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Couple of people have asked about Inktomi recently. This is as good an explanation as can be found.
Yep..pretty much a pay for play situation.
With all the talk about OV and its partners being less than honest in its presentation of paid listings, I think INK is probably the most misleading of them all, there is absolutely *no* indication to the surfer as to what is paid and what is not.
I would be willing to bet that if the FTC does crack down on the ad delivery systems(not search engines)for misleading surfers, INK will be the prime target.
I agree in concept, but tend to think that they're all marketing tools in one way or another and to different extents, depending on the site.
Google is free - but is it really, for everyone? Disregarding for the moment those site owners who manage their own sites and do their own seo and others, the "accidents" that happen to sometimes result in top rankings on search engines, lets look at a hypothetical category, say where there are 8 sites doing AdWords and the rest "free." Those 8 have paid to be there; for them it's a paid advertising venue. But let's assume that out of several hundred thousand pages returned we look at just the top three that happen to have had professional seo work done, and the rest are unoptimized. Those 3 have made an investment in a marketing tool. They haven't paid Google, but they have paid. The difference is in the longevity of the listings and the relative return on their investment. One will most likely stay put until a little tweaking is called for, the other will stop altogether if the budget runs out or the account is stopped. In a case where they're all optimizing, are the top 3 the "best" optimize. Sure they are, without a doubt - today. Next month they may be in the PR0 Club. The difference is in the type of investment being made - short term or long term viwew.
That's the difference between Inktomi and Overture. Perfect illustration is a story I heard this week. A lady with a completely unspiderable, unrankable, beautiful web site did Overture on her webmaster's recommendation. In two days the budget ran out, and with only a few clicks one sale was made on low margin items. It's finished, there was a net loss and she's out of the running. Her webmaster told her to get seo help for the very reason that it's more enduring.
That's where Inktomi comes in as the best thing to happen to the smallish site owner since sliced bread. Granted, INK is a two-headed beast. On one side is the part that deals with big sites of hundreds or thousands of pages in highly competitive areas. Different program, different strategy, different skill-set needed, different money bracket. But with Ink's other side, with the pay for inclusion for smaller sites, there's an oasis in the desert for that small site owner. The lady who's out of the Overture game can possibly be back in the game within a week's time for the $39 Ink inclusion fee (plus seo cost) and it will not all be over in 2 days but for the shouting. That type of site will never, ever be competing in the bracket that a data recovery site will, it's not meant to.
A small site can be seeing Inktomi traffic very quickly, and after a few months also start seeing Google traffic. It's a way to *not* put all the eggs in one basket and not go broke with nothing further to show for it.
Overture clearly indicates that it's paying for placement; Inktomi clearly states that it's paying for inclusion, and offers nothing more with the $39 inclusion.
They're not for everyone, but it's the other side of Inktomi that has to be viewed differently and appreciated for what they're offering and who can benefit from it.
You can send me the 39 bucks and I'll make sure you get "included" somewhere.
Again, If you are selling a Purple Honda Accord in Florence Alabama, INK is great but if you are selling a Honda Accord Ink may not be your best choice.
If all of the SE's that purchase INK stuff were pure INK they would be a good deal...
-s-
In the good ole days, before PFI, the search engines that used Ink data had certain options about how and what they imported. They could, to some degree, slice and dice the Ink feed and then mix it with other stuff to come up with their own witch's brew.
I know that search engines/end partners still add what they want to the Ink data, but can they still choose a sub-set or re-arrangement of the "pure" Inktomi feed?
-s-
That is no doubt why MSN has GoVerture and directy listings on top of INK as do many of INKs other partners - it's a quality issue.
Where will INK be when AOL catches on to the quality issue?
-s-
At least regionally and by languages I think.
[bbsearch.blueyonder.co.uk...]
Their serps show percentage scores btw..
If I search for a specific keyword all the results give 98%.
I disagree.
We have many "paid" intk listings through positiontech. And they are better quality than anything that was listed. We come up #1 for many terms, because there were no sites there that were related to that keyword.
Ill take positiontech over this google thing anyday.
Get refreshed every 2 days, get new page in in 2 days.
Great traffic.
Why does everybody on these boards think "Paid" is BAD?
The point is less that 1/100 of 1 percent of all the pages on the internet are paid for and so the database will become or already is very stale.
Let's face it, people who are paying for their pages are looking for a return on the investment - public service, education and community pages are not going to be available because no one is going to pay for them.
INKs db will eventually be filled with only pages from us professional spammers. And, no matter what INK does to filter that out we will find newer and better methods for getting it in.
All the while pages offering real content and value will be ignored because they are not gonna get paid for.
Example: I found an old highschool buddy using Google. He works for a major college and was listed in their web site. Did the same search in INK and got "el zippo".
It's only a matter of time until the general public catches on and moves to more fertile search engines...
...or INK realizes they use to be the best and chooses to be so again.
-s-
