Terra Lycos has given its InSite paid inclusion program a makeover. The redesign of the interface and a couple of enhanced tutorial areas are designed to woo “non-technical users who are very new to search engine marketing.” But even veteran search engine marketers may want to give Lycos InSite a second look.
For example, tucked between manual submission and batch submission is an attractive option called Spider submission. It uses the Lycos spider to find up to the first 1,000 pages of a web site. Advanced spidering options enable users to adjust the spider parameters. The tool then returns a list of all of the web pages in up to three sites. This list can then be used to select pages to submit to AlltheWeb, Inktomi or both.
The AlltheWeb index serves Lycos, HotBot, Terra.com, AlltheWeb, Overture, Infospace, Excite, and Dogpile. The Inktomi index is used by HotBot, About.com, MSN, espotting.com, Looksmart, soneraplaza, Goo, and Bluewin. According to Lycos, these search engines cover 70% of all potential web searchers.
In addition to top-level pages, the spider submission tool enables users to submit deeper web pages that are not well linked. However, it doesn’t highlight whether a page is already listed the way that Marketleap’s Search Engine Saturation tool or PositionTech’s Position Pro Search Engine Submission services do.
The Lycos InSite spider submission tool does include a calculator that estimates paid inclusion costs, including volume discounts from 5% to 7.5% for AlltheWeb and Inktomi as well as an additional 5% discount when you submit to both search indices. These eye-catching discounts can add up to as much as 12.5% for users submitting more than 100 URLs.
Lycos InSite also provides reporting tools that help track search terms that refer traffic, clicks, and overall campaign effectiveness.
It is worth noting that Lycos is no longer calling InSite a “paid inclusion” program. It is now calling it a “search engine submission” program. According to Adam Soroca, Group Product Manager for Lycos InSite, this change is being made to “demystify” paid inclusion as well as to elimiate “the confusion surrounding search engine optimization and paid inclusion.”
This effort to use “plain English” instead of industry jargon extends to the enhanced tutorial areas, including the Introduction to Search Engine Marketing section and the How Search Works area. These areas now provide simple but accurate explanations of how spidering technology works and spell out the differences between a paid index and a web index.
Lycos plans to roll out additional product enhancements to its pay-for-placement InSite AdBuyer in the coming weeks.
Greg Jarboe is the co-founder of SEO-PR.