Yahoo Listing Still Worth It?

In October 2002, the Yahoo! portal changed the way it delivers search results. In the past, the most prominent results were exclusively culled from websites listed in the Yahoo directory itself. Since October, sites listed in the Yahoo directory no longer enjoy this privileged status.

The Google search engine now drives the primary search results on Yahoo. While this is certainly an improvement for users of Yahoo search, it's a disaster for many businesses that counted on their Yahoo listing to deliver substantial traffic.

This change has also led many site owners to question the value of a listing in the Yahoo directory. In this article, I will outline the pros and cons of maintaining, or paying for, a Yahoo listing. In the process, I will delve into more details of the recent changes.

Argument #1: Yahoo Listings Mean Link Popularity

Pro: Even if the Yahoo listing itself delivers little or no traffic, other search engines will rank your website higher if it's listed in Yahoo. Because Yahoo is so important, a link from Yahoo counts more than a regular link. Thanks to its higher "PageRank," Yahoo means even more to Google.

Con: Yahoo listings do not deliver nearly as significant a contribution in this area as you might think. You can verify this by doing a "backward links" search on Google for any Yahoo-listed website. The most important links are listed first, and the Yahoo listing is rarely even on the first page of links for top ranked sites on Google.

Argument #2: Listed Sites Look Better In The Search Results

Pro: Websites with a Yahoo listing show up in the combined Yahoo/Google results with their title, description, and category from the Yahoo directory. This may boost the response when the site appears in the search results. This applies when the URL listed in the results is the same as the URL in the Yahoo listing.

Con: Results listed with Yahoo information include a link to the site's category, which may prompt surfers to pass over your listing and go to the category. Sites without Yahoo listings have the more inviting "search within this site" link, which leads to more results exclusively from your site.

So, Is A Yahoo Listing Worth It?

If you have a non-commercial site and can get listed for free, of course! If you're not one of the lucky few, though, you have to evaluate whether it's worth $299 a year for what amounts to a better than average incoming link. Everyone must make their own decision. If $299 is small compared to your total marketing budget, it may be easier to just continue paying. My own listing expires in March, and I don't intend to renew it.

How Can You Profit From The Changes At Yahoo?

The obvious answer is that you must take steps to improve your own position in Google's search results. Google's rankings are made up of many factors, but the dominant factor is "PageRank," which is based on the number and quality of incoming links from other websites.

Therefore, the first step in improving your position on the Google search engine (and now Yahoo) is to improve your site's link popularity. This takes time, and trying to take shortcuts can get you into real trouble - Google doesn't like "link farms," or any program designed to artificially boost your link popularity.

Finding Quality Link Partners Through Google

Since only links from quality sites will count for much with Google, let's take a quick look at how you can find these sites. Start by targeting the sites that link to existing top-ranked sites. You can do a backward links search for any site by typing "link:http://www.domain.com" in the Google search engine.

An even faster method is to use the Google toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/), which requires Internet Explorer 5 or greater, running on Windows. With the toolbar's advanced features enabled, you can conduct a "backward links" search from the "Page Info" menu for any site you visit.

Since Google lists these results in descending order by "PageRank," you can quickly determine the best places to get links by doing backward links searches on the top 10-20 sites for your desired search terms, and seeking links from the top 10-20 places that link to them.

Links Are Not Enough: Optimizing For Google

While "PageRank" is the dominant factor in Google's algorithm, it's not the only factor, and you still need to optimize your web pages. This can be a complicated topic, but the most important factors are:

• Keywords in the title of the page

• Keywords in headings on the page (H1 or H2 tags), especially the first heading.

• Keywords in the body text of the page, particularly the first paragraph.

Don't Complain, Act!

By some estimates, Google now controls 2/3rds of the searches conducted on the Internet in a given day. Not only is Google.com extremely popular in its own right, but Google also controls the search results on popular portals like AOL and Iwon.com - not to mention Yahoo.

