Overture and MSN

not all listings

[stcrim]

We are finding that not all accepted Overture listings appear on MSN.com

I am talking about, non-adult real listings like "honda motor cycles las vegas"

Anyone else?

-s-

[sem4u]

There has been talk of some bids below $0.15 not showing up for the top 3 Overture results, but I think that MSN sometimes forgets to show some results. In doing so it is probably trying to generate more clicks for the $0.15 LookSmart listings below!

Just my 2 cents! :)

[stcrim]

Here's what they told me:

-s-

Hello Steve,

Thank you for your inquiry.

We understand that you have recently inquired about your listings not appearing on MSN. While we try to give our advertisers maximum exposure for their search listings, our affiliate partners ultimately decide which listings will be displayed on their sites.

In the case of MSN, only listings for selected terms relating to the following general categories are displayed:

? Computing
? Entertainment
? Finance
? Health
? Homelife
? Shopping
? Travel

[stcrim]

BTW - this sure reduces the value of Overture... since it largely leaves Yahoo as their main source for traffic for people who don't fit into the MSN categories

-s-

[glengara]

That list they gave you seems to exclude the whole business sector, which is more than somewhat strange.

[Crazy_Fool]

as far as i can tell, MSN only shows overture listings when there are at least 3 bids over $1.00 (£1.00 for MSN UK and overture UK) for that search term. try it and see what happens - find a term with 2 bids over $1.00 or £1.00 and overture listings won't be shown on msn. add a bid of your own below $1.00 or £1.00 and they still won't be shown. increase your bid to $1.00 or £1.00 and all 3 bids will show in MSN.

[sem4u]

It think you are right. Do you think that MSN know about how much revenue they could be missing out on? Answer: Probably not!

[Crazy_Fool]

maybe MSN don't care that they may be missing out on revenue from overture ....

take a look at what is shown in MSN results when no overture results are shown - MSN probably make more from those listings than they could from low bid overture listings.

[jamie]

hi crazy fool

(£1.00 for MSN UK and overture UK)

we are #1 for listings which are shown with bids as low as 35 pence - all 3 listings are shown.

i have also written to msn.com asking why our listings aren't shown there and received EXACTLY the same reply as above - obviously saved in 'drafts' ;)

[Jack_Frost]

We've definitely covered this topic before and the consensus seems to be that there need to be some bids abover or near $1 for MSN to take them. I don't think this rule works 100% of the time, but in general it is wise to advise clients that MSN may not carry their Overture listings.

Still, before you abandon them, keep in mind that these results go to many other places. Alta Vista is still hanging in the ball park and the metacrawlers like Dogpile have a tendency to bring in some decent traffic.

Further, since L$ will et you have multiple listings, you can always get click traffic for 15 cents if you can figure out their formula (or go after non competitive terms).

[jaeden]

This from the back of my mind, but if I remember correctly, I don't even think it is based on price. MSN has agreed on only displaying results on a keyword search basis. Like, they agreed to show results for 'widgets', but not for 'superior quality widgets'. Read this article [searchenginewatch.com] for more information.