Intelligent Internet Data Searching

In this thesis author approaches the problem of automated text classification, which is one of basic tasks for building Intelligent Internet Search Agent. The work discusses various approaches to solving sub-problems of automated text classification, such as feature extraction and machine learning on text sources. Author also describes her own multiword approach to feature extraction and pres-ents the results of testing this approach using linear discriminant analysis based classifier, and classifier combining unsupervised learning for etalon extraction with supervised learning using common backpropagation algorithm for multilevel perceptron.

Text Classification and Indexing in IP Networks

Internet on elektronisen postin perusrakenne ja ollut tärkeä tiedonlähde akateemisille käyttäjille jo pitkään. Siitä on tullut merkittävä tietolähde kaupallisille yrityksille niiden pyrkiessä pitämään yhteyttä asiakkaisiinsa ja seuraamaan kilpailijoitansa. WWW:n kasvu sekä määrällisesti että sen moninaisuus on luonut kasvavan kysynnän kehittyneille tiedonhallintapalveluille. Tällaisia palveluja ovet ryhmittely ja luokittelu, tiedon löytäminen ja suodattaminen sekä lähteiden käytön personointi ja seuranta. Vaikka WWW:stä saatavan tieteellisen ja kaupallisesti arvokkaan tiedon määrä on huomattavasti kasvanut viime vuosina sen etsiminen ja löytyminen on edelleen tavanomaisen Internet hakukoneen varassa. Tietojen hakuun kohdistuvien kasvavien ja muuttuvien tarpeiden tyydyttämisestä on tullut monimutkainen tehtävä Internet hakukoneille. Luokittelu ja indeksointi ovat merkittävä osa luotettavan ja täsmällisen tiedon etsimisessä ja löytämisessä. Tämä diplomityö esittelee luokittelussa ja indeksoinnissa käytettävät yleisimmät menetelmät ja niitä käyttäviä sovelluksia ja projekteja, joissa tiedon hakuun liittyvät ongelmat on pyritty ratkaisemaan.

Unsupervised visual object categorization

The number of digital images has been increasing exponentially in the last few years. People have problems managing their image collections and finding a specific image. An automatic image categorization system could help them to manage images and find specific images. In this thesis, an unsupervised visual object categorization system was implemented to categorize a set of unknown images. The system is unsupervised, and hence, it does not need known images to train the system which needs to be manually obtained. Therefore, the number of possible categories and images can be huge. The system implemented in the thesis extracts local features from the images. These local features are used to build a codebook. The local features and the codebook are then used to generate a feature vector for an image. Images are categorized based on the feature vectors. The system is able to categorize any given set of images based on the visual appearance of the images. Images that have similar image regions are grouped together in the same category. Thus, for example, images which contain cars are assigned to the same cluster. The unsupervised visual object categorization system can be used in many situations, e.g., in an Internet search engine. The system can categorize images for a user, and the user can then easily find a specific type of image.

Search advertising for small Finnish tourism company in Russian Internet – Experimental study: Google AdWords versus Yandex.Direct

Yandex is the dominant search engine in Russia, followed by the world leader Google. This study focuses on the performance differences between the two in search advertising in the context of tourism, by running two identical campaigns and measuring the KPI’s, such as CPA (cost-per-action), on both campaigns. Search engine advertising is a new and fast changing form of advertising, which should be studied frequently in order to keep up with the changes. Research was done as an experimental study in cooperation with a Finnish tourism company and the data is gathered from the clickstream and not from questionnaires, which is recommended method by the literature. The results of the study suggests that Yandex.Direct performed better in the selected niche and that the individual campaign planning for Yandex.Direct and Google AdWords is an important part of the optimization of search advertising in Russia.

Search Engine Optimization Methods & Search Engine Indexing for CMS Applications

Search engine optimization & marketing is a set of processes widely used on websites to improve search engine rankings which generate quality web traffic and increase ROI. Content is the most important part of any website. CMS web development is now become very essential for most of organizations and online businesses to develop their online system and websites. Every online business using a CMS wants to get users (customers) to make profit and ROI. This thesis comprises a brief study of existing SEO methods, tools and techniques and how they can be implemented to optimize a content base website. In results, the study provides recommendations about how to use SEO methods; tools and techniques to optimize CMS based websites on major search engines. This study compares popular CMS systems like Drupal, WordPress and Joomla SEO features and how implementing SEO can be improved on these CMS systems. Having knowledge of search engine indexing and search engine working is essential for a successful SEO campaign. This work is a complete guideline for web developers or SEO experts who want to optimize a CMS based website on all major search engines.

