Paid URL Inclusion - Is It For You?
By Scott Buresh 2003-06-19
One of the many options available to promote
a website on search engines is called "paid inclusion".
Although there are several different kinds of
paid inclusion (including pay-per-click and "trusted"
or "direct" feed programs) this article deals
specifically with the simplest form, in which
an annual fee is paid for each page included in
a search engine index.
Many people are unsure how paid URL inclusion
works, and it is an interesting and sometimes
controversial concept. It is perhaps easiest to
understand by recognizing that in most cases there
are two different ways in which search engines
that offer paid URL inclusion can find your pages.
"Organic" Spider
Each search engine purports to be the most comprehensive
source of information, and so each has an automated
program (commonly called a "spider") that goes
out and indexes all the pages that it can find
on the web. This means that your website will
eventually get indexed for free by each of the
major engines that offer paid inclusion (provided
there is one or more outside links pointing to
your site that the spider can follow). "Eventually",
of course, is the key term.
Paid Spider
When a search engine offers paid URL inclusion,
it uses an additional spider that goes out and
indexes only specific pages that have been paid
for. In other words, whereas the "free" spider
would eventually find your site, follow your links,
and index all of your pages, the "paid" spider
will only index the URLÕs for which you have plunked
down an annual fee (but it will do so immediately).
The Controversy
As you may suspect, these programs create much
confusion. Since the pages that are paid for are
indistinguishable from regular pages within search
results, the FCC has recently raised some concerns,
although the outcome of their involvement remains
to be seen. In addition, the fees for paid inclusion
are annual. Even after a company has paid to have
some pages included, logic would dictate that
the "organic" spider would eventually index the
pages anyway, making the renewal fees unnecessary.
However, it has been reported with some paid inclusion
engines that once annual fees are not renewed
pages are removed for a period of time. From a
business perspective, this only makes sense- engines
that offer paid inclusion canÕt very well offer
an "annual" fee only to have everyone discover
that they only need to pay it once. From an ethical
perspective, however, itÕs a questionable practice
(and it remains unproven that this is the policy
of any particular engine).
Advantages
Fast Inclusion
First, and most importantly, paid inclusion programs
give you the opportunity to have your pages indexed
and added to search results very quickly (usually
within a few days). This compares very favorably
with the month or more that it can take to wait
for the "organic" spider to find your pages on
its own (and if you have no incoming links, the
"organic" spider will never find your pages).
Fast Re-indexing
The paid inclusion spider will revisit your pages
frequently (some even daily). This means that
you can make tweaks to your pages designed to
improve your rankings and see the results in days
(rather than months). This type of turnaround
can give you valuable insight into the ranking
algorithm of each individual engine.
Disadvantages
Costs
The primary disadvantage of paid inclusion is
the cost, although this factor naturally depends
on the means of the company. The following details
the first year fees for a ten-page website on
the most popular paid inclusion programs:
Altavista*- $600
AskJeeves- $192
Inktomi- $264
Fast/Lycos- $170
*this is the total first year fee, although the
program is billed in six month increments
Total first year fees for ten page site: $1,226
Reach
A second disadvantage, perhaps more accurately
described as a limitation, is that Google does
not offer paid inclusion (and maintains that it
never will). Since Google currently provides the
primary results for three of the top four engines
(Google, Yahoo, and AOL), engines that offer paid
inclusion may only account for a fraction of your
overall site traffic. There is no way to add your
pages to GoogleÕs index any faster by paying a
fee- which means that you will be waiting for
Google to index your new (or newly optimized)
pages regardless of which paid inclusion programs
you use. Only after Google lists your pages will
they appear in Yahoo and AOL results.
Considerations
There are many factors to consider when examining
paid URL inclusion. The following five are some
of the most common:
Are my pages already in the index?
Just because you canÕt find your pages when you
enter search terms does not mean that your pages
havenÕt been indexed. To see if your pages have
been indexed, go to the engine and search for
each of your exact page URLs. If each page shows
up for the URL search but not for a search of
any keyphrases related to the page, paid inclusion
will not help your rankings (your pages are already
in the index and have been ranked according to
their perceived value). It would be much more
beneficial to invest some time and/or money in
optimizing your pages for better rankings (you
can still consider paid inclusion afterwards if
you donÕt want to wait for the spider to revisit).
Is it a good investment for me?
Naturally, budgetary constraints can be a primary
consideration. If you canÕt afford paid inclusion,
then it obviously isnÕt an option. However, simply
because you can afford it does not mean it is
a good investment. For example, a business that
sells a very inexpensive product online that is
counting on volumes of traffic may not see a good
return on their investment (again, 3 of the top
4 engines do not offer paid URL inclusion).
On the other hand, if your business has a high
average dollar sale and you put a high value on
each quality lead, you might consider immediate
paid URL inclusion a no-brainer.
Do my pages change frequently?
If your web pages are subject to daily or weekly
changes in content, paid inclusion may offer some
additional benefits. When your pages are spidered
frequently, all new content is indexed by the
engine soon after it is added to your pages. This
means that your pages will begin to appear in
searches for terms related to the new content
much more quickly.
Are my important pages dynamically generated?
Some search engine spiders have a problem finding
and indexing pages that are dynamically generated
(such pages often have a question mark somewhere
in the URL). By paying to include the important
pages of your dynamically generated website, you
can be sure that they are in the engineÕs index,
even if the "organic" spider would never find
them on its own.
Do I need a guarantee that my pages will remain
in the index?
Although it happens infrequently, one or more
of your pages found by the "organic" spider may
be inadvertently dropped from an engine at some
point, usually to reappear within a month or two.
This can happen for a variety of technical reasons.
However, using paid URL inclusion guarantees that
each of your pages will remain in the index for
a year (and if your pages are dropped, the support
staff at the search engine will work to put them
back in as soon as possible).
Conclusion
Paid inclusion can be a valuable tool in the right
set of circumstances. However, many companies
are able to consistently maintain excellent search
engine rankings without paying for a single URL.
Only a careful evaluation of your business, goals,
and website can help you to determine if it is
the right option for your site.
Scott Buresh is co-founder of Medium
Blue Internet Marketing and author of the
monthly Medium
Blue Internet Marketing Newsletter. His articles
have appeared in numerous publications, including
ZDNet, WebProNews, MarketingProfs, DarwinMag,
SiteProNews, PromotionData, and Search Engine
Guide. Medium Blue specializes in search engine
optimization and submission, with clients ranging
from large multinational firms to small localized
businesses.
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