28 replies to this topic

[Sal Collaziano]

I hope this is posted in the proper section...

I own and operate [site removed as per [url=http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?act=boardrules]Forum Rules[/url]].. I have fine results in Google. I have for years. I used to have good results in Yahoo! as well - but things have changed over the past year or so...

My site is an authority on the subject of "Cadillac". If you go to Google and search around, you'll find that the site is displayed appropriately. However, at Yahoo!, the most unlikely sites appear long, long, long before mine does.

I have an excellent listing in the Yahoo! Directory...

I submit to the Yahoo! Search Submit Basic program. $50.00 per year... I was approved.. I received a BOAT-LOAD of traffic - and then a few weeks later, they sent me an email stating that my site was breaking their rules/agreement. It is not. I sent them an email asking for some type of explanation, and they refused.

Could it be that I was obtaining too much traffic for my $50.00 annual fee? Do they feel that I should be using pay per click to appear in their results? Is there ANY logical explanation why my site is not listed amongst the first three pages for my terms?

Not only does my site have a lot of static html pages, it also has one of the largest, fastest growing automobille forums/communities on the internet...

I'm stumped... Any ideas?

Thank you in advance...

Sal C.

[Sal Collaziano]

I thought I did the right thing by not posting a "link" to my site. Is even posting a domain name against the rules? Is it considered advertising? When you see the domain name and how well it ranks in most search engines (and how informative the site is), it really makes you wonder what Yahoo!s problem is...

Anyway. I may seem like a newbie, but I've been a viewer and subscriber since the original RankWrite team under my optonline.net email address.

Sal C.

[Sal Collaziano]

Does anyone have any ideas? Does this sort of thing happen to anybody else?

[incrediblehelp]

So are you just asking why you dont show in Yahoo for "Cadillac"

[Sal Collaziano]

That along with any model names.. There are sites that don't have anything to do with Cadillac (or even the word Cadillac) that display pages before I do...

So are you just asking why you dont show in Yahoo for "Cadillac"

[incrediblehelp]

I really dont see anything wrong with the results I am seeing on Yahoo right now.

[projectphp]

you'll find that the site is displayed appropriately

Best. Use. Of. Appropriately. EVER.

[Alan Perkins]

A common cause of Yahoo penalties is (what Yahoo considers to be) excessive cross-linking between domains. Could this be a problem for you?

[projectphp]

...my site was breaking their rules/agreement. It is not.

This is a good example of defending yourself pointlessly, rather than looking for a solution. It reminds me of couples, where both claim they have never done anything wrong, but they still fight. What they miss is that it doesn't matter whether you have actually done anything wrong. If the other party thinks you have, the outcome is the same, and your job moves from have you done anything wrong to what you have done wrong, and how you can fix it.

Yahoo sent you the email for SOME reason. Think of all the things you have done, starting with the ones closest to the line between Kosher and Bacon, and make a list until you find something that stands out. And then fix it.

And don't argue. Who cares if you believe it is wrong if Yahoo penalise you? DO NOT ARGUE that X tactic/code is OK. Right and wrong are, in relationships and SEO, in the eye of the beholder, and life is far easier when you say sorry, even if you think you did nothing wrong.

[Sal Collaziano]

Thank you all for your replies... I don't do any cross-linking.. I don't use any iffy methods in regards to SEO. I just build my pages with lots of information and let the spiders do the rest. That's what I've always done and I've always had great success with all my sites. I don't do anything special at all. I type information, use title tags for links, use alt text for images and name images appropriately.. That's all. SEO seems more like common sense than anything...

At any cost, I DO see things wrong with the results in Yahoo.. There are sites with one page about Cadillac. Sites with weather for Cadillac, Michigan. Other Cadillac sites that would not be considered an authority like my own... All before mine..

I just checked again and my site doesn't display in the first 1000 sites listed. In other words, it doesn't display at ALL for the term "cadillac". There's absolutely no reason for my site to have been completely kicked out of the index for this term. Something is definitely fishy and if everybody would rather just look the other way and not think about it, than I really shouldn't be surprised.

