"Redirect-West" Disappearing From Paid-Inclusion Listings?

[Cream]

Just noticed that most of our PI listings (thru Ineedhits) have lost the "redirect-west.inktomi.com/click?u=..." distinction.

And these affected listings have also dropped through the ranks.

Any ideas why this is so? Another BIG UPDATE ? Or another big booboo from Ineedhits?



Creamed

[Advisor]

Cream, which search engine are you talking about.

Jill

[Cream]

That would be MSN Search, of course.

I have a feeling since the free Inktomi spider has been actively crawling all our pages, PI or not, there might have been some sort of a conflict caused by a PI page getting re-spidered by the free Inktomi spider.

Could that explain why my PI URLs now have no "redirect-west..." on them?


Thanx.


Creamed

[ihelpyou]

I thought those were when Looksmart was involved with the Inktomi listings by switching out the titles and charging for clicks?

[Advisor]

Originally posted by ihelpyou
I thought those were when Looksmart was involved with the Inktomi listings by switching out the titles and charging for clicks? No, those have nothing to do with LookSmart! Those just showed that a listing came from Inktomi. I have a feeling since the free Inktomi spider has been actively crawling all our pages, PI or not, there might have been some sort of a conflict caused by a PI page getting re-spidered by the free Inktomi spider. I don't think that would be the problem. Not all MSN listings have that redirect. Some listings with no redirects come from older LookSmart listings, and some come from Zeal listings, and some are just old MSN editorial listings.

Are your Inktomi listings ones that used to have the redirect and now don't? I think older listings don't have that for some reason.

Jill

[Cream]

Just to update:

It appears that it's not the fault of Inktomi/Ineedhits that we're losing our PI listings (the ones with the "redirect-west..."), rather it's our cursed web host, who seems to be having all sorts of problems (like the so called 6002 ERROR_COMMUNICATION).

Also, it kind of proves that if you drop a PI listed URL, you may still retain the freely listed URL on the Inktomi database, but be prepared to suffer a penalty of sorts in terms of ranking, at least until the next update.

I think I've read something like that from Jill's newsletter or website or somewhere before. Right?


Thanx.

Cream

[ihelpyou]

Inktomi swears you don't get a rank boost simply because you pay to be listed. I believe them.

[Advisor]

Inktomi swears you don't get a rank boost simply because you pay to be listed. I believe them. I think it depends on if you're in their Best of Web database. Those sites were getting preference over other sites. And apparently paid-inclusion sites were getting automatically put into BOW.

However, I read recently that Inktomi was going to merge all their databases. Perhaps Barry (MakeMeTop) can fill us in on the latest as he knows it. (Might be time for another interview with him!)

Jill

[ihelpyou]

hmm. I don't know. If my page is already in the main index, and then I pay because I want the quick refreshes, and then I quit paying when the time is up, you are saying Inktomi will then demote my page?

I can't see it but Ink is here now so maybe he can open our eyes? :)

[Advisor]

I'd have to reread the interview with Barry from back in March to be sure, but I believe that's what was happening at the time. (My very first High Rankings Advisor!)

Not sure if things are the same or not right now.

Jill

[manwah]

Not that I've had much chance to chase this up, but didn't Inktomi combine it's databases into one large index when it did that big update the other month?

Can't quite remember where I read it though...

Maybe MMT would know if I'm just spouting rubbish or not!

M


<added - the article I am thinking of was from Dannys subscribers area of Search Engine Watch (http://www.searchenginewatch.com/subscribers/articles/02/09-inktomi.html)>