Wisenut becomes as Relevant as Google Search

Not only are their SERPs similar - but it seems that WiseNut is now offering results that are occassionally, slightly more relevant.

Is it possible that Wisenut is prioritizing / factoring in Link Popularity and Popularity of Links in Rankings

[St0n3y]

though I don't pay much attention to WiseNut I did notice (at a glance) that rankings for my sites have been improving there. I've never put much stock into wisenut since LookSmart purchased them.

[Phoenix]

I haven't either. I have never had a problem rankings sites in Wisenut. There results are quite similar to Googles at times. However I am not the expert on Wisenut, so maybe someone around here is. I almost wish this engine had a better chance to develop itself. In another thread, members were talking about the missed oppourtunities of Teoma and Wisenut in the competition of Google and Yahoo. But who knows, maybe those two Davids' have some technology up their sleeves that the Goliath's dont have.

[David Wallace]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

I haven't either. I have never had a problem rankings sites in Wisenut. There results are quite similar to Googles at times. However I am not the expert on Wisenut, so maybe someone around here is.

Pretty much everything that works for Yahoo will work for WiseNut - optimized title tags, html content and good internal linking. The problem is that their index can be less up to date so changes you make will take much longer to show up which makes testing strategy a waiting game.

I just wonder how many people actually use Looksmart anymore and then I have to figure that even less use WiseNut itself.

[Webvisitor]

University of California at Berkeley. LookSmart will offer a co-branded search platform for the University. Cal is the first university to have such a search product or so the press release stated. Will the rest of the campuses follow? Good for LookSmart, the forever underdog.

[seobook]

That quite possibly be the smartest think LookSmart has ever done. If they keep up that sort of stuff they may actually look smart.

[St0n3y]

I poured a lot of money into the LookSmart directory before they went PPC. They have about zero trust factor with me. It would take the mighty hand of God to get me to think well of LS again!

[hassleback]

When Wisenut first appeared I used it a lot and thought it would be a decent engine. They did not keep it up, and I never look at it anymore. Seeing this thread I just went over to Wisenut and tried a few searches. Disappointing results. I even used their feedback to complain about relevancy.

So that's what I got with the set of search terms I tried. I hope Wisenut can turn around and become a decent engine because the more competition, the better.

[David Wallace]

Originally Posted by hutcheson

I hope Wisenut can turn around and become a decent engine because the more competition, the better.

Unfortunately that will probably not happen as long as it is in Looksmart's hands. We will see however. We will see.

[NetinsertGuy]

I did a search for site unique keywords. For one site the results were completely up to date and mostly relevant, for another site the results were outdated and hits were less than 10% of Google's. The algorithms seem quite ok, but they need to spider more, both new websites, as well as updates of old websites.

[Alavina]

Originally Posted by NetinsertGuy

I did a search for site unique keywords. For one site the results were completely up to date and mostly relevant, for another site the results were outdated and hits were less than 10% of Google's. The algorithms seem quite ok, but they need to spider more, both new websites, as well as updates of old websites.

Well summed up.

[AussieWebmaster]

I will have to give them another look though I see little of them in my log files... and to add insult to injury gave LookSmart some time to work out the woes but I finally had to pull the listings... they were giving me some traffic but no conversions...

[wiseMouse]

WiseNut could have a chance if (a) they spidered a bit more often (the index is quite outdated), (b) spidered a bit more (1.5 billion pages is no longer a lot, particularly if some of these are no longer up-to-date), and (c) re-branded their site (frankly, it's got an elitist touch...).

Summa summarum, unless Looksmart tries harder, WiseNut will completely disappear as one of the could-have-been-very-bigs of search engines.

http://wisenut.com/corp/privacy_policy.html

Like many other Web sites, WiseNut collects information about users' utilization and navigation of our Site. This information helps us to design our Site to better suit our users' needs. For example, our Site will track the URL that you visited before you came to our Site, your IP address and may track the URL to which you next go. We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our Site and Services. Your IP address also is used to help identify you and to gather broad demographic information.

...(for instance, 20% of our users reside in California).

Wisenut may be engaging in a form of

behavior targeting

- which is now becoming the newest trend


Kanoodle has NOW just officially roled out it's behavior targeting program


http://www.kanoodle.com/about/5-24-04.html


http://kanoodle.com/kanoodlekam.cool

[vinniesmith2227]

Originally Posted by St0n3y

I poured a lot of money into the LookSmart directory before they went PPC. They have about zero trust factor with me. It would take the mighty hand of God to get me to think well of LS again!

We actually did REALLY well with LS until MSN dropped them. Then we kept getting the same number of clicks, same charges but our customers acquired dropped from 300-400 a month to about 10. We're about to drop them all together.

[AussieWebmaster]

Just had a conversation with LS... they are working hard to improve search partners and I have been noticing a swing back.... will it last.

[vinniesmith2227]

Ahhh...but the problem is we have spent nearly $25,000 in the last four months waiting for them to swing back into things. Now when we ask for IP address' to verify the clicks, they refuse to give them to us....

[AussieWebmaster]

Originally Posted by vinniesmith2227

Ahhh...but the problem is we have spent nearly $25,000 in the last four months waiting for them to swing back into things. Now when we ask for IP address' to verify the clicks, they refuse to give them to us....

In their defense (which is not a position I really want to take), try asking the same question of Google and Overture and I would expect a quicker no than the one you got from LS.

You need to have your own tracking program and log reports... if you have and they are tracking huge differences then you have to show them your information and see if they will give a credit of some kind (partial at best since all systems have descrepancies)

[wiseMouse]

Looksmart finally (!) are updateing the WiseNut index... they're using data from the Grub project which means that WiseNut (at last) has results that are not outdated anymore. WiseNut still has very relevant results...

Personally I hope the index will be kept a bit more up-to-date...