14 replies to this topic

[amcrann]

I'm new to this SEO thing so please bare with the obvious questions. Hopefully I'm not rehashing very old topics. My site is just about complete and I now need to decide where I should be submitting to. I just submitted to Google and will submit to DMOZ when the site is done (as per their guidelines), but now I'm trying to decide about Yahoo! Directories. Obviously, a new business needs to manage cashflow so I'm wondering about bang-for-the-buck with a $299 registration fee for Yahoo. If it's worth it, no problem, but there are so many opinions out there I'm having trouble wading through it all.

Aaron.

PS - on another note, what do you think of automatic submission software that "submits to the top 100 engines and directories" and so on?

[Jill]

Welcome, Aaron!

There's no need for you to submit to the spidering search engines, either manually or through a service.

You do need to submit to the directories, however. Whether you want to pay for that privledges, is up to you and your budget. There are many free directories which you can submit to, and you can then decide if you have the money for the big guns such as Yahoo.

Good luck!

Jill

[fred]

Hi

also I think that yahoo doesn't guaranty that they will include your site in their directory.

I would suggest that you submit to free directories to start with.

Also don't submit to search engines they will find you.
From what I understand , you have submitted an unfinished site to google, I really don't recommend it. google usually takes longer to reindex ( my experience ) a site then to index a new site. also your site will be index based on unfinished content.

submit your site when it's finished and optimized only.

as for softwares that submit for you I have nothing against them but manual submission is best. but better then that is being crawled without submission.

[deir]

My problem with Yahoo is the fact that you are not so much spending $299 as gambling it. I presume they do not refund your money if they decide not to include your listing. Has anyone any experience of paying for inclusion and losing their investment?

[powerofeyes]

Hello,
I recommand you to place your site to dmoz,zeal and a couple of very good worth directories. Dmoz will give you the business what you are waiting for. But before doing all these things optimize your site for the best keywords in the best way possible.
Most of the search engines wont accept your site if you don't have good contents, please keep this in mind when you are designing your site.
thanks,
vijay

[Scottie]

Welcome deir and powerof eyes!

You can only submit to Zeal if your site is non-commercial. Good advice, Vijay.

[powerofeyes]

I cant inderstand your answer scottie. We can submit commercial sites. But it is a paid inclusion I am a zealot and I am fully aware of zeal rules for submitting a site,
thanks,
VIJAY

[SearchRank]

On Yahoo submission - we have NEVER had a paid listing rejected with the exception of one time and that was because the client's site was such a piece of crap that Yahoo didn't want it listed. We tried to warn the client about this but they took the gamble and lost.

Other than that, Yahoo will pretty much list your site unless it has pages under construction, broken links, is not friendly with a variety of browsers or if it is already listed either by same domain or a mirror. If they do reject it, you can sometimes provide a remedy for the reason why they are rejecting and then appeal their decision.

Depending on how much competition you have on the Internet, the $299 can be a good investment in my opinion as it helps increase your Link Popularity score.

Don't forget about JoeAnt, Gimpsy and GoGuides as directories to submit to.

[Scottie]

The commercial sites (paid) are submitted through Looksmart, not Zeal.

[powerofeyes]

hello searchrank,
I accept your words. A paid inclusion in yahoo is worth it since google indexes the whole yahoo directory,
Scottie i accept your words
thanks,
VIJAY

[deir]

Thank you for all of your advice. We are normally on the first page of results in Google for our most important keyword phraze. However, we have recently lost our foothold. One of our competitors seems to have at least six entries in the Yahoo directory - under different categories of course. So, I think it is time to overcome our qualms and pay Yahoo.

[Jill]

My problem with Yahoo is the fact that you are not so much spending $299 as gambling it. I presume they do not refund your money if they decide not to include your listing. Has anyone any experience of paying for inclusion and losing their investment?

That is correct. However, it's very rare for Yahoo not to list your site if you pay for a review unless you are attempting to trick (spam) them in some way.

These tricks would include submitting a doorway domain of a site that is already listed in Yahoo, and that sort of thing.

Even if your site is declined, Yahoo will tell you why and give you a chance to fix whatever they deemed wrong with it.

As long as you have created a great, unique site, you will not have to worry about Yahoo rejecting it. Definitely not.

Thank you for all of your advice. We are normally on the first page of results in Google for our most important keyword phraze. However, we have recently lost our foothold. One of our competitors seems to have at least six entries in the Yahoo directory - under different categories of course. So, I think it is time to overcome our qualms and pay Yahoo.

If you do it for that reason alone, I can guarantee you, you will be sorely dissapointed. There are many cheaper and more effective ways of increasing your Google ranking than paying for a Yahoo listing.

If you want to be in Yahoo's directory because you feel it's a worthwhile place to be, then by all means, pay them the review fee. But please don't do it because you think it will increase your Google ranking. Most likely, without fixing whatever it is that is wrong with your site that's making it not rank well, your Yahoo link will not be able to overcome.

Jill

P.S. Welcome deir!

[BrianR]

Jill

I've always been a believer in a yahoo.co.uk listing at the one-time-only fee of £199, because it is a good 'banker' inbound link for new sites while you build up link reputation.

Except sometimes, I've found that Google does not list a perfectly good yahoo.co.uk (and, by default, yahoo.com) inbound link.

Any good reason for that?? Surely it can't be less than PR4??

BrianR

[Jill]

Well, as Debra pointed out awhile back in another thread, Google does sometimes show backlinks that are less than PR4.

However, it appears that they don't show them all.

I don't surf with a PR toolbar, but I'll bet if you do, you'll find that many deep category pages on Yahoo and Yahoo UK are most definitely less than a PR4. They go many levels deep on Yahoo.

Maybe that explains it, Brian? I'd really have to look into the situation more to see what might be going on.

Jill

[BrianR]

No problem, Jill - I just thought there might be an easy answer (well I can hope, can't I!?)

I'd also need to check it out again, because it was a few months ago when I last saw the problem - maybe I was just the victim of the old Google Dance. But it sure gave me a shock when it happened - as it would when you've persuaded the client to part with £199 for the privilege!

Thanks again, Jill

BrianR