Recent Changes at Web Directory LookSmart May Have A Significant Effect on Searchers and Marketers Alike. LookSmart calls it an "upgrade".

In order to get other search sites to use their directory, LookSmart pays other search sites like MSN to use the directory in their search results. (See the SEC Filing) When you search MSN, the prominently displayed "web directory" sites come from LookSmart. Whether you fall into the searcher or marketer category, a recent dramatic

Price Hike of up to 2000%+

may affect you. Significantly.

Up until April 2002, LookSmart operated a web directory to which you, the site owner or web marketing professional could submit a site for $299.00. In exchange for your hard earned cash, LookSmart promised that an editor would review your site and consider including it in the directory.

If it was up to spec - and most anything was that came in with a credit card number- it would be listed in the directory, increase the diversity of search results at LookSmart and partner sites like MSN, and provide a source of viewers or customers for your website if it turned up high enough in the search results. You didn't always have to pay to get listed in LookSmart but over the years, gradually, they ratcheted up the fees to $299.00 per page.

The devil is in the details. After years of paying a one-time fee to LookSmart for a review that virtually always resulted in a listing, most people assumed that nominal price increases would be the norm. Submit and forget so to speak.

WRONG!

On or about April 2, 2002, LookSmart took advantage of the small print in the LookSmart Terms of Service (that little box you checked when you submitted said you agreed to all kinds of things!). In essence, it explained that LookSmart guaranteed nothing but an editorial review. LookSmart could remove your site at any time for any reason, change the listing, and didn't have to inform you or get your consent for any of this.

This legalese was recently used to demand what in some cases amounted to a per click fee that could end up being as much as 2000%+ more annually than the previous one-time fee for a listing - that's up to $6000+ dollars annually. If you didn't cough up the cash right quick, you probably just got removed from the directory.

As part of the "upgrade", the notification on April 12, 2002 explained that listings in the directory prior to the "upgrade" would receive $300 in free clicks - 100 clicks for each of the next 20 months.

Then, on April 29, 2002, another round of Emails were sent out. The deal changed once again. Those free clicks all of a sudden came with a catch. If the site owner did not start paying for clicks over and above the "free" monthly allotment within the next 3 months, the previous deal would end at 3-4 months

As an advertiser you may expect to pay for exposure, and $6000.00+ per year might not seem to bad, right? It depends. Consider the following:

• LookSmart provides you with the number of click-throughs so they can bill you. It may be very difficult to verify the accuracy of the number of clicks LookSmart charges you for.
• Some site owners have reported that the click numbers reported by LookSmart seem rather high.
• The account management system does not tell you what search terms people use to find your site.
• LookSmart stated in their initial Email that this change was "Based on feedback from customers like you". What customers were those?
• If you want to list more than one URL in LookSmart, you are no longer considered a "Small Business Listings" customer. You must spend a minimum of $2500.00 per month.
• People use search engines because they provide a gateway to a variety of information. If it costs a minimum or $2500.00 for most companies to get in LookSmart and be seen, few sites will be in the directory; both the relevancy and diversity of available information will degrade. Searchers will migrate to a real search engine like Google.
• LookSmart is removing thousands of sites that have up to this point made it a decent directory.
• According to the LookSmart TOS, "LookSmart may at any time, in its sole discretion, suspend or cancel your listing(s) from participation in the Service or any part of the LookSmart Network, or your use of any relevancy keyword"
• According to the LookSmart TOS "Applicant acknowledges and agrees that nothing in this Agreement or the Service obligates LookSmart to list, change or otherwise accept Applicant's suggested alterations or to provide priority placement for Applicant's site"
• Given that LookSmart provided no notice whatsoever to those who paid the $299.00 submission fee just days prior to this change, can you trust this company to fairly represent products and services offered?
• It took LookSmart less than a month to change the terms of the agreement once again. Don't pay them within 3 months, the previous Upgrade to 20 months of clicks may be cut.
• Large advertisers often have hundreds of listings in LookSmart. When you use a search engine, do you want to see the same site listed over and over in the results? Do you think anyone else will?
• LookSmart will charge site owners a minimum of $15.00 per month to be listed even if they receive no traffic from the listing.

Objective search engine results that are not for sale are critical to the future of the web. They facilitate the sharing of knowledge and information and create a level playing field for businesses and content sites of all sizes and budgets.

Search engine results that are paid advertising

should be labeled as paid advertising.

When using an Internet search engine, chose one that provides unbiased results such as Google, YAHOO!, Teoma, Fast (AllTheWeb.com) Gigablast, Lycos, The Open Directory, AOL, or Google.

Other search sites such as Looksmart, and MSN which uses the LookSmart database, are showing you primarily (there informational sites in LookSmart that get syndicated to MSN which come from Zeal) the sites of advertisers with deep pockets that buy their way into the search results and are listed in the "web directory sites" section.

If you want free exposure for your website, submit to ODP, YAHOO!, AllTheWeb.com, Teoma, or Google.

If you feel that your recent account "upgrade?!?!?!?" is not quite what you bargained for, you may want to write to LookSmart, Email them, post your thoughts online, or vote with your advertisng dollars and use Overture or Google AdWords instead.

If you want to search a shrinking database of sites that contains multiple pages of deep pocketed advertisers, LookSmart and its partners may prove to be useful.

Related Articles

Looks Can Be Deceiving by Kelena Jordan, CEO Web Rank Lt.

LookSmart Looks Dumb Again by Jill Whalen

LookSmart Forums

Directory Forums at WebMasterWorld

Pay Per Click Advertising Engines Forum at WebMasterWorld

LookSmart Forums at SearchEngineForums

LookSmart Forums at ihelpyou services

The Parody Site

actdumb.com a collection of links to various forums and articles about Looksmart