Snap is definitely on the radar scope

[rcjordan]

I have one large site that is deep-linked via Snap LiveDirectory... Snap is definitely doing the job for me there, and that's understandable. However, I have other, older sites that I have done a very poor job of listing with Snap, but it is now consistently showing up in their logs as well --often in its co-branded form. It's definitely sending waaAAaay more traffic than ol' Jeeves and Northern Darkness, and it's about to pull even with my free listings in GoTo and LookSmart.

Anyone else seeing the same thing?

[tedster]

Absolutely. All those spots on NBC may be having an effect!

I am working with a few small clients who just launched their websites on May 1, but I've been happy and amazed at the traffic AND rankings that come from SNAP. I assume that right now it's not as competitive as the big SEs.

The wonder of it, for me, is that the rankings on SNAP seemed to go exactly as planned, with no tweaking at all. For instance one site has three number 1's and a number 4, and that's all her important KWs.

This particular site started on page four, but SNAP's algo heavily rewards clickthroughs. As a new site in this field, it got a lot of clicks even from page four, and moved up quickly. The re-indexing seemed to happen frequently on SNAP, several times a week or perhaps even daily?

Right now SNAP is the number 2 unpaid source of traffic for this site while I still can't crack the top 50 in AV. Number one source is Yahoo Inktomi and number 3 is AOL Search.

AOL Search also seems to be popping all my sites a lot more traffic since their change to ODP. Now if only their verkakte proxy servers would stop putting so many IP Addresses in the logs for each visitor. Lately they make 6 hits for each requested file, and each one under a different IP address. One page view accumulates over 100 unique IP's. Insane.

Ted

[pshea]

I hate to admit this, but I am Snap-stupid. I don't get it at all. If it is on the rise, I'm all for it. I'm number 9 in their Live Directory, but can't crack their "Top Sites" code. They don't pay attention to you until a certain amount of clickthroughs, but how does this happen if you can't get into their "Top Sites" arena?

I'm in the Top Ten/Twenty other important places (thanks to Brett, I believe), but I am a complete loser with Snap (ok, and FAST).

I know whatever I am missing is simple. I throw myself at your mercy to try to simplify Snap. (my eyes are SO downcast and my tail is so wrapped)

p(itiful)shea

[rcjordan]

pshea,
I wish I could say that I used a lot of finesse in getting rank and click-thrus from Snap, but it was more a case of fill in the keywords, pick a short, catchy title (w/ more keywords), and give a good description. Personally, I give a lot of weight to the title, but I'm not sure how their algo works at all. To be honest, I search sometimes and can't find one of my deep-linked pages, but others are definitely finding it.

Also, it doesn't seem to take many clicks to get you out of the LiveDirectory and before the editors. Snap wants you to encourage "friends and family" to visit your site via Snap, so do it. I believe your clicks are excluded, but since Snap is obviously looking for word-of-mouth advertising here, its not spamming. --besides, they might visit one of my pages while they're looking for yours.

[Brett_Tabke]

Here is a perfect opportunity to do my Tommy impression (deaf, dumb, blind) in honor of this years Who tour.

How about a brief Snap tutorial? I've not focused on them in a (gasp) couple of years. The listings we've had in the past have not produced well, and I just kinda forgot about it.

[rcjordan]

re: How about a brief Snap tutorial?

Well, it's been a while (March)... but here's what I remember. Anyone else is free to CORRECT ME, I have thick skin and this is off-the-cuff.

You sign up for an account under LiveDirectory. They request an email address, but spam was not a problem. You do get an acceptance email once you post to the site, and you will receive an email newsletter a bit later, but it is easy to opt out.

Submit
There are two sections of LiveDirectory; Local and Everything Else. Local is geographic-centric, separated in the usual manner, Country>RegionOrState>Locality. Since I do travel guides, I was always posting under Local.

Since it's a directory, you'll have to find your category, then click "add site" or whatever. I believe you get to select 5 keywords.

Though they say it may take some time before you are admitted to LiveDirectory, I found that they processed them within an hour. HOWEVER, your page does eventually go before an editor, so spam will get culled out, I suppose. I had one page promoted to the main directory in just a few days and another had its title re-written, so there is definitely some human "hands on" if they choose.

If a site gets a few clicks, it is evidently flagged to be considered for promotion. In early May, 87 pages of mine were promoted on a single day (you get an advisory email).

