Part 1: Position Technologies and Inktomi searches

Can you tell us what Position Technologies offers its clients?
We have a three-tier suite of online tools and applications designed to help webmasters, SEO firms and any large business with an Internet presence. Our spider systems index your site and prepare it for a variety of useful reports that webmasters use. The reports are also useful for learning how a Search Engine Spider looks at your site and its content.

We also have a variety of services that are a result of our relationship with Inktomi [the search engine] that powers MSN, AOL, HotBot, Looksmart and many others with fall-through results. Participation in our services, with the exception of Inktomi related products, is subject to review prior to our acceptance, with no adult or casino sites allowed. As a rule, we also reject flagrant spam and "affiliate-farm" sites.

How did the partnering with Inktomi come about and why Inktomi specifically?
There were clients that Position Technologies shared with Inktomi that led to a more direct relationship between the companies. Inktomi provides over 50 search engines with a combined Internet reach of 81.9%. Partnering with Inktomi was an obvious choice.

How does your Inktomi program work and what are its benefits?
The Inktomi Search/Submit program offers subscribers an uptake period of approximately 72 hours with an average 48-hour refreshes. That means your pages can be in Inktomi Search index and searchable at MSN in approximately 72 hours. Pages will remain in the Inktomi Search index during the subscriber period of twelve months and are renewable after that. To be fair, I will mention that Network Solutions also carries Inktomi Search/Submit.

There are three key benefits as I see them: very quick uptake and refresh of your pages, assurance the pages will remain for twelve months and fantastic reporting features.

Another interesting offering of your company is the Submit Director, which you tout as the right submission process for the smaller website. Why is this the right solution for smaller websites as opposed to your larger clients?
SubmitDirector is somewhat a self-service program limited to 100 pages or fewer with tutorials and analysis tools in the subscriber area for designing search engine friendly content. This is access for cost conscious webmasters of small or personal sites.

What separates Position Technologies from every other search engine submission service?
Without a doubt, it is because we reject so many sites that our submissions are of the highest quality, which will continue to be an important part of what we do. That is what is missing from all other submission services and software to date. Subscribers to our programs are submitted alongside what can be generally considered "trusted content" to a degree. This is a favorable situation for your site and its pages.

What are some of the qualities you look for in a client?
Our motto is: "promoting quality on the Web" and that is exactly what we look to do. Virtually any site can make the grade providing that it does not artificially inflate itself with some commercial interest that shows what we internally define to be in bad taste, or worse, misleading. We try to be extremely watchful of bait-and-switch activities. We will use popular directories for reference when we have none.

We look for sites that appear would do well with search terms, which also seem to be highly qualified results for those terms. As an example, About has done very well with PositionPro. About's sites are well-suited for a variety of queries. Each of the 700 Guides create their own content and have successfully utilized the analysis tools in order to optimize those pages. Since working with PositionPro, indexed counts have increased and we've received very positive feedback from both Guides and About representatives.

What are some of the challenges you face when dealing with large clients as opposed to the smaller client?
Large clients sometimes have difficulty with approval processes, which can make things drag in the sand. But that is their issue and not ours. Technically speaking, the differences we face aren't that much, except it's exciting to spider a huge site and see its reports. It's also exciting to see what happens after uptake. This is especially so with a site we sense will do well.

Continued...