Do you list in Yahoo!?

Yahoo is the number two search engine available today. They receive over 150 million page views a day and getting a good listing can bring your business a very huge amount of targeted traffic. Yahoo is also the most difficult search engine to get listed on. I have included some tips that might help you succeed with this challenge.

Unlike all the other search engines, Yahoo is doesn’t have a robot or a software program to index millions of URLs. Instead, Yahoo is a searchable directory built by humans. They have a team of real live humans that go and visit every web site that is submitted. They are known as Yahoo “Surfers” and since they receive thousands of submissions every day, it can take a while before they will be able to visit your web site.

Yahoo is in business to make money, like we all are, and they are dedicated in making their directory a helpful resource. Because of this, they will not list crappy web sites. It is known that Yahoo only accepts about ten or twenty percent of the submissions they receive. That is a very small number so you have to make your web site stand out from the rest.

If you are finding it difficult to get listed, try viewing your web site from their point of view. Is your site just one big advertisement or a bunch of links? Or is it quality information that will make their directory a more valuable source for their visitors? Beside the fact that your web site has to be good quality, you must follow their submission guide lines. You may view their instructions here. I would suggest reading that page very carefully. I have included some tips along with the information you will be asked when you submit a site to be listed on their directory.

Title

The title should be your “official business name”. It is good to have a few keywords in your title that will rank you higher, but it needs to be the original name you go by. It will help if your main logo has the exact title you submitted to Yahoo. Basically, you want your site to show that the title you sent them is your business name. Changing your domain name records to the same title might also help.

URL

It has been said that Yahoo doesn’t list many web sites any more that are from free home pages. If you are very serious about getting listed, your best chances are to have your own domain name.

Description

The description is a very important part of your submission. Yahoo wants their directory to be a helpful resource, and they do not want their sites listed to have a bunch of descriptions that are just keywords. You want to create a description that is about a sentence or two that describes your site in a short summary. It will help you more if you can work in a few keywords, but keep it clean and professional.

Category Selection

This area is where many web sites are rejected by Yahoo. You need to do a search that is the main subject or keyword of your web site. You then need to pick a category that is targeted to your web site. You do not want to pick a category that is to broad, but that is not too deep. Look at some of your bigger competitors and see where they are listed. This will give you an idea where yours should be.

Category Suggestions (Optional)

Yahoo wants their directory to be helpful. If you have a suggestion for a category that you think would help to have, then put one in this area. This will increase your chances and your site might even receive more traffic because yours will be the only in the new category.

Final Comments

Instead of leaving this area blank, this is a great opportunity to beg for your listing to be listed. Try pointing out to Yahoo how your site will help their directory become a more valuable source or how there are not many good web sites listed in your category and yours will fill in that gap.

You want to make your submission professional and to stand out from the rest. It can take a few weeks to a month or so to get listed. If you are not listed within six to eight months, then I would suggest sending an email to this address. Yahoo has created this special email address to help people with their listings. I would suggest sending a polite email to them explaining what you have done and ask them why your site has been rejected. You should point out how your site will be a value to include in their database and hopefully they will tell you why your site was rejected. You will see better results if you write down the date you submitted your submission and tell them that date. I have heard that without this date, you are pretty much out of luck.

If you are having difficulty getting listed and want a faster solution, you might want to check out their business express service. They charge $200 dollars for this service and will guarantee you that your site will be reviewed within seven days. The best part is if your site is rejected, they will tell you why. I would suggest submitting the normal way first and see if they will list you. If you do not want to wait and have 200 bucks, then you might want to use this service.

Tip:

Long time ago, Yahoo created this secret password that gave your submission top priority and pushed yours to the top of the list. This was created to help certain people and wasn’t meant for everyone. Once it was passed all over the Internet, it was stopped. I wouldn’t suggest trying to us it because Yahoo will see that you are trying to do something and will most likely reject your site.

Author: Curtis Stevens
Copyright Simple Solutions
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