In the "Web Pages Found" area on AlltheWeb, Web content that has been crawled and indexed by FAST, and then ranked and displayed according to advanced relevancy ranking algorithms, is shown in response to user queries.

Within the current 2.1 billion web pages indexed from which the "Web Pages Found" results are drawn, less than one percent (< 1%) of these include specific web pages that a content provider has paid FAST to crawl and index on a regular basis. This < 1% of paid for inclusion (PFI) URLs become useful to search engine users because FAST is able to more deeply index information from within these sources such as database information that is not typically accessible to general crawlers. All "Web Pages Found" results are delivered and ranked according to FAST's advanced ranking algorithms, and PFI providers do not receive preferential ranking.

In contrast to web pages delivered, crawled, and ranked by FAST search technology, FAST also occasionally displays a clearly defined area entitled "Sponsored Listings". These listings are delivered by a 3rd party provider, are based on keyword search, and are ranked according to how much the advertiser pays the third party.

When displayed on AlltheWeb, 3rd party pay-for-placement (PFP) results are clearly marked as "Sponsored Listings", appear above search results, and are easily distinguishable via different font and color treatments. Typically, these results appear when they might be relevant to e-commerce related queries. The third party employs an editorial staff to review these advertiser sites to guarantee they are relevant to particular search terms, and the sites are ranked according to how much the advertiser paid the third party.

For additional information on the difference between pay-for-placement and pay-for-inclusion, please view Stephen Baker's article from Search Engine Day, the daily newsletter of Search Engine Watch.