Web Position ****

[KevinC.]

I just got Web Position ****, and it looks like a great software. I'm running on virtual PC. I don't know if that's the problem, but it just insanely slow. I think to check 10 keywords on one engine takes about 15 minutes. Is this normal? thanks.

[maartenvr]

Yes that is normal. Even if you have a high speed connection it takes quite a while.

P.S. don't run WPG on Google :)

[Boonton]

What happens if one runs WPG2 on Google? If one uses it only for a few words and doesn't use it often?

[maartenvr]

Probably nothing. Google can ban you from searching but won't. Or they can penalize your website but how do they know that site is yours?
Running automated queries on Google is against their terms of service. You are better off not doing it even though the risk might not be high. You can run queries on a Google powered search engine instead and get close to the same results.

[wasternist]

I have had occassion to use WPG and have done it for sites I am working with and subsequently I have done it for their competitor's sites for competitive analysis.

If Google enforces a policy to penalize WPG users and they do not know how the WPG user is indeed assocated with a particular site, couldn't unscrupulous people do massive searches on their competitor's sites thereby getting them banned?

We know there is an element of SEO companies that either skate on the edge or blatently try to test the system.

Sounds like Google is not thinking this through. Maybe they should offer their own version that is more friendly to their site. They are not going to dampen the desire of web site owners and SEO companies need to track rankings.

[Advisor]

KevinC, what kind of internet connection do you have? Are you on a dial up? If so, it will be slow.

You can change the settings on how many seconds between searches on your WPG program. That should speed things up for you.

Jill

[Kal]

Originally posted by wasternist
If Google enforces a policy to penalize WPG users and they do not know how the WPG user is indeed assocated with a particular site, couldn't unscrupulous people do massive searches on their competitor's sites thereby getting them banned?
Hi wasternist :hi: From what I understand, Google bans the IP address of the person running the rank checks, not the site that the ranks relate to :)

[Advisor]

Originally posted by Kal
Hi wasternist :hi: From what I understand, Google bans the IP address of the person running the rank checks, not the site that the ranks relate to :) Don't be so sure! If Google can be absolutely positive that the person checking the rankings is affiliated with the site, they will also penalize it.

For instance, if the IP had the company name in it. Many larger companies have their own IP such as blahblah.BigCompanyName.blah.

But for most people who are dialing up or using broadband the usual way, there's no way for them to tell the affiliation. But come to think of it, you don't need to be that big to have this. I think my sister has a special deal with the cable company to have a dedicated connection this way, and it may be that her IP gives clues to her site. She's runs a small business, but has the need for a more dedicated connection.

Jill

[KevinC.]

Jill:

I'm on cable modem (Adelphia power link)

For the "how many seconds between searches" I think I'm at the default (which is what?).

For a single individual searching , let's say, 25 keywords phrases ,on , let's say, 1-3 engines. What do you recommend?

How does the changing of this setting affect the whole situation? Any downsides to optimizing for speed? Why not just make this setting 0 or 1, seconds between searches.

I have really, over a hundred keyword phrases for my site. If everything was instant, I would search them all for all engines. But this being reality, if you were just an individual, what's your recommending on how many keywords, and how many engines? thanks!

[Advisor]

I can only tell you what I do, and I don't know if this is the best way or most "polite" way to do it...

I generally check the majors: Yahoo, AV, AskJeeves, MSN, HotBot, AOL and Lycos. And I set my thingee for 1 - 3 seconds between searches.

A list of 20 or so keywords goes pretty quickly on a cable connection. I have WPG set to run one client's report a night, generally around 9 or 10 PM EST. Many of my reports have more than 20 keyword phrases, however, and I should probably go in and delete some of them from my older client's sites. My newer clients have less phrases that I worry about.

At most, I check any given client's rankings just once a month. But really, after the first three months, there's no need to do ranking reports for most sites as the rankings will remain fairly stable (in my case). I tell this to my clients and try to send them on their way after 3 months, but some would prefer to pay for additional monthly reports anyway, just for piece of mind. Personally, I don't think they're necessary. A quick spot check every now and then is really all you need once your optimization kicks and and everything is satisfactory. And that's just to make sure that your site isn't suddenly missing.

