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I have one of them off the shelf real estate listing site and I was wondering if the Yahoo! Directory Listings was worth trying. They charge $299 a year.
Had anyone tried this before?
[edited by: tedster at 8:38 pm (utc) on Aug. 16, 2005]
No matter what site I have in there I have never had more than maybe 1/2 dozen referrers a month from Yahoo directory - not including when you are in the "what's new". I think there are much better ways to spend the money for advertising.
This thread actually belongs in the "directories" forum ;)
When you create a title, it should be similar to your whois info and contact info and the description needs to be real sentences. I have seen Yahoo! listings which were more than worth it and others which were completely worthless. Good luck :)
Mike
I've personally never bothered, and it's never done me any harm in any SE SERPS position.
At $299, it's just far too expensive for a link.
TJ
I have consistently seen Yahoo directory listing having a direct benefit in improved Yahoo SERPs.
I am one of those that disagree - I have not seen any evidence whatsoever that it helps your ranking. Have put several sites in since they started the paid inclusion and never saw a boost that could be directly related to directory inclusion (even those included in the past year).
It could be just "sour grapes" in my thought process since I have seen them do some manual bans on sites for absolutely no infractions of their guidelines (even had them agreeing on a couple occasions) – so I have a bad attitude towards them (hey, at least I admit it).
so I have a bad attitude towards them (hey, at least I admit it)
Contractor, you do :)
Have put several sites in since they started the paid inclusion
I hope we don't have any confusion over Site Match here. Just the directory listing having some bearing on Yahoo SERPs or not. Well, I have no crush towards Yahoo, but the $299 I have been spending on Yahoo directory listings have been more than useful on more than one occasion. On hindsight too, it seems logical for Yahoo to credit a brownie point for sites that list with its directory.
Anyway its my personal opinion.
I hope we don't have any confusion over Site Match here.
No confusion here...hehe
One of the sites they manually banned is in 3 directory categories and they haven't charged me for 3 years that it's been in.
Yeah, $299 a year is too expensive and I can draw much more traffic in a years time using other avenues.
If yahoo listing cost too much, which would be a better way to advertise? I had tried auto surff programs which only killed bandwitdth, link trade and webrings which never did any good becasue the other side usually removed the link after a few days or the link is located on a page no one will never see. I had tried Overture and that really burned a big hole in my wallet.
I been reading the direcory forum in here and starting to get the idea that the more sites linked to yours, the better the chance you will be listed on SE. Please correct me if im wrong.
Thanks again.
:)
What is SERP?
Search Engine Results Page
Look for quality sites ranking well with your terms and see if they will accept a paid advertisement for your site. Make sure it's straight href link and don't get involved with the other things you've mentioned ;)
Absolutely the first thing to do after putting a site on the Internet is to get it in the Yahoo Directory (well, maybe after spending the 45 seconds to submit it to dmoz).
Non-serious sites find the dollar a day a dounting amount, which means the sites in the category are usually head and shoulders above the norm.
Hehe.. respectfully disagree there. Kind of like saying those companies that belong to the BBB is head and shoulders above the rest. In truth, at least in my part of the country the companies belonging to BBB and other "associations" are trying to "buy" respect/legitimacy and some of the worst companies belong to these organizations.
Of course you may be looking at other parts of the directory than I am.
Why spend $299 and pay $6.00 a click (that's what it works out to when you get 50 clicks in a year) when you can get much higher quality traffic for much less. I normally saw site-rippers and "gawkers" coming from the what's new page so I'm not even counting those.
edited/added
Don't get me wrong, if you have money to burn it's certainly not going to hurt being in there. I am only speaking of a variety of diverse sites/industrys I had anything to do with in which I had access to traffic logs. To me it's not worth it, to you it may be!
It's a pure signal of quality, and a site that isn't in it has a major anti-quality check against it.
Again, if you can't afford the buck a day, you aren't talking about a site with any economic value so you might have different priorities.
It's a pure signal of quality, and a site that isn't in it has a major anti-quality check against it.
That is one of the funniest statements I've heard in a long time... sure hope you aren't serious. Strike against it by whom? Not by the users of Yahoo, doesn't help in Yahoo rankings, Google doesn't care anymore than if you had a decent link from elsewhere, so who exactly puts the strike against you?
I have sites in there for free and it wouldn't matter if they dropped them or not. I can find many mirrored sites and sites with the exact content in the same or adjacent categories... sign of quality...nah, I don't buy that for a moment.
