Here is another example of paid inclusion, this time from the LookSmart directory.  The search engine landscape continues to change.  As we have pointed out in the past,  the search engines and directories are moving more and more to payment for listings and rankings.  Where this stops or how far it will go in the industry is yet to be seen.  We feel that it will never get to 100% paid inclusion and rankings but then again we are not fortune tellers.  We reported on Inktomi's new paid inclusion program earlier and now we will discuss LookSmart's.

LookSmart has done it just as we thought they ultimately would.   All commercial web sites must now pay a fee in order to be considered for listing in the directory. Let us emphasize "considered".  There is no guarantee you will get in the LookSmart directory if you pay.  

Even more interesting is LookSmart's "Subsite" paid inclusion program.  Typically, you will find a web site's home page listed in one or two categories in the LookSmart directory. Large web sites might have a few more classifications, with a some larger internal sections listed in other relevant directory categories. Under Subsites paid inclusion, LookSmart editors do a deep and extensive review of a web site.  Then they are able to categorize individual pages throughout the directory in related LookSmart directory locations.  

This can result in a web site attaining over a hundred different listings in the LookSmart directory.  We can all understand why this is good.  Can't we?  It will show up under more queries and for more targeted search keywords and phrases that will let a searcher find exactly what they are looking for.   

This is the way it works.  At the request of LookSmart's advertising department, LookSmart editors review a site and determine appropriate places they feel the web site's content could be listed within the LookSmart directory. LookSmart will only include content meeting their regular editorial standards.  Additionally, listings are not guaranteed to appear in response to a particular search or phrase. An important thing to remember about LookSmart is that it doesn't control how its partners rank the information it provides.  LookSmart gets a  per click fee for each visitor it sends to web sites in the program.

How about all the web sites out there that don't pay?  Will this degrade the quality of the LookSmart directory?    LookSmart answers this by pointing out that its directory editors spend a significant amount of time searching the Internet for new web sites to add to the LookSmart directory regardless of whether they were paid submissions or not.  Plus, the recent acquisition of the Zeal.com community directory will  also help it ensure better representation of not-for-profit and community web sites.

The LookSmart Subsite program is open to all companies.   Anyone who wishes to pay is deeply indexed.   "We're wide open so long, as the links meet our editorial standards," said Scott Stanford, LookSmart's vice president of listing services and e-commerce. "We have not signed any deals or exclusives."