A lot of website owners are complaining bitterly about this change. All the more reason for you to take action now, while so many of your competitors are busy licking their wounds. With a little planning and effort, you could be in a dominant position on Google before they even get started.

I wish you success...

About The Author

Dan Thies is the author of "Search Engine Optimization Fast Start," the ultimate beginner's guide to higher search engine rankings - available today at http://www.cannedbooks.com

---

Creating a Google SiteMap For Your Work At Home Business Web Page

Search engine traffic is the best traffic You can get... Read More

SEO #1: Choosing THE Keywords to Optimize for

This is the first lesson out of 6 that teaches... Read More

Use Keyword Articles for Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization is very important for your online business... Read More

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Fix Your OnPage!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is something you should be aware... Read More

The Fundamentals of Inbound Links

We have all heard that adding quality content to your... Read More

Google, Yahoo! and MSN Line up More Goodies for Internet Users

Internet users have never had it better what with Yahoo!,... Read More

STOP Writing for Search Engines

Back when I was starting out with my first internet... Read More

The Long And Short Of It Is That These Two Sales Techniques Are The Same

With the Internet beginning to stand up and be counted... Read More

Getting Your Site Seen By Search Engines

Is your website listed on search engines? When people search... Read More

Dont Submit Your Website To Any Search Engines

We all want to get our websites high up in... Read More

Playing in Googlebots Sandbox with Slurp, Teoma, & MSNbot - Spiders Display Differing Personalities

There has been endless webmaster speculation and worry about the... Read More

7 Search Engine Optimization Mistakes and Solutions

To many websites, webmasters discover that major sources of website... Read More

Effective Search Engine Use

The Internet is a wonderful place full of resources that... Read More

Page Rank - A Quick Overview for Beginners

Page Rank (PR) is a specific value for a website... Read More

21 Search Engine Terms Every Web Marketer Should Know Part 1

1. Search Engine - Is a database of web sites... Read More

Speed Indexing - 3 Steps to Getting Your Website Listed in Google Quickly

Getting your website listed in Google quickly simply requires that... Read More

PPC v Natural Search ? A Cost Comparison Case Study

The attraction of Pay Per Click (PPC) online advertising is... Read More

Is Reciprocal Link Exchange Dead?

The sun seems to be setting on the world of... Read More

Getting Honest With The Search Engines

Getting Honest With The Search EnginesI spend a lot of... Read More

How MSN and Yahoo Sells Your Traffic

Yes, it really happens. Now you might find it hard... Read More

MLM and SEO - Bad Business! No Business!

MLM has been around way before the Internet. It is... Read More

The Write to Link Popularity

Incorporating writing as a means of boosting your link popularity... Read More

Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website - Step 5: Internal Linking

Welcome to part five in this search engine positioning series.... Read More

Are You Hung-Up on Page Rank and Back Links?

It's unfortunate that many website owners are so hung-up on... Read More

If You Could Submit Just One Page To The Search Engines Which Should It Be?

Listen. Some make submitting pages to search engines sound like... Read More

Finding the Right SEO Company

I often talk to people who have lost faith in... Read More

SEO Expert Guide - Search Engines Explained (part 1/10)

Before we explore the world of search engine optimization, it... Read More

Google Page Rank Is Dead - Or Is It? - Part I

For a long time now, marketing gurus all over the... Read More

Abandoned by Google! Googlebot, Wherefore Art Thou Googlebot?

As a search engine optimization specialist I often optimize existing... Read More

Creating A Search Engine Copywriting Plan

Search engine copywriting has become an extremely important part of... Read More

Search Engine Indexing - 3 Strategies Guaranteed to Skyrocket Your Success

In order to design a website that performs well with... Read More

How to Use Keywords to Improve Your Ranking in Search Engines

The importance of keywordsKeywords or key phrases you choose will... Read More

Why Articles Are Not The Route To High Search Engine Rankings

If you have any interest in getting high search engine... Read More