Paid Inclusion Programs

Ever think about slipping the Maitre d' a $20 to make sure you didn't have a long wait and got a good table? Then you already have a basic understanding of paid inclusion programs.

For a fee, pages are reviewed and/or included in search results. These programs can be a bit complicated, and it isn't always easy to determine their value.



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Understanding Paid Inclusion Programs

While many search engines find the pages in your site by 'crawling' around the internet, some offer the ability to control - for a fee - when they review pages on your site.

These paid inclusion programs have several advantages.

Guarenteed inclusion. The pages submitted to the search engines via these paid programs are usually guarenteed to be included in the search engine results. They do not guarentee the ranking they will achieve, or which keywords they will be seen as relevant for, just that the pages are included and therefore have a fair shot at being included for any term, and ranked highly when the algorithm determines it is appropriate.
Frequent refresh. Many of the free 'crawlers' do not revisit sites for weeks or months at a time. The paid programs usually revisit your pages every few days - so new content is included in the engines much more quickly.
Page-specific control. When the free 'crawlers' visit your site there is not control over which pages on the site they visit. They might go to all of them, they might not. In most paid programs you pay on a per-page basis, so you can specify exactly which pages will be included.

The only disadvantage of these programs is their cost. They range from $10 per site to $49 per page, and some (most notably Yahoo!) tack on 'click' charges so you pay each time someone finds your page in the search engine and clicks the link.

When Should You Pay For Inclusion?

Most web site probably should NOT participate in paid inclusion programs. A well designed and optimized site just doesn't need to pay to get listed in Google, Yahoo, or MSN - and being in the lessor engines really doesn't matter to most sites.

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't participate - it really depends upon your business and web marketing situation. Is you site new and are you in a hurry to get listed? Do you target specific audiences that can be targeted at specific search engines? Is only part of your site getting indexed for free and are key pages missing? Do you change important content more frequently than the crawlers visit your site?

How you answer these and a number of other questions is how we would determine the best strategy for you.

We can help you to understand and manage paid-inclusion program participation, including Yahoo! SiteMatch. Or use trusted/XML feeds if you have large database-driven or frequently changing content.

Next Steps

Contact Us to discuss your online marketing plan.
Learn about Trusted Feed Programs.
Read about Pay-Per-Click Advertising.
Return To The Pre-Commerce Group Home Page.

We Also Offer:

Search Engine Optimization
Enhance your ranking in the top search engines.
Pay-Per-Click Marketing
Automate bidding and maximize ROI on Overture, Google, and other engines.
Paid Inclusion Programs
Guarentee that all key pages in your site are in the search engines.
Trusted Feed Programs
Submit page details and keywords directly to the select search engines.

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