264 replies to this topic

[finder]

I know this may sound ridiculous, but isn't it possible that Yahoo! has already consulted with the FTC about this insanity before pulling it out of their hat?

Also, I am wondering who out there, with a business website, can actually afford to pay the ongoing fee. Obviously, it's not as bad as the $1.00 or more per click some are paying on Overture already, but I just couldn't sign up for Site Match if I wanted to. Any takers?

Tom

[Trellian]

Hello Tom,

There are a few that can and will use Site Match:
- The same customers that used to pay via Trusted Feed programs
- The same customers that wanted to use Trusted Feeds, but did not have a large enough site to qualify, well now they can.
- Customers that know how to track and know what their ROI is.
- Customers that want use the valuable traffic reports, click data to optimize their pages, and then pull out of Site Match when done.
- Customers that need to be in the index and are not right now. Once Yahoo crawl their sites for free they can stop paying for Site Match.
- Then you have those that do it just for fun.

Cheers
David

[Alan Perkins]

There are a few that can and will use Site Match:
- The same customers that used to pay via Trusted Feed programs
- The same customers that wanted to use Trusted Feeds, but did not have a large enough site to qualify, well now they can.

Are you talking about Site Match or Site Match XChange here?

[Trellian]

The former trusted feed programs, AV, FAST, INKTOMI, etc... aka Site Match Xchange (SMX) has a variable rate card that goes upto $1.10 CPC, where Site Match (SM) only has 2 CPC rates, $0.15 or $0.30

you will find that those sites that use SMX may do better in pricing if they do SM instead, however limited to only 1000 URLs per domain. So that is the down side for larger sites.

Cheers
David

[Alan Perkins]

Hmm, I'm confused.

You said "The same customers that wanted to use Trusted Feeds, but did not have a large enough site to qualify, well now they can". Are you saying that Site Match employs an XML feed? I haven't seen any reference to that.

AFAIK, your statement effectively means "The same customers that wanted to pay per click, but did not have a large enough site to qualify, well now they can".

[jjisles]

I noticed this thread hasn't been posted to in a while so I hope this gets read.
That being said...
I am still a bit confused on this Yahoo site match. I've been reading discussions on whether or not to participate if your site is already indexed. But...if a new site is being developed is there any other way to have it indexed by Yahoo, AV,etc... besides paying the fees and the CPC charges?
Thanks,

Jarrod

[bwelford]

Altavista and AllTheWeb no longer have free URL submit, but they divert you to the free Yahoo! submit at http://submit.search...om/free/request.

I used it only this morning. It warns you that it will take months, etc.,etc. However what's not to lose.

[Jill]

They will find your new site just like they always have, and just like Google does, through links on other sites. You may want to think about if the Yahoo directory is worth the $299, as I imagine that probably speeds them up a bit to add it to their crawlable results also.

Jill

[jjisles]

bwelford, thanks for the link.

Jill,
I thought Yahoo might incorporate the directory with the CAP program. If this new program categorizes your site then how does the directory differ? The directory doesn't have a CPC charge I believe, and for the $300 they shouldn't.
Jarrod

[Jill]

The directory is the directory. You can browse it by category, etc. It's separate from the PPC SiteMatch stuff.

I truly can't think of any reasons to pay for the directory these days unless you feel that a link is worth $299 per year and/or if you need that link to help the spiders find your page.

The downsides are of course the payment, and the fact that your clickable title in Yahoo and its properties will be changed to your directory title (usually your company name) if you have a Yahoo Directory listing. To me, that alone makes me think twice before paying to be listed in their directory.

I personally feel that the downsides far outweigh any benefits at this time, and don't recommend spending the money.

Jill

[jjisles]

Thanks. I didn't think the directory was really worth the investment. And from the info I have gotten from you and your site the change in title to what yahoo deems appropriate is not great for SEO purposes.
So I guess the game continues...

[AussieWebmaster]

I would use directory over PFI with a CPC

[BrianR]

The downsides are of course the payment, and the fact that your clickable title in Yahoo and its properties will be changed to your directory title (usually your company name) if you have a Yahoo Directory listing.

Until recently, I used to be a big fan of the Yahoo directory and would recommend it to all clients, especially those who were new to the web as it gave them that vital first strong inbound link. In the UK, it's still a one-time-only payment of £199.

But I agree with Jill - now that the Yahoo directory title (which is essentially, your company name) is possibly going to be used as the title for all of Yahoo's search engines (I'm open to correction on this), I've stopped recommending it.

BrianR

[GeordieSEO]

Still not sure on the Yahoo Directory. For one site which was submitted in march it was showing the Directory entry in the SERPS but then changed back to page snippets.

If the Yahoo Directory is classed as an important link by Inktomi / Yahoo and Google then the £199 one off might still be worthwhile.

[MakeMeTop]

I still think the Yahoo directory is a useful link to gain. It drives some traffic in most categories but, more importantly, certainly seems to assist inclusion without using SiteMatch and gives (IMO) a boost in the Yahoo algo. These factors combined keep me using directory listings (especially in the UK).