MSN appears to have updated

Look$mart causes massive quake on the information superhighway.

[skibum]

Well folks, it looks lke listings are vanishing. Vanishing from MSN. On some searches the reduction in the number of directory results is stunning. The cleansing has officially begun.

[Napoleon]

At present it looks pretty bad for L$. For most phrases in my area MSN just returns INK... it looks like virtually NO-ONE has coughed up the money.

[Napoleon]

The pattern I have noticed seems to relate to how long the site has been in L$. The newer ones have been ditched, the older ones are still there.

[pmac]

Interesting. Anybody else have old L$ listings that didn't get flushed?

[startup]

Yes and I haven't used the new PPC. No more money for L$.

[bird]

Boy am I glad I never paid them a dime!

Some of you will hate me for being so cynical, but I actually like this development. My free LS and Zeal listings as well as my inktomi positions give me exposure on MSN right now like never before. Now let's see how long that lasts... ;)

[Brett_Tabke]

> Boy am I glad I never paid them a dime!

Ditto. But, I think we are in for deja vu when other directories do the same.

[startup]

I really hope Dmoz is not planning anything. Yahoo probably do something along the same lines.

[brotherhood of LAN]

Ive not been part of anything recently thats been happening with looksmart but

surely if this effect is THAT drastic, then if a handful choose to stay, they WILL be getting rich pickings

Im also in the free Zeal boat :)

[nell]

All gone but one old one (2yrs+) still there but ranked much higher than before.

But strange.....One listing that was dropped from MSN is still ranked #1 on a LOOKSMART search. In fact, it's at the very top of the heap as a "sponsored listing" in its primary keyword category. That domain certainly didn't join in their PPC program. All Looksmart received from me was a graphic e-mail depicting farm animals in various poses.

Possible conclusion..... Is it just MSN that's dropping those Looksmart listings? Perhaps Looksmart has no $$$ to give to MSN for any listing that hasn't joined their PPC program. Perhaps, as far as MSN is concerned, "no tickee - no laundry".

[topr8]

Boy am I glad I never paid them a dime!

not so for me, although my listings are flushed, it was still worth the money i paid, but it won't be worth the ppc.

interestingly i have a page that was no1 thanks to L$ but is now showing up (lower down the listings of course) as a paid inktomi listing eg [redirect-west.inktomi.com...] which is odd as it is not in the pfi programme.

[keywordbuys]

I haven't paid LS either, I thought about it a couple months ago, but even then it wasn't worth enough for me...now, it's worth less.

Looksmart had a good thing going, I didn't ever see the traffic I wanted from MSN, but some people did, it's really too bad they had to go and make a bid for profitability.

[markd]

I haven't paid them also.

What I resent like hell is the reports I have seen from other contributors asking for figures of several hundred $ a month, upfront, for what seems like 'projected' clickthroughs.

For this reason alone, I will be recommending to clients that NO ONE participates in this scam - and I was a LS supporter!

They have now lost me, and are coming off all of my targeted SE's and Directories - even the the PFC's.

[Eric_Jarvis]

back up from 15th to 5th on our most competitive keyword...though I had us up at 1st for a while last year

looks like a boost to traffic too

the benefits of running a charity site :)

[backus]

Ah yes, things are looking up for us too! Inktomi must be over-joyed by all this! Thank god for Goo!

[nell]

One client reported a higher conversion and complimented ME on MY work!
What really happened was this. Now that they are getting just "quality" traffic without the inclusion of the Looksmart "tire kickers" the conversion rate is higher. (pageviews vs. orders) I'm going in today and ask for a raise!
I'm now having a better feeling toward Looksmart. Very much like the feeling I had a few years ago when I got that monkey (booze) off my back.

"Looksmart" seems like a real misnomer for this company.

[skibum]

Just noticed - In the FAQ section a company is now only permitted to have one listing per domain in the directory. If ya want more than that, it appears you are a "big business"

[jaeden]

nell, I'm seeing the same. I'm not in MSN for one of our favorite keyword phrases, but I'm still #2 in LookSmart. Now what is going on here??? :o I only really care about MSN.

[discod]

One point I haven't seen brought out here:

With LookSmart you are paying 15 cents/click for EVERY keyword or phrase. In other words you can receive traffic that you could care less about. For example, if you are selling 'blue widget makers', you may do well for blue widgets. Even though you don't sell 'blue widgets' you still have to pay.

Therefore, IMHO LookSmart costs much more than 15 cents per click.

[mundonet]

Some of you will hate me for being so cynical, but I actually like this development. My free LS and Zeal listings as well as my inktomi positions give me exposure on MSN right now like never before. Now let's see how long that lasts...

- bird

Exact same here! :]

[crobb305]

Since I was already in Looksmart, and since they offered $15 worth of free clicks and a $29 listing up date, I thought I would give it a try. My listing was updated and contains a lot of good key words, but my $15 has run out. Looksmart sent me an email telling me that my $15 ran out (100 clicks) and to replenish. However, my site is still coming up under popular keywords on both Looksmart and MSN. I have given them no more money. So, I am curious why my site is still coming up high in the rankings even though my account has been depleted. Are they distinguishing between "featured listings" and "web directory" listings?

[mattb]

We have two sites with looksmart. We received an email that both accounts have depleted the 100 free clicks. One has been removed from the directory (and MSN). The other one still remains.

No clues here either...

[JamesR]

yep, lost two listings...got money's worth over time but that makes you a bit hot under the coller. oh well, it's their demise, not mine.

[littleman]

>Boy am I glad I never paid them a dime!
Ditto, I never have had any faith in that company. They have some nice real estate in SF.

[chiyo]

I do feel sorry for LS customers. But we are one of the group where suddenly MSN referrals from our pre-paid era LS listings and Inktomi listings have almost doubled in the past week. Dont feel so bad. I think this is only transitional.