Is there ANY chance the Yahoo! Dir will be the default results again?

Yahoo! Directory Results

[Pink_V]

I've seen a lot of interesting, well thought out discussions on this message board, and I was wondering...

Does anyone know if there is ANY chance that Yahoo! will bring its own directory results back to the forefront like before October 9th?

I've lost 10's of $1,000's since the change plus two employees. I've been working on optimizing for Google, which I know so little about. It's a whole new ballgame, and I'm so frustrated by the fact that I paid for my "reviews", which don't amount to a hill of beans anymore. The directory is almost worthless without the results being displayed like they were before.

I'm angry that I have to scramble to learn how to optimize for another search engine when I paid to get into Yahoo! (forget all the fluff and technobabble - no one gives a hoot about a "review" - we care about getting listed).

People who are submitting sites since the change look to me like the blind walking toward an embankment.

Please tell me, if anyone really knows...is there a chance that Yahoo! will bring back it's old way of displaying search results?

Pink

[dogboy]

doubt anyone who really knows would tell us, but in my opinion, no. I've been watching engines for a long time now and can't really remember an incidence when an engine radically changed and then reverted back again to the exact same thing they had before. Once in a while you will see a glitched reindex, a filter fail, etc, and they will revert, but they aren't intentional strategy changes... just screw ups.

When something as big as this happens, it's for a reason.... they need to get 'out of the pan'. So if they go 'into the fire', then they need to get out of the fire, but not back into the pan, if you get my meaning. I think most here are holding their breath for the next Google update, not only to see what happens in Google, but to see what effect it has on Yahoo.

We did see the directory SERPs rankings change, then revert back again, but no one really knows what that was about. I still see default SERPs that are not Google, and that aren't Dir listings.... they seem to have directory listings on top of google results, but not exactly, (meaning 5 out of the first 6 might be dir results then and the rest would be google results with a dir result thrown in here or there) ... anyway I think this is what I'm hoping for... dir listings on top of google results... but I don't hold out too much hope.

[skibum]

I hope they don't revert back to them. They were terrible and getting worse by the day as everyone continually spammed them. If they do bring them back, they ought to take advantage of the $299.00 only being a review fee and dump all the junk in there.

It was kind of nice to be able to top the charts relatively easily but the search quality was bad.....

[2_much]

Pink_V, you may want to spend some time looking into Fast and Inktomi as well. I don't really know anything, but there have been rumors so it might be worth getting a head start.

[scorpion]

you guys have to think long term. It is actually better in the long run! Your Yahoo directory listing increases your google pagerank or even gets your page spidered if it wasn't. This in turn is picked up by other SE's. You will appear in MORE places on the web rather than less. That's just my opinion though

[Jack_Frost]

From a marketing standpoint, Yahoo is known as a search engine. They can't really exist as a distinct search engine by essentially carrying Google's results, can they?

Perhaps they could, but what a blow to their ego. Think about their corporate board room. Basically they were THE Name in the search engine world and now they are just going to contract out their core business.

Let's face it, their directory was too easy to manipulate. You want to come up number 1 under red widgets...name your company red widget company and get a url called www.red-widget.com.

The problem is that Google's results aren't that great for a lot of searches either. Especially for non competitive terms. Sites with high PR's tend to get high rankings simplys becuase the 84th and 432nd word on a page match the search phrase.

I for one would love to see a blend of directory results with some type of algo for link popularity and keyword density...

[rogerd]

My own speculation has been that Yahoo would present "top directory results" in some fashion - maybe a sidebar. I think the revenue from directory listings, particularly now with a subscription model, is too tasty to just write off. If they don't do something better, new enrollments and renewals will be negligible.

[WebRank]

Google is much easier to rank on than Yahoo, now if you optimize for Google you have about 70% (give or take a few) of all internet searches with AOL Yahoo & Google all returning the same results. Its a bit redundant but for SEO its the best thing to happen.

[Pink_V]

I thought I saw this the other day, then I went to the site today, and guess what...Yahoo results are on the first page for a lot of my major search terms. Some results still come back with a Google look (i.e. no red arrows).

I'd love to get first page results across the board again. Is this a fluke, or does anyone have any insight into what's going on?

I appreciate all the comments here. Thanks!

Pink

[2_much]

Pink_V that's very interesting, I wonder if they're still testing? I don't see this, but it indicates to me that they're still testing and tracking user responses.

I'm seeing the updated Google results on Yahoo, which for me is an indication that Yahoo's interested in showing "fresh" results and improving their search quality and relevance.

[john316]

Advertiser response will be the issue, higher clickthroughs better be converting, or they may have to offer a more relevant serp.

[Pink_V]

John,

I'm almost embarassed to ask this, but what is "serp"?

Pink

[john316]

Hi Pink_v

serp:

Search engine result page