Looking at the logs, it appears that Snap has been working hard on the co-branding and it's apparently paying off.... lots of left of the dots

http://uswest.snap.com
http://nscp.snap.com
http://nbc.snap.com
http://ameritech.snap.com
http://clubvaio.snap.com
http://freewwweb.snap.com
http://bellatlantic.snap.com
http://desupernet.snap.com

USwest and Netscape (nscp above) run pretty strong with me.

another webmaster added these to my list
http://freewwweb.snap.com
http://ispchannel.snap.com
http://dellnet.snap.com
http://gte.snap.com
http://dellnetbusiness.snap.com
http://acninc.snap.com
http://acncanada.snap.com
http://toshiba.snap.com
http://rmci.snap.com
http://nvbell.snap.com
http://jps.snap.com
http://dellnetgovernment.snap.com/
http://swbell.snap.com
http://totalinternet.snap.com
http://earthlink.snap.com
http://gateway.snap.com
http://pacbell.snap.com
http://bigfoot.snap.com
http://dellneteducation.snap.com
http://xoom.snap.com

Notethat there are alot of ISP default seach screens in the above. Another interesting observation was sent to me by another webmaster --that a good number of users are perfectly happy with the search box that comes with their ISP account and never really become concerned with which SE is the best. They are not exactly newbies, perhaps having been on the web for many months, they just don't evolve into sophisticated SE users. This fits well with what I'm seeing here, there is a good percentage of online credit card use, for instance, which implies some level of comfort in their use of the web.

[scott]

I have a slight annoyance with Snap. I haven't been up for a promotion yet, but I am at the top of popularity for a few KWs. BUT, almost every time I click on LiveDirectory AFTER I have entered KWs and performed the search, the default view is always Submission Date vice Popularity. I have to wonder why, and if that's the norm for John Q. Surfer out there.

[rcjordan]

I didn't like that, either. There was a way to have Snap reorder the sort, but since I don't have much faith in John Q. to figure out those things, I figure he's just hitting "Next >>". Maybe Snap is rewarding sites that were willing to submit early and help build the index.

[rcjordan]

Well, according to DS newsletter, Snap now lists sites based on popularity. I'll have to go back and check this out some day.

[Brett_Tabke]

Didn't Snap used to be incredibly difficult to get listed in? I submitted 5 sites yesterday and just conf emails that they'd been added today (a sunday no less). Kinda taken aback by it -- either I just got lucky, they accept everything these days, or someone recognized my name. Thanks for the encouragment and info RC.

[oldtimer]

Sorry Brett, it's not your name - I had 6 accepted last week.

[Brett_Tabke]

Btw: this is the conf e they are sending out these days:

Congratulations! The site you submitted has been accepted to Snap
LiveDirectory. It will appear in Snap search results shortly,
usually within 24 hours.

The site's result ranking for various search terms will depend upon
how popular it is for each of these search terms. The more Snap users
who click on the site and find it useful for a particular topic, the
higher it will be listed in the search results over time. If it
becomes popular enough within the category in which it is listed, the
Snap Directory team may choose to promote it to Snap's premium
Directory, where it will be available both in the Top Results section
of search results and in the topic-based directory of Web listings.

By signing in to the LiveDirectory, you will be able to:
* Track this site's popularity ranking,
* Read the LiveDirectory newsletter,
* Access site building tools and more.

To go to the LiveDirectory, cut and paste this URL into your browser:
[livedirectory.snap.com...]

To update the site's title and description, or to request other changes,
cut and paste this URL into your browser:[snip]

Thank you for submitting this site to Snap LiveDirectory.

[rcjordan]

re: Thanks for the encouragment and info RC.

My pleasure. As one of the last freebie sites, I suspect alot of webmaster attention will start gravitating to Snap.

Brett, Oldtimer, it has been a while since I worked with the submittal page... Is my outline correct? Any huge holes that need plugging in this thread?

[seth_wilde]

Here are my Snap observations -

1. All new submissions go directly to the live directory

2. All submissions are excepted by the live directory (as long as they have different file names, usually anywhere from instantly to 1 days time)

3. Snap only indexes the title and description that you "give" them.

4. If you subtract the popularity factor from snap their live directly algo is pretty simple, A high keyword density in your title/description will start you off in a good spot to be found by users (then its up to clickthrus)

5. If your sites popular enough you will be moved to the main directory, In my experience it seems to take quite a while.

[pshea]

I am always amazed by this forum. Admitting to being Snap-stupid really generated a lot of generosity. Thank you to everyone. I now have them squarely in my sights.

p(umped up)shea

[Brett_Tabke]

They must have flushed the database out yesterday - I started getting hits from a couple of the partners (earthlink and gte mainly). Is this the normal method for Snap?

[rcjordan]

yep, sounds about right. watch for uswest to start coming in.

[rcjordan]

My Snap traffic is up by 20 percent since the first of the month. Anyone else have anything similar?

[grnidone]

How odd. We get very little traffic from Snap, yet we are listed very well with them.

Hmmmmmm. Wonder if people aren't searching on what I think they are searching on...?

-GBrett_Tabke

[Brett_Tabke]

That is an interesting proposition. Every search engine attracts a different crowd that searches on things. Look at how top heavy lycos is in the 'pop culture' words while Google is all geek/linux words. There is gold in them there referral strings.

[pshea]

Brett's last comment gave me an idea for a new game. Anyone want to play, let's go to "The New Browser Wars".