Recently, the Academy
of Web Specialists had the good fortune of having Adam Soroca, a
representative from Terra Lycos, attend a
chat session to visit with our students. Mr. Soroca provided some excellent
information about Terra Lycos as well as their plans for the future.
As means of introduction, Adam is the Group Product Manager for
Lycos InSite and is in charge of building a comprehensive suite of search
marketing tools. He has general management responsibilities for the vision,
execution, and delivery of the Web-based platforms.
Adam explained further,
"I am charged with building a search marketing platform for
Lycos. We launched our first product based on paid inclusion into the FAST Web
index in February of this year. We were very quickly able to prove that by
nature of our brand and presence, search marketers would come to visit for
search marketing services.
"Two weeks ago, we launched our second product, InSite
AdBuyer, a cost-per-click ad auction engine. Both of these products are
designed around the concept of contextual advertising, so that a searcher is
presented with highly relevant information when performing a search.
"While our platform is currently focused on our own index, we
seek to provide one-stop access for all search marketing needs, including
multiple index submission and multiple bid-management capabilities. All of
these are designed to drive traffic (i.e., customer acquisition). We are also
looking further down the visitor experience to the ROI side to encompass
campaign management."
The following are questions asked by Academy students to Mr.
Soroca.
Question: "I see when I do a search on Lycos that there is an
'advertisement' on the right side. Is this the InSite AdBuyer?"
Adam: "Correct. Those are the AdBuyer cost-per-click ads. Our
advertisers bid to be in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd positions.
"These are highly targeted ads as they are exact match keyword
driven. So behind the scenes, advertisers are involved in a bidding auction to
vie for that space."
Question: "When someone clicks the 'place your ad here' link,
does it show what the bids are for the keywords in question, so you know what
you have to bid against?"
Adam: "No, actually we don't display the prices on the front
end. To view the prices for particular keywords, advertisers must sign up for
an account and view that in the advertisers' area."
Question: "What results does FAST supply to Lycos?"
Adam: "FAST currently provides Lycos with our search results.
Our paid inclusion platform enables Web site owners and marketers to guarantee
that their Web content is included in the Web index and frequently refreshed.
This differs from paid placement in that the paid inclusion customers do not
necessarily show up in the top of the results just because they paid us. This
content is viewed by the relevancy algorithm and displayed appropriately.
"Currently this program is available to small/mid size
companies for an annual subscription. For larger companies, it will be
available at a cost-per-click (those sites >1,000 URL's). Paid placement and
paid inclusion are two separate products. If you bid for placement, you pay for
actual clicks. If you buy paid inclusion, that means that your pages are
guaranteed to be in the Web index (spiders can't find everything), and the
content will be updated every 24-48 hours. So, if your content changes, the
index will reflect that much more quickly. With an index of 2.1 billion
documents, it can take FAST a while to recrawl the entire index. This program
guarantees you are in there."
Question: "So, you have to pay for inclusion before you bid for
placement? Is this what I understand?"
Adam: "They are two separate programs. The paid inclusion
relates to FAST and the Web index. The paid placement relates to the three ad
panels that display on Lycos Search."
Question: "And your placement number in Lycos is then based on
the algorithm of the page submitted?"
Adam: "Correct!"
Question: "Where the paid placement is a cost per click, your
placement is then based on the bid placed for a particular keyword?"
Adam: "Yes, exactly."
Question: "If you aren't indexed and would like to buy pay per
click, where would the cost per click be linked to?"
Adam: "The cost-per-click ads go to any page that you want
provided that you have content that is relevant to the keyword that you bid on.
The cost-per-click ads are completely separate from the index. You do not have
to be in the index to bid on the ads. The ads are the 'advertisement' on the
right hand side of the page."
Question: "We are talking about cost per click (ad placement)
and paid inclusion. My question is, if you don't pay for inclusion and pay for
ad placement, would you be indexed with FAST or Lycos search engines?"
Adam: "No, they're completely independent. Paid inclusion gets
you into the Web index. Paid placement buys you space on the Web results page.
You can have either or both, but they do not work together per se. However, it
helps to purchase both for broad exposure through paid inclusion and targeted
exposure through the CPC ads."
Question: "In your new InSite AdBuyer program, FindWhat provides
the technology but NOT the results for your pay-per-click ads, is that
correct?"
Adam: "We have private labeled the FindWhat ad auction
platform end-to-end. Lycos engages in relationships with the advertisers
directly."
Question: "Where are the sponsored listings from?"
Adam: "Those are provided by Overture, which is similar in
concept. Advertisers are bidding for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd positions throughout
Overture's network."
Question: "What is the purpose of the 'Fast Forward' button in
your search results? I notice that using the button opens up a framed page
where the left frame shows the search results including Overture ads, and the
current site is highlighted. Does this button make it easier to visit the
current results, and is that its purpose?"
Adam: "That is exactly the purpose. We are trying to give the
searchers an easier way to browse through the pages that are served as
results."
Question: "Is it necessary to submit to both FAST and Lycos,
either through free Add URL or pay inclusion, or does submitting to FAST get
your site listed in both indexes?"
Adam: "Web site owners and marketers can submit to the FAST
index either through Lycos or directly to FAST. There is no difference in the
indexes. Lycos search results are powered by FAST."
Question: "Does the #1 result from Kanoodle still show up in
some Lycos searches?"
Adam: "No. Kanoodle does not provide results on Lycos."
Question: "Are the results from the Lycos Web Sites Directory
(ODP results) mixed in with the FAST results or only available through the Web
Directory link at the top of the page?"
Adam: "Only FAST results appear in the Web result listings."
In Conclusion
If you don't have visibility in the
Lycos search engine, you have several
choices. You can pay for
inclusion in the FAST index, which will get you in the regular search
results for Lycos.
You can also participate in their
InSite AdBuyer program, a
new cost-per-click advertising program. Or, purchase keywords through
Overture, which will also get you
visibility in Lycos.
At the top of the Lycos page, you'll see a link to the Web
Directory, which is where ODP results are found. ODP results can only be found
through this link, and they're not mixed in with the FAST results. However,
making sure that your site is listed in the ODP
is another way to get added visibility through the Lycos search engine.
Robin Nobles teaches 2-, 3-, and 5-day hands-on search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe (SearchEngineWorkshops.com) as well as online SEO training courses (OnlineWebTraining.com). They have recently launched localized SEO training centers through SearchEngineAcademy.com, and they have expanded their workshops to Europe with Search Engine Workshops UK. They have also opened the first networking community for SEOs, the Workshop Resource Center (WRC).
Click here to go back to the
index of search engine marketing articles
This work is licensed
under a Creative Commons
License.