[piskie]

I am aware of the hostility to me using the term "Over Optimisation Penalty" but just maybe this is just such a case. OOP as I wrongly term it was just a Google Filter, but it now seems is being applied by Yahoo and of course the threshold is going to be different.

One characteristic of my 'Mythical' OOP is that it is very much influenced by the competitiveness of the term and there can't be any doubt that any single word search featuring a Car make or model is to be extremely competitive.

Pages that score top slot for 3 word terms can be nowhere at all for one and two word terms that form part of the high scoring three word term.

[Sal Collaziano]

I don't think your OOP theory is 'mythical'. I believe it's possible. However, I just find it hard to believe that it would apply to my site. I've essentially done no SEO, per se... The term "cadillac" is indeed very competitive.. Honestly, I have a feeling (and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this) that either Cadillac Corporate contacted Yahoo! in regards to my site - or Yahoo! simply feels that I should be paying more than the measly $50.00 annual fee to get so much traffic.

In other words, I feel like they set me up (obviously, because my site was 100% in agreement with their terms), saw how much traffic I was obtaining (heck I was #5 for the term "cadillac"), and felt my payment was not worthy of the traffic I was receiving.

If that's the case, which I personally believe (which is also why I came here for more opinions) - than that is very bad business practice.

This also happened to my younger brother who dominated the rankings for a specific term. His site is also an authority (by very, very far - the largest and most informative website on his subject) - and experienced the same exact issue until he contacted them. They listened to him because he owns millions of dollars of stock in their company.

I am aware of the hostility to me using the term "Over Optimisation Penalty" but just maybe this is just such a case. OOP as I wrongly term it was just a Google Filter, but it now seems is being applied by Yahoo and of course the threshold is going to be different.

One characteristic of my 'Mythical' OOP is that it is very much influenced by the competitiveness of the term and there can't be any doubt that any single word search featuring a Car make or model is to be extremely competitive.

Pages that score top slot for 3 word terms can be nowhere at all for one and two word terms that form part of the high scoring three word term.

[rolf]

So, to make sure I understand this correctly, you were approved by a real person who looked at your site and said it was all good, you continued working on your site but not doing/adding anything you weren't already doing and then suddenly it breaks the rules?

Does sound a bit odd but as far as the practicality goes I have to agree with projectphp, being in the right makes no difference, taking it on the chin and finding a solution is the only option.

I sympathise with your frustration, I have a similar run in with ebay every few months. Someone reports our listings for 'breaking the rules' (I suspect a competitor), ebay pulls the listings and helpfully tell us which rules were broken but unhelpfully not how/where they were broken or how to fix it.

Usually this results in an hour or two of inspecting the listings and applying the 'broken' rules to every aspect I can think of until I find something that could conceivably be the problem. I then make the change and write to ebay and ask them to reviewapprove/disaprove the new listing.

To ebay's credit they are usually very patient and do let me know if I've corrected the problem or not, even if that takes a few attempts, although they refuse to be provoked into simply telling me what the problem is - it's either a "yes that's OK" or a "no that's not OK", with no further help than that.

Invariably after a couple of months we get reported again, and despite the fact that someone at ebay has personally reviewed the listings and has had the opportunity to tell us if there are any other problems but has still approved them, we have to go through the whole silly process again.

My point, really, is that although this whole process is a real PITA we've had to just accept that this is the way it works and we only have 2 choices - play the game or don't list on ebay.

Good luck with getting it sorted.

[torka]

This also happened to my younger brother who dominated the rankings for a specific term. His site is also an authority (by very, very far - the largest and most informative website on his subject) - and experienced the same exact issue until he contacted them. They listened to him because he owns millions of dollars of stock in their company.

Have you tried having your brother contact Yahoo on your behalf?

--Torka

[Sal Collaziano]

Hi Torka.. Yes, I've considered that - but I don't want to put him through it. He said it was a long and difficult ordeal - and if he rocked the boat and ran into trouble, I'd feel really bad..

I forgot to mention that I use Google Adsense on a LOT of my pages.. I bet if I was using YPN, things would be different. However, they're results are terrible compared to Googles...

Rolf.. Yeah.. I hear ya.. You're right (as was the person who originally suggested what you are). It really is amazing, though...