9 replies to this topic

[fortyfirst]

Hi
I've been a long time lurker here - usually too busy reading the great posts to actually post myself! Anyway, I now have a quick question and hope this is the right place to post.

I am promoting a client's website who were doing very well on all the search engines, including Google, MSN, AlltheWeb, AltaVista etc.

However, since Yahoo Search has taken over, they are nowhere to be found on Yahoo Search, apart from a directory description, which only appears in the results for their company name. They have over 2000 incoming links according to Yahoo aswell. I have submitted the website to Yahoo Search for free, but am reluctant to pay to submit to Yahoo via Overture Site Match as it would be so expensive. Does anybody know how long it might take for the website to appear in Yahoo's crawler results? The website in question is Wightlink - www.wightlink.co.uk and has been optimised. It still does well on Google and Ask Jeeves.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for your help

[davidbrett]

Hi Fortyfirst Welcome to the Forum

I have been having the same problem with Yahoo. I made changes to one of the sites i work on about 4 weks ago but have found Yahoo very slow. The changes have been listed on Google for quite some time.

It appears to me that Yahoo will gradually index your site. 7-8 of the changed pages have appeared in the index and hopefully over the next few weeks more will fllow suit. Unless you want to pay the $199, you'll just have to wait patiently.

[Randy]

Welcome Fortyfirst !

David already hit the nail on the head so I don't have much to add.

There are several threads around here regarding the new Yahoo! Search, issues with their using the Directory description instead of a snippet from the page etc. So you may want to browse around a bit. Those threads will likely be helpful to you.

Opinions vary. For myself, I'm not going to be using the Site Match feature. Have you checked to see how many of your pages are already included in the Yahoo! index? For what it's worth, Site Match shouldn't help with your positions at all. It'll only make sure the site gets spidered. So if you're already spidered that would be a waste of time and money IMO.

[Scottie]

Glad you decided to post, fortyfirst!

Welcome.

[OldWelshGuy]

I took a quick glance, and IMO this site should have been gobbled up an age ago. I am now curious as to why not.

The site was completely flash until 31 march 03. Wayback shows changes to it at this point into a framed site, so presumably there have been a lot of changes.

I then looked at Yahoo and there are 298 pages listed for www.? site:www. search

and 301 listed for non www. site: non www search

You hold top spot on an anchor search for the anchor text 'isle of weight ferry' & 'isle of wight ferries' which would explain why you get results with Google.

I suggest you look at the on page SEO to help you with Yahoo rankings.

I have looked, as I say, but it is policy that we don't do back door site reviews as it would devalue the review section. So stick around and post some more and who knows

OWG

[fortyfirst]

Thanks very much for all your advice and for looking at the website results for me. I did find out that you could do the 'site:' query to find out which pages have been indexed, and as you say, lots have. Unfortunately I don't know much about the history of the website as I have just taken it on, but will do some more asking. It's just curious that all those pages are in Yahoo's database, yet if you search on 'wightlink', or 'www.wightlink.co.uk', all you get is either the Yahoo directory result or nothing at all.

It seems like a real waiting game with Yahoo - to say the least - they want to get people to use the Site Match instead of waiting, and most people would not know to check using the 'site:' query, so might be tempted to pay.

Only 5 pages of the website have been optimised, so there is still a lot of work to do, and am working on getting them to put up a site map and 404 page, just to help with the indexing / visitor experience on the website.

I'll have a surf around on the forum and see what else I can find - thanks again!!

[OldWelshGuy]

Fortyfirst, I think you are missing a point here. Yahoo has all those pages listed in its index, waiting is going to make no difference to their rankings, they are not appearing as they are not optimised. The site is being pushed to the top on Google via link anchor text alone.

I am assuming that one of your key phrases is 'isle of wight ferries' as it is in your title, and you are also top using that as anchor text, but the phrase does not appear on the page at all. Not once in any shape or form.

Yahoo likes traditional on page SEO methods, as does MSN, Google leans more toward linking. Using sitematch is not going to help your rankings in Yahoo, and could prove frightneningly expensive, and for no real gain.

[Jill]

Using sitematch is not going to help your rankings in Yahoo, and could prove frightneningly expensive, and for no real gain.

By george, I think you just came up with SiteMatch's new tagline!

Overture SiteMatch
Frighteningly expensive with no real gain!

Now who could resist signing up for THAT!

[fortyfirst]

Thanks OWG. I see the problem now with the home page and you're right, 'isle of wight ferries' is one of their key phrases. It seems the optimisation I have done so far has been undone with regards to the page content, as I re-wrote the content to ensure the key phrases were incorporated!


Thanks again for pointing it out.

[OldWelshGuy]

Way too funny Jill

And who is George?