All About Looksmart
- Oct. 31, 2000
Looksmart - a name that has been growing in popularity since the directory debuted in 1996. Looksmart is a human-edited directory, similar to Yahoo!, where submitted sites are reviewed by an editor and placed into an appropriate category if accepted. The directory also uses Inktomi as a secondary resource when a search finds no matches in the main directory. While Looksmart is gaining popularity as a search tool in it's own right, it's importance is boosted through the use of the Looksmart directory by other, more popular search services.
Partnerships
According to Looksmart's own statistics (click here to view), the service reaches 64,000,000 people (about 83% of American Internet users, according to Looksmart's numbers) through it's network of partnerships. Looksmart provides directory results for Alta Vista, MSN, and Excite among others. Alta Vista uses Looksmart, along with other resources such as Direct Hit and Open Directory, to power directory listings to compliment it's own spidered index. Excite obtains Looksmart results as part of the large variety of resources that power Excite searches. MSN, on the other hand, is powered largely by Looksmart. A search at MSN.com first returns 'featured sites' from within the MSN network, which are followed by Looksmart directory results.
Looksmart also recently acquired newcomer zeal.com; a directory compiled and edited by volunteers (which draws many obvious comparisons to the Open Directory Project). According to an article by Andrew Goodman at traffick.com, Looksmart executives feel the directory has much to gain in the $20 million deal. LookSmart Editor-in-Chief Kate Wingerson is thrilled about the idea of the larger staff that the aquisition promises, but also feels that Zeal's volunteers (known as Zealots) will increase the quality of the Looksmart directory by providing additional filters in Looksmart's site-review process.
Paid Submission
Like Yahoo, Looksmart can be bought. The company offers two submission avenues: The express submit, at $199, guarantees that your site will be reviewed within 48 hours, and the basic submit, which at $79 gets your site reviewed in 8 weeks. Neither option guarantees that your site will be included in the directory, just that the site will be reviewed. These fees will be waived only for non-profit organizations. Either option is generally considered to be worthwhile, given Looksmart's potential reach through its network of partners. The quick response time of the express submission makes this option especially valuable.
With the addition of Zeal.com's resources, Looksmart continues to grow and will likely become an even more prominent search tool, making inclusion into it's database increasingly important. The express submission makes this process faster and easier, and since there is no free entry to Looksmart for commercial sites, the paid submission process is nearly essential.
Darren Downey
darren@Searchengineposition.comResources:
What are my Paid Submission options?
Petra Leinemann, Oct. 27, 2000 - Searchengineposition.comLooksmart Plays Community Trump Card with Zeal Acquisition
by Andrew Goodman, Oct. 1, 2000 - Traffick.com
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