Bad results for almost a year

[succachump]

For almost a year on msn when you type in the keyword Utah Travel The result that are returned are the same. The first link is broken and has been for the last year, the next results are all form the same website and are promoting national parks that are not in Utah. this is a very bad return. I have been trying to find out for almost a year where these results are comming from and hwho i can contact about getting them changed. for any experts out there i would appreciate any advise.

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums succuchump! :hi:

http://search.msn.com/results.asp?RS=CHECKED&FORM=MSNH&v=1&q=Utah+Travel

The top 3 are Overture. The next results are from Looksmart. They are all "paid" ads from Looksmart. You would have to talk to them.

[succachump]

Thanks for your help but I have a few more questions. Are the results coming from Zeal? I know that after overture the first result has been broken for a year. I cannot imagine anyone paying for a broken link. Also How did the website www.utahtravelcenter.com get all of there pages listed? It seems that that goes against looksmarts "policy". If they are coming from zeal do I need to contact that editor? The results have not changed for a long time. Even when the pay per click system was introduced, they did not change. Any other thoughts?

[ihelpyou]

Do a search on Zeal to see how they are listed. They could be Zeal listings or they could be LS as well.

I just tried to search Zeal and it's not working right now.

[MsSearch]

The Utah Travel Center could have gotten many pages listed free in Zeal...one site can list many pages as long as the content is unique and non-commercial...I have non-commercial sites in Zeal that have multiple listings.

Zeal is taking too long but you will be able to see if that site paid LS or if it was a non-commercial submission through Zeal...My guess is that is was submitted to Zeal because it does not have the LS redirect when you click on the link.

The editor of that category may not log in on a daily basis as the editors are volunteer...but i have seen some listings in Zeal that are marked 'unresponsive' or 'inactive'. I would email the editor of the category and let them know that the link is broken....

[succachump]

what about the sites listed under the search term Utah Travel that are not utah travel Related? should i also e-mail the zeal editor about that?

[MsSearch]

I would double check and see what categories these listings fall under. The title of the site is Utah Travel which is probably why they are being found/listed in the search results...chances are, people searching for Utah travel sites will skip over those listings since the title clearly states areas and maps other than Utah....

The editors do not have any pull over which sites appear in the search listings...they just approve/reject sites for their directory (ZEAL). The search algo is from MSN...Zeal editors have no bearing on which sites rank where....

..but again, i would double check the categories these web pages are listed...if they are listed in their appropriate categories, there is nothing a Zeal editor can do about those pages showing up under the keyword 'Utah Travel'.

[succachump]

thanks for the info