Oh, and regarding the checking of all the engines, I don't ever check at Google (only their partners like Yahoo or AOL) and I really don't think it's very necessary to check places like AltaVista and even Lycos, as they don't bring much traffic. I generally do these just because it looks good, more than anything else!

Jill

[KevinC.]

thanks Jill, that's a great answer.
I'm an individual, and hence, agree. Once things are stable, I probably wont use the software for a year or more at a time. Maybe becasue I'm an individual and have unlimited time, I have made a distinct keyword phrase for each page of my site -- about 130 or so. Obviously, 20% generate most of the hits, as a guess.

Do you ever use the Scheduler to do a big report at night while sleeping?

Also, I think you mentioned you use mostly Reporter and not much of the rest of Web Position.... page critic, submitter..... is that correct?

thanks! Kevin C.

[Advisor]

I use Reporter, Scheduler, and now also the Uploader, because you can upload reports to the server as soon as their done and automatically email the client. This is THE BEST!

I schedule reports with scheduler all the time. Each night I have one scheduled, for the most part. But I do them at around 9 PM as I'm generally off the computer at that time (about the only time of day!)

No reason to use Submitter as the engines find your pages themselves. I used to use it years and years ago, but then there was talk of the engines not liking it, so I stopped. Now, it's unnecessary and I rarely even submit by hand.

Definitely don't use PageCritic. Looked at it a few times many years ago, but it was pretty silly in my opinion. Just can't do SEO by looking at percentages and stuff. Nor do I like to compare what others are doing. Just do my thang, get the high rankings, and move on to the next client! :D

Jill

[rachelwp]

I tried the demo of Web Position ****, but was not very happy with it. I also found that it was very slow. Instead, I subscribed to Microsoft Submit It! provided by bcentral.com, and have found it to be very user-friendly. best of all, the tool is online so you can view from anywhere, and don't have to keep anything running.

[Advisor]

I don't recommend using SubmitIt for actually submitting. It's unnecessary and could cause problems if you do it often.

Jill

[jontyuk]

Hi Jill I'm very worried about this comment in your posts!

>I don't recommend using SubmitIt for actually submitting. It's unnecessary and could cause problems if you do it often.

Most of my domains have practically zero visibility on SE's and I was just about to use both WPG & submit-it.com to get the ball rolling. The market is extremely crowded for my keyphrases and I was hoping to have some success in attracting the "tail" for 3+ word length keyphrases searches. If my sites have low ranking, won't these submission services make sure that my content gets indexed, or does your opinion:

>No reason to use Submitter as the engines find your pages themselves.

cover every submission service?

[Advisor]

You're missing the whole idea of search engine optimization. Submitting doesn't get you any visibility nor rankings. It's optimizing your site.

It's fine to submit if you want (once) to the search engines, but it really doesn't help you because the engines spider the Web and add all the pages they find. My only concern with something like SubmitIt is that many people have it set to submit their site every month or at other intervals. That's simply not necessary, and wastes a whole lot of search engine bandwidth.

Jill

[KevinC.]

Jill:

While we are on this topic, I have to ask: Why is it that with like Google, they seem to find every page of my site -- as you say -- but with Inktomi (at least this is how it was a year or two ago), I couldn't get any pages in their index for the life of me without paying position tech.

[Advisor]

Cuz, Ink wanted you to pay?

It was definitely like that for quite awhile. However, over the past 6 months or so, they started crawling and adding a whole lot more. So right now, I don't personally see much reason to pay for inclusion with them. I had been paying in the past for my clients, but I took it off of what I offer. Just doesn't seem necessary.

Jill

[KevinC.]

Jill:
Ok so I just paid position tech. But a year from now when they ask if I want to pay again for those 6 urls, and I don't reply, will they then make conscious decision to take them out of the index? thanks!

[ihelpyou]

LOL. No one knows the answer to a question one year in advance. :D It's a crapshoot. Heck, I doubt if yahoo ever does anything with Inktomi.

Where is Ink if MSN drops them? Come to think of it, where is Inktomi right now? LOL

[scottiecl]

Ok so I just paid position tech. But a year from now when they ask if I want to pay again for those 6 urls, and I don't reply, will they then make conscious decision to take them out of the index? thanks!

That question is being addressed in this thread (http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8563).

To Doug's point- I have several sites that have top ranks in Inktomi (never paid to submit) and see very little traffic from them. Don't know if that is worth worrying about right now.