Rank Write in LookSmart - for FREE!

[Advisor]

Hey all...

I was just looking through a WPG report I had run for Rank Write a few weeks ago, but had never studied...all of a sudden, I realize that it's showing some rankings in LookSmart, that didn't appear to be Inktomi listings. Lo and behold, I go check LookSmart, and there it is! A listing for Rank Write in the Web Marketing Advice and Guides category.

It looks like by the timing that it must have been added soon after my scathing rant about LookSmart in Rank Write. How ironic...or???

Now unless some secret benefactor of mine paid them $299 to get it in, it appears that it was added for nothing, just because it's a great site (or to make me feel better about them). I wonder if this means that they still do generally look for good sites and add them on their own. Has anyone ever known this to happen before since they started charging?

If nothing else, this is interesting. I don't think I've actually gotten any traffic from the listing, but I will look more carefully now at MSN referrals to see.

Hmmm....

Jill

[ihelpyou]

Yes. Watch MSN.

All I can say is ..... ;)

Dang nice listing also:

Rank Write Roundtable
Free email discussion and articles on how to create marketing copy and meta tags to improve search engine rankings.

[Advisor]

Yes, and interestingly enough, it ranks number 3 for "how to write a meta description" even though that's not in the LookSmart description. Did I see you say somewhere else, Doug, that LookSmart adds keywords to listings that we just can't see? That would seem to make sense in this instance.

It's also number 1 for "how to write a homepage" even though that's nowhere in the description.

Jill

[ihelpyou]

Oh yes Jill... depending on who is doing the submission(in this case asking) and the quality of the site, they add keyword phrases based on all of this.

[ihelpyou]

The key is in MSN. Have they updated in MSN with you yet?

BTW, they will not add sites for free unless you are a non-profit and have the number. At least that is my understanding.

[ihelpyou]

hey Jill:

Here is a search on MSN:

http://search.msn.com/results.asp?q=search+engine+rankings&origq=rankwrite.com&RS=CHECKED&FORM=SMCRT&v=1&nosp=0&cfg=SMCINITIAL

another one:

http://search.msn.com/results.asp?q=search+engine+meta+tags&origq=search+engine+rankings&RS=CHECKED&FORM=SMCRT&v=1&nosp=0&cfg=SMCINITIAL

[Advisor]

Yes, it appears to be in MSN. I am running a new report right now. The report I was looking at was from Aug. 20. It was in LookSmart at that time, but not MSN. I know I'm not getting lots of extra traffic from MSN suddenly, but I don't think that I'm ranking on highly searched upon phrases either. Rank Write gets most of it's search engine traffic from Google. But the bulk of the traffic doesn't come from search engines or directories.

A great way to get traffic if you have articles and don't mind paying a bit, (5 cents a click) is the MoreOver News feeds. Tons of traffic from those, but it's getting expensive, like over $200 a month. And since we are NOT making money from Rank Write (but are also not a non-profit) it is definitely eating away at our resources!

Jill

[ihelpyou]

Well then, hopefully you will start getting it from MSN as well.

[Advisor]

Got three visitors today from MSN which is similar to what I would have gotten before my looksmart listing.

J

[ihelpyou]

Have you noticed a big position change in Google since your listing in Looksmart? I have.

[Advisor]

I couldn't really say for sure. So many pages of Rank Write rank so high for various terms in Google. It's really just natural traffic, because I don't do much in the way of optimization for it. Most search engine traffic doesn't come from the main page. I believe it would be the main page that would gain rankings in Google from the LookSmart listing, correct? The listing really doesn't have keyphrases that people actually search upon, or at least it doesn't seem that way, which would explain why there's not a lot of MSN traffic. Of course, the kinds of people that would search for Rank Write kinda stuff would probably not be searching at MSN, so that could also have something to do with it.

Jill

[ihelpyou]

Well, i am of the belief that a listing gives all pages in a site a slight boost in Google. Depending on which pages are optimized for which phrase.

[Advisor]

I'm really not that sure about that, as I don't study it much. I have heard elsewhere though, I believe, that each page of your site can have it's own page rank, which seems to tell me that a looksmart listing for the main page, would help that page, but not necessarily the others. Just speculating, of course.

Jill

[ihelpyou]

yea, I'm talking about a slight overall boost no matter which page is optimized for whichever keyword phrase.

[Perfection]

Since you guys/girls brought this up, I have something to add to it. I recently added a non commercial site through Zeal for free (yup, took that stupid quiz) and within about 1 day, got added to LookSmart with the EXACT title and description I submitted. Can't wait to get into MSN now, I see many #1 rankings in my future. =]

[Advisor]

Perfection, is there a way to tell that your listing was from Zeal and not a LookSmart regular listing? Perhaps that's how Rank Write got in then. That would actually explain a lot. Maybe I could even get my Parentsroom site back in through Zeal. I just don't feel like filling out their junk to become a Zealot!

Jill

[Perfection]

Jill, I just checked for you. Yes, the site was submitted through Zeal.

It was submitted on Aug 15, 2001 1:46 AM

And it was submitted by: Jane_Hellmuth

The Zealot quiz is kind of annoying, but only really takes 10-20 minutes if you know what you are doing. The average person would have to study the Zeal/Looksmart help files, but to an SEO, it is all really just common sense questions. And so far, I have submitted one site, it got listed within like a day, and it got listed with the exact title and description I submitted it with. So, if you have any non commercial sites, becoming a Zealot is definitely worth it.

[Advisor]

Thanks, Perfection, for figuring that out! Wonder who that Jane person is??? A reader? A LookSmart person? Hmmmm

J

[Perfection]

Jill, Jane_Hellmuth became a Zealot on August 6th, so it probably wasn't someone from Looksmart. It's probably just a loyal Rank Write reader doing all of your work for you. =]