MSN / Looksmart Penalty for Not Paying?

[egomaniac]

Maybe I am paranoid, but my L$ listing just reappeared in MSN at #8 after being at #1 for almost 2 years.

I recently activated my L$ account, but I didn't put any money in it. I just "activated" to use the so-called "free clicks" over the next year and a half. I activated 2-days before the deadline and before I saw that they backtracked on even having a deadline at all.

Anyway, I haven't done anything to my listing, yet now it is below 5 non-paid listings and 2 paid listings. When I do a search over at L$, I am still #1 there as I have been for 2 years also. So MSN is doing something to the L$ results.

Anyone else have this experience? Any idea what the cause is?

[seokat]

I didn't think we had to activate to get the "new and improved" free clicks.

[angiolo]

I didn't activate my L$ account.

At the beginning, they informed me that after half month I used all the minimum clicks, inviting me to activate the account: I didn't activate and I disappeared from the listing.

At the beginning of the next month I was in the first page, again.

It is curious that last month I used exactly the minimum amount...

What they affirm about my trafic doesn't match my logs.

I think that they are joking with us.

[egomaniac]

You don't have to activate to get your "free clicks". But that is not the point.

If your listing is in the Top 3 it looks as if MSN will bump you down if there is no money in your L$ account. For the last 2 years I have held a #1 position on both L$ and MSN. I held it through the last 3 cycles of free clicks as my site went in and out of the directory when my monthly $15 - 100 clicks got used up.

Now this month I am down at #8. The only thing that has changed is that I activated my account (i.e. I gave them my credit card), but I did not give them authorization to spend any of my money.

So it looks like MSN moved someone up who would pay for the clicks.