia stands a good chance of being
ranked higher among the local search sites, but it may take a
few more years for Lycos, still popular with Europeans, to
ensure its profitability and growth on the Russian Web.
Punto.ru Search engine. Founded in 2001. Punto can filter out
duplicated copy in search results, leaving the most relevant
page. The search site has a software module that changes
misspellings so that any misspelled keyword or phrase you type
in cannot affect search results. Searches in Ukrainian are
possible as well. The ranking algorithm places great importance
on link popularity.
Turtle.ru The search engine with a bit peculiar name began
operating in mid-2002, having over 81 million pages in its
searchable database. Despite its name, Turtle does searches
quite fast, but it displays the less relevant search results,
compared to the top four engines. Turtle declares that it
indexes the regional Internet portions of ex-Soviet republics
(the CIS countries) in their national languages as well as the
Russian-language Web resources of other countries. However, when
I tested Turtle recently, it failed to do searches in Ukrainian.
Automatic submission is not allowed.
Tela.ru A search engine that spiders the Russian portion of the
Internet and considers the Russian-language morphology. There is
a Ukrainian search page on the site, but it provides poor search
results in Ukrainian. Tela needs no submission for a webpage to
be indexed.
Metabot.ru Meta search engine. Russian and English versions.
Mail.ru (formerly known as List.ru) Directory and email
services. Free listing in directory database.
Russia on the Net - www.ru The very first directory on the
Russian Internet, founded in September 1995. Russian and English
versions. Free inclusion.
Begun.ru The pay-per-click ad placement provider began operating
in 2002. Begun uses a sort of simplified FindWhat model,
allowing advertisers to bid on keyword phrases and placing
pay-per-click ads on the search sites and portals throughout
Runet. Minimum cost-per-click charge is $0.05, and minimum
deposit is $5. If you want to drive traffic to your site via
Begun, you have to choose proper keywords, write a text link ad
and put in your bid on the keywords. Begun's main partners are
search engines and directories such as Aport, KM.ru, Refer.ru
and Sotovik. PPC advertising currently is rather innovative
service on the Russian Net.
Virtalog.ru Founded in 2000, the directory is designed
specifically for exporting its content to other websites.
Virtalog includes websites into its index free, but those who
want to add the directory to their sites should pay $20 to
2,500, depending on how it will be tailored to the webpages in
terms of design and goods/services categories. However, Virtalog
offers free limited content (within any one category), if you
agree to place their banner ad on your page.
KM.ru Founded in 2002 by Cyril and Methodius Company that is
best known in Russia and other post-Soviet countries for its CD
reference books and encyclopedias, the site incorporates 20
portals and a daily e-newspaper. Most popular are its directory,
and email and Web search services. KM.ru offers free inclusion
in its listings. Some 80,000 sites are listed in the directory
as of September 2003.
Refer.ru The directory began operating in December 2000.
Refer.ru not only allows you to add your website, i.e. your home
page, but in addition to that some internal pages as well. Since
April 2002, Refer.ru has been carrying on advertising campaigns
in partnership with Begun. In early September 2003, Refer.ru had
over 235,000 URLs stored in its database. Free inclusion
services.
Top Uanet Search Engines and Directories
The vast majority of the Ukrainian Web resources are in Russian,
especially when it comes to news and sales. All the
government-related sites have content in Ukrainian, some of them
post a Russian version, and in a very few cases they have an
English version as well. The most popular servers can be found
via the above Russian search engines and directories, but
Ukraine has its own national search sites that are much more
helpful in doing the country-specific searches.
МЕТА.ua Search engine and register
(directory), founded in 1998. META is designed to search the
Ukrainian portion of the Internet as well as Ukraine-related
sites on the global Web. META conducts some 100,000 searches
daily. By mid-September 2003, META had indexed more than 5.5
million URLs and included about 25,000 websites in its register.
To be listed in the register, a website must pertain to Ukraine,
say geographically or by content. META offers free inclusion
services and declares that a site will be listed in the search
database within one to two weeks. The indexing process, however,
may drag on for months unless you place their banner ad on your
website.
UaPortal.com.ua Directory and news site in Russian and
Ukrainian. Founded in April 2000. The free inclusion service may
take weeks or months for your site to be added, but an about
nine-dollar fee cut down your long wait to 24 hours. In
addition, UAPortal recommends placing their banner ad on your
site, promising the shorter review time. There were over 16,000
websites listed in the directory in early September 2003.
Google.com.ua Google in Ukrainian. See Google.com.ru above.
UaPlus.com A new search engine that began operating in late June
2003. Developed by Miraline Co. in cooperation with the Kiev
National University, the Linux-based project uses its own unique
moduls instead of Apache, MySQL and other popular software.
UAPlus has indexed over five million pages within the Ukrainian
and international portions of the Web. No submission required.
ASearch (search.avanport.com) Search engine and directory in
Russian and Ukrainian. Founded in 1998. Free inclusion. Only
Ukraine-related sites are accepted and added to the directory.
The search engine indexes the Ukrainian portion of the Internet.
ASearch claims to be the leader, holding the most powerful
search engine in Ukraine. However, in September 2003, the site
showed its statistics of November 2001. That time they had about
18,000 websites listed and over two million pages indexed.
ASearch's job section still is very popular with employers and
job seekers.
UaPort.net The site is an ELVISTI project that combines a
directory with an information search system on the Ukrainian
Web. Free inclusion. Upon submission, UAport invites a website
to place their button in exchange for a shorter consideration
procedure. The directory had some 6,000 websites listed in its
22 categories in early September 2003.
TopPing.com.ua Directory, rating system and counter. Free
inclusion. Placing TopPing button (visible counter) on a site is
essential for those who wish to use the rating and counting
services free.
Alpha-counter (A-counter.com.ua) Directory, rating system and
counter. Founded in 1998. Free inclusion. Free invisible counter
is available, but you need to place a text reference to the
provider. More than twenty thousand websites stored in the
database as of September 10, 2003.
Bigmir.net Directory and rating system. Founded in 2000.