Removed from Yahoo Directory - What to do?!

Site removed from directory after 5 years

[TomEEE]

My site was removed from the Yahoo directory recently. We noticed this only because our Google Rankings dropped significantly (and we thought it was some kind of penalty).

The site was the most popular in a very general part of the Yahoo Directory. We did have some server problems for a couple days a couple months back, thats the only problem I can think of.

Being so popular, it of course generates revenue, so I'm thinking Yahoo is trying to suck money out of us? (As the site was initially included as a free suggestion)

Is it worth it? Could it really be a Google Penalty?
Is there anyway to contact Yahoo, since they've called me a few times before about YPN? I would really like to avoid paying a yearly fee for something we've had so long for free.

Watcha' guys think?

[kneoteric_V]

Just as a clarification, do you mean to say that you can no more submit your site to Yahoo! for free?

[centime]

Just like most of us, Yahoo has a responsibility to make a profit.

If the listing was worth more than $299 per year to you, well,,,,,

[incrediBILL]

Did you try writing to Yahoo asking what happened to your listing?

My directory quarantines sites that don't respond, and for many other reasons, and makes them visible again at a future date when the site is fixed.

If they don't return in 90 days, I dump 'em, buh bye.

[solidghost]

Hmm.....Yahoo will remove sites from their directories?
I had thought that they were permanent?

[hutcheson]

By no means. For commercial sites the $299 fee is (1) for REVIEW, not INCLUSION, and (2) annual.

[lgn1]

My understanding is, if the site was there before Yahoo started charging for paid inclusion, it will stay there.

Our site has been in Yahoo since 1998, and we never paid Yahoo a cent.

I believe they do this to keep some base content for a category, incase alot of advertisers bail, after the year is up.

[solidghost]

That's what I heard.
Those older sites will remain.

[anallawalla]

I just checked my free noncommercial entry from 1998 - it is no longer in Yahoo Directory. :(

[angiolo]

> I just checked my free noncommercial entry from 1998 - it is no longer in Yahoo Directory. :(

I am curious: was your entry popular in the yahoo directory? I am referring to "SITE LISTINGS By Popularity".

[anallawalla]

I don't know. It was one of the first directories (a one-page script) from around 1995 and was once in the top 25 in the world (some defunct magazine's award). It had backlinks from major companies. It covers a very niche topic, so I get about one submission a month.

It lives on a subdirectory of a domain I rarely use, so it could be any reason including my own neglect.

[angiolo]

I was curious, because I don't think it's a good value for visitors to delete a site that is popular in their directory search...

[steveb]

Yahoo removed a lot of sites in the past three or four days. They've did this before, then a lot got put back, now some get taken out again. Schizo company.

[kneoteric_V]

" Yahoo removed a lot of sites in the past three or four days. They've did this before, then a lot got put back, now some get taken out again."

Can anyone please tell me why Yahoo does so often?

[windharp]

Of course I don't really know, but that sounds a lot like an automated linkchecking / rechecking system. Apart from the fact that the amount of link rot in the Yahoo directory seems to imply that they don't do much linkchecking...