10 replies to this topic

[vinnie2227]

Hello,

I am considering using Overture's Content Match service, but don't really know alot about the service. Can anyone fill me in and let me know if you have had good experiences with it?

[Jill]

Hi Vinnie,

Can I ask you something first? Why are you considering using it? Are your pages not currently getting added to Yahoo's index? Cuz if they are, then you'd be paying for what you already have.

If they're not getting picked up, you might want to instead work on fixing what's broken with your site so that they do get picked up, instead of paying for something you can have for free.

[vinnie2227]

Thanks for replying Jill!

Currently we have about 18,000 terms listed with Overture and we're working to scale that up to 100,000. Unfortunately, there are about 6,000 terms that are not getting any activity, so we thought we might try Content Match.

Any other thoughts are welcome!

[vinnie2227]

And we do get indexed in Yahoo for some of these terms, but not very well. It is important to my boss that we be at least in the top ten, and I tihnk I'd have to agree with him on that.

[Jill]

Well, do you realize that the Content Match system only gets your pages indexed, it doesn't give them any boost in rankings?

Which means if you already have your pages indexed, you'll just get them reindexed, but you'll now pay for every click instead of collecting clicks for free.

[vinnie2227]

Really?!?! That's crazy! I certainly had no idea that was the case. I thought that since I already pay for them to show up throught Overture, that it would boost the rankings. Thanks for clarifying!

[Jill]

No, they can't boost the rankings. (At least they claim there's no special boost, as that would be deceptive to their users.) It's just a help for sites to get pages included that might not otherwise be included.

[Mr Skyline]

As aforementioned, yes content match is a guaranteed entry into Yahoo's index, and search engine results are still decided by the same algorithm a naturally spidered site would be.

This is where I am going to contest what Jill is saying (sorry in advance) ... Yahoo DO have the abililty to give more weight to the feed provided results ... how do I know this ... I have been specifically told by a number of people I have worked alongside that work for Yahoo (former Inktomi workers).

It makes complete sense for them to have this ability to control these listings and give them more weight as they are "trusted feeds" meaning (hopefully for them) less spam as they come from a trusted source, the fact they make money from these listings of course doesn't come into the equation

[Haystack]

As aforementioned, yes content match is a guaranteed entry into Yahoo's index,

It sounds like people are discussing SiteMatch rather than Content Match in this thread.

[vinnie2227]

The original post was referring to the content match option in Overture, not Sitematch. But we also use Sitematch/Inktomi/Overture....

[Haystack]

LOL, good point.

I've had decent luck with Content Match. Visitors coming through from a content link are generally a bit less motivated than someone actively seeking out what you're looking for, which probably explains the lower conversions.