How to tell if a listing is Paid or Organic

[entrepreneur7]

I would like to be able to easily tell if a site listing is participating in the Paid Inclusion program. So far I've found that checking the URL for the term Sitematch has resulted in being able to tell for the most part, but if there's a foolproof way to tell I'd really appreciate some input.

Thanks!

[Discovery]

Urchin at urchin.com is one
webtrends at webtrends.com is another
There are many more to explore

Both of these I have used and will track PPC and Organic clicks and provide ample reports on click, conversion and visitor behaviors.

If you are new to PPC buff up on campaign tracking software, Click Fraud software and how they work with the ad networks own reporting system.

Note: As SeoBook has pointed out there can be a drawback to using a campaign tracking tool that is run by, or offered by an ad network such as Google and Urchin. There is a possibility that the data you collect using their program can be viewed by them, and thus they can quantify the data and start charging higher prices for higher margin keywords.


Discovery

[Chris Boggs]

I would like to be able to easily tell if a site listing is participating in the Paid Inclusion program. So far I've found that checking the URL for the term Sitematch has resulted in being able to tell for the most part, but if there's a foolproof way to tell I'd really appreciate some input.

Thanks!

I think discovery is talking about something different. From your comment after the question I think that you have the only answer. Wave over the link to see if it has a redirct in it or just the standard rds.yahoo result link. I was just wondering this the other day and I hope someone does have a better way to figure this out.

[trellian]

Yes that is the best way to check if a URL in in SiteMatch (Search Submit)

Also to check a URL if they are in the Search Submit Pro (SiteMatch Xchange - Inktomi Index Connect) trusted feed program, also do the mouse over.

here is one example:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=NY+hotels&ei=UTF-8&fr=fp-top&fl=0&x=wrt

3rd result the for Hotels.com
here is the full link:
h_ttp://rds.yahoo.com/S=2766679/K=NY+hotels/v=2/SID=e/TID=i021_47/l=WS1/R=3/SS=37296154/MI=ic/IPC=au/SHE=0/H=2/;_ylt=Ai3R9joyFGMHHahz4C.PPYVXNyoA/SIG=1fe9jer08/EXP=1122383223/*-http%3A//rdre1.yahoo.com/click?u=http://na.link.decdna.net/n/5124/5566/clk.atdmt.com/bf3a5158002503000000000400005ac200000000001094c300 000017000000000000000100/i/c%3F0%26pq%3D%252fAVE%252fgo%252fnktmxhtl00257463a ve%252fdirect%252f01%252f%253fhref%253dhttp%253a%2 52f%252fwww%252ehotels%252ecom%252findex%252ejsp%2 53fPSRC%253dLM1&y=02FC7763745C2D3A&i=483&c=21341&q=02%5ESSHPM%5BL7QF%3Fwpkzsl6&e=utf-8&r=2&d=wow~i021-en-us&n=E9LK5H56LFI44UKD&s=39&t=&m=42E4E3F7&x=01DFF7A8A33FA38B



though you only need to look at the 1st part:

h_ttp://rds.yahoo.com/S=2766679/K=NY+hotels/v=2/SID=e/TID=i021_47/l=WS1/R=3/SS=37296154/MI=ic


the key here is MI=ic which indicates that this URL is in the Trusted Feed Program where ic stands for index connect, which is the original name from Inktomi days.


Cheers
David Warmuz

[Chris Boggs]

thanks David for the excellent reply.

[trellian]

Just an update in light of recent changes:

same SERP as above for NY hotels, the current #2 ranking site:
1 800 NY Hotels.com

Can be identified as a Search Submit Express listing by looking for the part
that starts will /SS= where SS stands for Search Submit and then
followed by a 8 digit numeric number, such as in this case:
/SS=27553225/

Start of the URL string is:
htp://rds.yahoo.com/S=2766679/K=NY+hotels/v=2/SID=w/TID=F548_119/l=WS1/R=2/SS=27553225/IPC=au/SHE=0/H=1/..... etc...

Cheers
David

[Nacho]

Thank you David!

Here is more past discussion on Defining the Yahoo! Search URL Parameters (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=5320).

[Jeff Martin]

I dont believe the MC and SS variables exist as they once did.

After I blogged (http://zen-sem.blogspot.com/) and posted (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?threadid=7997) about the redirects Yahoo! was doing with Business.com feeds they made some significant changes.

[trellian]

yes this was a few weeks ago now, but the format used still uses easy to identify PFI URLs.

Again the same SERP as above for NY hotels, the current #3 ranking site:
"Hotels.com - Your One-Stop Shop for Hotel Pricing, Amenities and Availability"

if you check the link you will notice a doubly redirect: (added spaces to make it easier to read)

h-ttp://rds.yahoo.com/;_ylt=AppqupI8FPTyJbDqfON7X2FXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2 dm0xZDNkBGNvbG8DZQRsA1dTMQRwb3MDMwRzZWMDc3IEdnRpZA NpMDIyXzQ4 /SIG=1jclglmkk/EXP=1129093176/**http%3A%2F%2Frdre1.yahoo.com% 2Fclick%3Fu%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fna.link.decdna.net%2Fn% 2F5124%2F5566% 2Fclk.atdmt.com%F7a48cbc9002503000000000400005ac20 0000000 001094c300000000000000000000000100%2Fi%2Fc%253F0%2 526pq%253D% 25252fAVE%25252fgo%25252fnktmxhtl00257463ave%25252 fdirect% 25252f01%25252f%25253fhref%25253dhttp%25253a%25252 f%25252fwww% 25252ehotels%25252ecom%25252findex%25252ejsp%25253 fPSRC% 25253dLM1%26y%3D024E5BC746BBDD9C%26i%3D483%26c%3D2 1341%26q% 3D02%255ESSHPM%255BL7QF%253Fwpkzsl6%26e%3Dutf-8%26r%3D2%26d% 3Dwow%7Ei022-en-us%26n%3DE9CK5H6K895K6BGP%26s%3D23%26t% 3D%26m%3D434B46B8%26x%3D017DD729DCB11777


So in summary:
- if the link displays: rdre1.yahoo.com its a PFI URL
- the other good part is that you can tell with the use of the tracking codes that this feed was created by decdna.net which is Decide Interactive so if you want to lfind awho their clients are, well this is very easy to do.


Cheers
David