21 replies to this topic

[Debra]

I'm looking for opinions.... Is it was still worth paying the $299 fee for a Yahoo! listing?

[Jill]

I vote a big, huge, giant, unmistakeable NO.

:doh:

Jill

[Bernard]

It depends on the business and reason.

It can make sense for some companies for branding purposes since the directory is well known. Not being listed while your competitors are can reflect poorly on you.

I don't believe that $300/year is worth it just for the link and sparse direct traffic it brings.

[Phil CK]

Historically I would have probably said Yes, but now I agree with Jill as you've got more control over your listing without paying for it !! Let take my site for example....

The description from Yahoo is :

917
guide to the Porsche 917, including gallery, evolution, forum, and more.

vs Google with :

Porsche 917 Picture , Books , Videos , Poster , Forum and more @ ...
The ultimate guide to the Porsche 917. Porsche ... Porsche 917 Pictures ,
Book , Forum and more at CKnet - your guide to the Porsche 917. ...

Humm, the default Google snippet certainly looks a lot more tempting to click I think, and is free with a little HTML !

[Denyse]

What about for a new site - rather than waiting weeks for showing anything. And if not Yahoo, whoo...m
Denyse

[Mel]

Hi Denyse;

You could try goguides or JoeAnt directory, where you may have to either pay a small fee or become an editor to add your site, but they are fairly quick to index.
If you are just looking for some fast indexed links try Gigablast who normally will have all the pages you submit indexed withing 24 hours, or deepindex.com who are almost as fast.

[Jill]

Certainly if the $299 is within your budget for Yahoo and you want a quick link, then it's not going to hurt to pay it. But remember, the search engines still have to find that link within the Yahoo directory also before they'll find your site and spider it. There are tons and tons of free directories that can serve the same purpose for you.

Oh, and welcome, Denyse!

Jill

[Denyse]

Thanks Mel and Jill - I'll give those a try

Denyse

[markymark]

I vote for - IT DEPENDS. I still recommend it where the category isn't over full of spam and for B2B sites. After all, $199 (the price in the UK) is hardly a huge sum of money and one new client or customer will make it a profitable expenditure.

[GeordieSEO]

I agree with MarkyMark. Here in the UK the fee is still £199 one-off payment with no susequent fees.

We usually recommend it to clients as it is seems to be the quickest way to guarantee that the site will be spidered by Google and will appearing in Google fairly quickly.

OT: I like the range of smilies but it would be nice if they didn't all have the same ALT image tag of Smilie....

[Jill]

Welcome GeordieSEO!

At least the one-time fee is more palatable than the yearly one. There's definitely more incentive to submit to Yahoo UK than the .com version these days.

Jill

[skiguide]

this is one of the few major disagreements I have with Jill;)

I ABSOLUTELY think Yahoo listings are still "worth it" - even with the annual fee, as long as you've learned how to make the most out of your Yahoo submission. with the Yearly renewal, you also have an opportunity to make changes more easily, if you hadn't

forgive me for copying parts (my original) response from another forum, it's just that I'll sound like a broke record on this topic anyway- so i might as well save typing time.

Of course, Yahoo uses google right now, but in many popular searches, the primary results are a mix of Google & Yahoo directory results under the "WEB" tab, some show the Google snippet, those that do well in google AND are in the directory show a red arrow with their directory listing instead of the snippet. I have the feeling that when the switch to Ink finally happens, it will still be similar.

Once you learn the proper style for submitting a description to yahoo, it becomes very rare that an editor changes much in it.

In any case, but when you are targeting a fairly competitive industry, a good Yahoo directory listing will help you rise to the top, particularly if you focus on just one or two EXACT keyword phrases in the description you submit to yahoo editors.

of course, the work you do before sumitting factors in here, you want to run some test searches for Keyword phrases that are popular, but have less competition in terms of Y! directory results mixed in w/ Google - once you get the Y! listing, you'll more than likely shoot into the top 20 in that case)

for example, search Yahoo for "Maine lobsters" or "live Maine lobster" both very popular searches that drive decent traffic & sales - i have two clients in the top 20 results, both are showing the Yahoo directory description..

it's not a great example for the fact that there's only 47-49K competing sites, but i've seen it work well in tougher places, too.

[Jill]

But what about the fact that yahoo titles suck? Who wants their company name to show up as the title when they can have a nice descriptive one that you choose yourself as your title tag?

Jill

[skiguide]

well, there are also plenty of creative ways to get a keyword into a Yahoo title, even if it's not your official company name.

one example of this is when you are requesting an additional listing in a specific product/service area, you can definitely stick in keyword to associate the brand/company name with it.

you just have to make sure your title tag/logo/page heading look reasonably close enough to justify it to the Y! editors that look at it.

Again, we also don't know how things might change regarding how titles/descriptions appear when Y! makes the switch, so i think it's always better to try to cover bases early, rather than later.

[Jill]

one example of this is when you are requesting an additional listing in a specific product/service area, you can definitely stick in keyword to associate the brand/company name with it.

Elisabeth, can you give an example title of what you mean here? Doesn't have to be a real one, just something to better illustrate what you're saying because I'm not quite sure I understand exactly what you mean.

Thanks!

Jill