10 replies to this topic

[smeyer56]

Thanks to Jill and High Rankings® Advisor we have brought our site up to #2 on Google for one phrase and #6 for another from not even being listed in the top 50.

My problem:
Our site is listed on the first page of an MSN search but at the bottom under "WEB PAGES - ABOUT" or #14. I see the sponsered sites and figured that they come from overture. I am not certain where the "WEB DIRECTORY SITES - ABOUT" are coming from and I haven't been able to get any information on it. Is there a way to get listed or listed higher in this area?

[Mel]

Sure you can get into those upper pages on MSN very easily, just pay for the privelege.

MSN will sometimes show Overture search results at the top of the page, then Looksmart results before getting to the meat in the Web section. Paying in either of these PPC schemes will get you a listing on the top of the MSN page only if you are among the top 3 at overture, but there can be hundreds of Looksmart pages shown before the web pages start to show up.

[qwerty]

Those are listing from the LookSmart directory. You have to pay to get in there, unless your site is non-profit. If so, you can submit to Zeal.

[added] Mel's correct. I'd forgotten about the Overture listings as well.[/added]

[Haystack]

Hi smeyer56, the directory sites come from LookSmart.com and Zeal.com (directory of non-profit and informaitonal sites maintained by LookSmart and volunteers).

Assuming you have a commercial site, your choices are to:

1. Bid into the top-3 terms on Overture for syndication onto MSN for your targeted terms.

2. Set up a LookSmart account which will cost you $0.15 per click plus a setup fee.

3. Review which terms your site is ranking competitively for due to high Inktomi rankings and few directory listings and determine whether that's good enough on MSN.

If the costs for PPC traffic through Overture is anywhere near $0.15, I'd highly recommend just using Overture rather than LookSmart. Overture gives you more control over which terms your ads will appear on so you'll pay for less diluted traffic.

Hope this helps.

[Jill]

Welcome, smeyer!

Yep, all the advice and information here is right on the money.

Jill

[Haystack]

Three responses in 9 minutes. Is that a record?

[jtaylor]

This question has always interested me.

Many of hte sites I have doen SEO for have ranked #1 in MSN, AOL, Google, Yahoo, etc without ever doing PPC.

"Medical Vacuum sealers" - Aline Heat Seal
"corrugated packaging equipment" MOEN Industries
"Bliss box former" - MOEN Industries

I realize these are not the most competitive terms but it would lead me to believe that using creaitve keyword phrases could get you in without pay.

Any thoughts?


James Taylor

[Haystack]

I realize these are not the most competitive terms but it would lead me to believe that using creaitve keyword phrases could get you in without pay.
Any thoughts?

Hi jtaylor,
Nice job on that SEO work. Those terms outline the weakness in LookSmart's directory since it's likely that at least one company with a competing site has submitted their site to LookSmart yet none are shown. Good news for you.

The thing to review here is the keyword research for each client to make sure you're not overlooking potential search traffic on more general yet still targeted terms. However, since the niche is so tight (thus low competition for PPC) you could be better off supplementing with Overture for the terms you're not already ranking high for.

[jbergerot]

Informational (non-commercial) subpages of commercial sites can also be submitted to Zeal.

-Jean

[Haystack]

Thanks Jean, and welcome to the forum.

[Dave_T]

I have run some looksmart campaign as an alternative "Cheap and Fast" way to get in the MSN results.

I agree with Ed to do some keyword researching first, in some cases (like what James has) you'll find that in MSN your keyword return with no "Sponsored result" (Overture) or "Directory Result" (Looksmart).

But in my case there are about 20 or so web directory results which pushed the web result (Inktomi) into page 2 or so.

What's important in Looksmart result on MSN is MSN uses its own algorithm to rank Looksmart listing. In other word you may see different result in looksmart and in MSN.