28
Aug 06
Aug 06
by Andy Hagans Directories with 26 Comments
I’ve been visiting webmaster forums for several years and one of the yearly discussions is "Is the Yahoo! Directory worth it?"
The answers always range from "Hell no!" to "Hell yes!" and the discussion centers on various points such as traffic sent, and the value of the link.
If you’re still not sure whether to shell out the $299 USD, it’s your lucky day, because you’re getting my definitive answer.
Is the Yahoo! Directory worth $299 USD a year?
Yes, yes, yes, YES. Yes it is.
Here’s why: it’s an uber-trusted link. (Hint: a sandbox-beater.)
How do I know? Besides the fact that it’s one of two link building sources mentioned directly in Google’s guidelines for webmasters? I have empirical evidence: launching a dozen sites this past year, and getting some of them halfway out of the box with just a few trusted directory links (Yahoo! being the main workhorse, bCentral and business.com are my other favorites).
Objections:
1) But the links are redirects/301′d! How could they possibly pass juice?
First of all, it’s silly to think that Google couldn’t or wouldn’t figure out how to make the links count anyway, considering the site is one of two trusted directories they specifically mention in their guidelines.
Secondly… ever heard of cloaking? Check the Google cache. Do you see any redirects?
2) $299 USD/year is too expensive!
It’s the price of trust, my friend. If you know a cheaper way to get a trusted link (that takes the same amount of time), do let us know 
*Props to Fuzzuck.com for inspiring this post, and stating the same ideas more eloquently.
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I agree with you 100% for new sites, Andy – but what would your opinion be for an established site already ranking well in Yahoo’s SERPs? Isn’t the fact that your natural listing would switch from showing the page title to showing the Y Dir. title enough to make you re-consider for an established site?
Psshh – Google busted through my JS hidden/obfuscated links, Yahoo’s simple redirect must be a piece of cake
Matt McGee,
In a word — yes.
That’d be the exception.
I agree 100% as well for new sites, it is a must and a no brainer. I have tested new site after new site and never felt it was a waste of money. However I do not use it on clients sites that are old and already established, I find I can get them to rank better in Yahoo by not sacrificing the title tag, and I rank them in Google easil without a link from yahoo as well.
New site or sand boxed site absolutley no brainer.
Yahoo Directory is a must, it will also get you listed in other directories and or search engines.
I love how you are worried about a “sandbox” and that you think you can dig into Google by using Yahoo!. While Yahoo! certainly has value, you are overrating it here. Also keep in mind the money you pay is not for a listing, but for a review – you might never get listed (and have to pay anyway).
Care to clarify this sandbox myth any further Matt?
Then it wouldn’t remain a myth, would it?
Think of John Godfrey Saxe and his tale of the “unknown”. So far, yet the answer is so simple.
Just by saying “YES” 5 times dose not certify that it is worth it. Technically we would need to provide info in terms of $$ which would prove that profit generated is greater than $299 invested in directory. Even if we don’t count $$ generated, we would have to take into account how many exrta clicks would a website get if yahoo directory link keeps the website from getting sandboxed.
> I love how you are worried about a “sandbox” and that you think you can dig into Google by using Yahoo!
It’s a regular riot, eh?
It’s also explicitly mentioned by Google in their official guidelines for webmasters. Exactly that.
From my experience the Yahoo! Directory is useful if you are having trouble getting ranked in Yahoo!. I’ve noticed sites’ rankings improve dramatically in Yahoo! after adding them to the Yahoo! Directory. I haven’t noticed any changes in the other engines that I could definitively connect to a Yahoo! Directory submission.
Getting Listed at Yahoo and Finding Backdoors:
One must remember before spending $299 USD to yahoo to get them to review your website – it’s ONLY a review, so one has to make sure the site is working perfectly and has no dead links. If they find crap on the site and reject you, you’re nowhere and the worst part of the story is that you DO NOT get the money back and must pay $299 again the next time you want them to review your site.
That’s it – there is no other, backdoor way into Yahoo’s directory any more.
Too rude to be true! I really wish yahoo could change this attitude of taking money from poor dotcom dreamers.
There STILL is controversy about the Edited Yahoo Back Link keywords -
if they insist on continuing to put the URL name as the title and sometimes WITHOUT seperating the words -
they are cheating the user – not only in Google but in Yahoo SERPs itself.
Also the moment they began using redirects – Google stopped crediting their Yahoo links as backlinks
I highly doubt that Google stopped crediting Yahoo! Directory links when they began using redirects. Googlebot never saw the redirects.
We’ve also noticed over the past few days that the Yahoo! Directory no longer utilizes redirected links.
Very important question. Please help me out on this one.
One of my sites was added to Yahoo directory 2 years ago. Since then we changed URL and now the old site is doing a 301 redirect to the new one.
I contacted Yahoo many times but they are not updating the link. SO what we have now is our OLD site URL on Yahoo redirecting to the NEW site.
Should we leave it alone OR should we pay again and put a new URL on Yahoo directory>?
Thank you.
So in conclusion:
a) Yahoo Directory is only useful for new sites?
b) Yahoo Directory won’t help established websites – not even improve the rankings?
floor lamp
If you are so sure that you need to pay for links it only means to me that your sites are no good.
I absolutly refuse to pay for any link ! They should be honoured that I allowe them to link to me !!
(do you think Buddha was aware of the fact that he was Buddha?)
My site was added to the Yahoo directory on September 20th and my rank improved just slightly on Yahoo search. No results or PR improvements on Google which was my main goal. Is the Yahoo directory really going to help me rank well and improve my PR on Google? Right now my site is nowhere to be found on Google with a 2/10 PR despite daily crawls by googlebot. The site is available since late 2004 and was re-lauched on May 2006 with lots of unique good quality content. I don’t believe my URL is on probation anymore and the domain is renewed til 2009. Any ideas? Should I wait longer or is there anything wrong with this strategy?
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My opinion ..
Yahoo! Directory DO NOT worth $299 USD a year ..
it is not help in PR or visitor ..
So for my it is not importatnt
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http://www.earnfx.com
Andy,
Thanks for posting this – best post I’ve seen on the subject so far and it’s an issue I’ve been going back and forth on for some time.
One other question, though: Is there a point where it becomes no longer worth it to re-up?
Thanks,
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