One site I have is in 3 categories, and in the same categories there are 4 sites owned by the same large company and all they are single page sites/doorway pages to their services/main site (they also have their main site in the same category). In the same category there are 3 other sites that are two page sites/doorway pages for their affiliate program... that's a sign of quality?
I've seen the "big boys" in different industries take over many categories in Yahoo. Now that may be fine and it doesn't bother me, but let's not confuse this with quality.
BTW, you have no idea how much I make ;)
(edited - corrected my spelling)
doesn't help in Yahoo rankings, Google doesn't care anymore
I am sorry, those are sweeping statements. Can't be established as facts.
Which do I advertise?
1. Forums Site
General topic about everything, few banner ads -- Not accepted by Adsence for some reason
2. Real Estate Site
Off the shelf listing sites. Only has 1 person listing on it now. (1 month old)
3. Directory Site
Not done yet, but when im done with it, should I list this one on yahoo or one of the two sites above?
Even if you treat it as a half dozen crawlable links, that alone could merit its minimal cost for sites that by their commercial nature have trouble getting links.
Still, the signal of quality is one of the best aspect. Just because some crap is in there doesn't take away from the fact that literally millions of pieces of crap could never get in.
I am sorry, those are sweeping statements. Can't be established as facts.
I believe it is the other way around ;)
I have worked on many sites that were later placed in Yahoo with no discernable increase of rankings from Yahoo. So are you stating being listed does increase your rankings in Yahoo?
The only links that are straight href links anymore are those in foreign (from USA) Yahoo directories.
Like I say, to each there own, but to make a statement the directory is for serious webmasters/businesses or a sign/signal of site quality doesn't hold water. There are many sites in the Yahoo directory that simply wouldn't make it into other directories because of their lack of quality. (this is not a debate of directories, but advertising $)
If you are in an industry that offers little opportunity for advertising elsewhere at a reasonable rate or are into affiliate marketing then it may be a good idea. If it works for you already, great, but at least look at the directory for what it is.
It's not the money, and I agree $300 a year isn't much. After being in business for over 20 years I fully understand the concepts of marketing/advertising, but I also consider ROI.
I have worked on many sites that were later placed in Yahoo with no discernable increase of rankings from Yahoo
Those are your personal experiences. If I have bad days on every 13th of a month, I can't establish it as a universal fact, that 13 is a bad no. I have personal experience of improving ranks in Yahoo after Yahoo directory listing, but I won't make it as a fact that applies to everyone. Lets take directory listing/Yahoo SERP relationship as a fact not proven beyond doubt.
For serious business owners, spending 300 a year isn't a big deal, so let them convince themselves first hand whether a Yahoo listing is worth the money or not. Than taking out our individual experiences as facts and misguide them, in favor or against it.
For serious business owners, spending 300 a year isn't a big deal, so let them convince themselves first hand whether a Yahoo listing is worth the money or not. Than taking out our individual experiences as facts and misguide them, in favor or against it.
Maybe you have not read my posts completely? Read my 1st post in this thread where I state "personally" and repeatedly state basically to use your own judgement....
There is absolutely no proof the a directory listing in Yahoo helps your rankings, am I wrong?
I am more on the lines of message #2 in [webmasterworld.com...] , but in most cases (maybe 35-40) I have dealt with you can find a much better ROI elsewhere.
edited
Wanted to make clear the 35-40 sites I reference above were actually placed in the Yahoo directory.
I'm making a living off my site and $299 for advertising is not a huge investment. I spend $120 a month on print ads right now and am trying to decide whether that's something I want to continue with.
Free advertising is great when you can get it and it works. I can launch new sites now by linking to them from my directory site and they get picked up by google and other search engines quickly.
Every non-penalized link helps in ranking, directly and sometimes indirectly.
But I reckon most pay Yahoo, for the link itself, rather than the traffic it might provide.... That link gets picked up by other engines etc
I'm in MSN and Yahoo search, so I'm not fussed really.
Contractor, I get you. Only few sentences you wrote that were indicating, there is absolutely no benefit for Yahoo SERPs by a directory listing, which I wanted to contest and guess that was a healthy debate. As you said "There is absolutely no proof a directory listing in Yahoo helps your rankings, am I wrong?", there isn't proof to the contrary too, and let the site owners find it out for themselves.
Regards