Optimization as a method of search engine marketing

This study is dedicated to search engine marketing (SEM). It aims for developing a business model of SEM firms and to provide explicit research of trustworthy practices of virtual marketing companies. Optimization is a general term that represents a variety of techniques and methods of the web pages promotion. The research addresses optimization as a business activity, and it explains its role for the online marketing. Additionally, it highlights issues of unethical techniques utilization by marketers which created relatively negative attitude to them on the Internet environment. Literature insight combines in the one place both technical and economical scientific findings in order to highlight technological and business attributes incorporated in SEM activities. Empirical data regarding search marketers was collected via e-mail questionnaires. 4 representatives of SEM companies were engaged in this study to accomplish the business model design. Additionally, the fifth respondent was a representative of the search engine portal, who provided insight on relations between search engines and marketers. Obtained information of the respondents was processed qualitatively. Movement of commercial organizations to the online market increases demand on promotional programs. SEM is the largest part of online marketing, and it is a prerogative of search engines portals. However, skilled users, or marketers, are able to implement long-term marketing programs by utilizing web page optimization techniques, key word consultancy or content optimization to increase web site visibility to search engines and, therefore, user’s attention to the customer pages. SEM firms are related to small knowledge-intensive businesses. On the basis of data analysis the business model was constructed. The SEM model includes generalized constructs, although they represent a wider amount of operational aspects. Constructing blocks of the model includes fundamental parts of SEM commercial activity: value creation, customer, infrastructure and financial segments. Also, approaches were provided on company’s differentiation and competitive advantages evaluation. It is assumed that search marketers should apply further attempts to differentiate own business out of the large number of similar service providing companies. Findings indicate that SEM companies are interested in the increasing their trustworthiness and the reputation building. Future of the search marketing is directly depending on search engines development.

Influence of Link Structure on Search Engine Result Pages of Online Nursery Shops

The primary objective of this thesis is to assess how the backlink portfolio structure and off site Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) elements influence ranking of UK based online nursery shops. The growth of the internet use demanded significant effort from companies to optimize and increase their online presence in order to cope with the increasing online competition. The new e-Commerce technology - called Search Engine Optimisation - has been developed that helped increase website visibility of companies. The SEO process involves on site elements (i.e. changing the parameters of the company's website such as keywords, title tags and meta descriptions) and off site elements (link building and social media marketing activity). Link Building is based on several steps of marketing planning including keyword research and competitor analysis. The underlying goal of keyword research is to understand the targeted market through identifying relevant keyword queries that are used by targeted costumer group. In the analysis, three types (geographic, field and company’s strategy related) and seven sources of keywords has been identified and used as a base of analysis. Following the determination of the most popular keywords, allinanchor and allintitle search has been conducted and the first ten results of the searches have been collected to identify the companies with the most significant web presence among the nursery shops. Finally, Link Profiling has been performed where the essential goal was to understand to what extent other companies' link structure is different that the base company's backlinks. Significant difference has been found that distinguished the top three companies ranking in the allinanchor and allintitle search. The top three companies, „Mothercare”, „Mamas and Papas” and „Kiddicare” maintained significantly better metrics regarding domain and page authority on the main landing pages, the average number of outbound links for link portfolio metric and in number of backlinks. These companies also ranked among the highest in page authority distribution and followed external linking.

Westerners in search of the legendary potion : ayahuasca travel in the borderland between tourism and pilgrimage

The thesis examines the phenomenon most commonly known as “ayahuasca tourism” – i.e. the practice of westerners traveling to South America and partaking in ceremonies in which a powerful entheogenic brew, ayahuasca, is consumed. While this popular phenomenon has been steadily increasing during the last decades, it has, however, been insufficiently studied by scholars. An important question which has not been properly addressed in earlier studies is how ayahuasca tourism relates to the wider occurrence of travel and how it should be perceived with reference to the theoretical frameworks on the subject of travel. Drawing on theories regarding pilgrimage and tourism, the main purpose of this thesis is to examine the relationship between ayahuasca tourism and the broader spectrum of travel. In particular, the study tests the designations “pilgrimage”, “religious tourism” and “spiritual tourism” with reference to ayahuasca tourism. Utilizing earlier literature as well as ayahuasca tourists‟ reports obtained from an Internet forum as a basis for analysis, I search for a suitable terminology to be used for the phenomenon. The study lays special emphasis on the protagonists‟ motivations, experiences and outcomes in order to take note of various aspects of the wide-ranging occurrence of ayahuasca tourism. Key findings indicate that ayahuasca tourism is best understood as a combination of pilgrimage and tourism. On the basis of the analysis I argue that ayahuasca tourism should be labeled as “pilgrimage” and/or “spiritual tourism”, and the tourists respectively as “pilgrims” and/or “spiritual tourists”. The category of “religious tourism/tourist”, on the other hand, turns out to be an inappropriate designation when describing the phenomenon. In general, through my study I show that the results are consistent with the present trend in the study of travel to perceive pilgrimage and tourism as theoretically similar phenomena. The study of ayahuasca tourism serves thus as living proof of contemporary travel, in which the categories of pilgrimage and tourism are often indistinguishable. I suggest that ayahuasca tourism is by no means exceptional on this point, but can rather be used as an illustration of modern travel forms on a general level. Thus, the present study does not only add to the research of ayahuasca tourism, but also provides additional insights into the study of travel.