Benefits of being in Yahoo directory

More visits, better ranking, what?

[silverbytes]

My site ranks in yahoo free search.
I wonder what's the benefit of being listed in directory.
99% of people uses search feature and almost no one clicks 7 times until reaching the apropiated category in yahoo directory. Considering you must pay between U$99 and U$299 per year to Yahoo to be listed in directoy (commercial sites), why would I do that?

What is the real benefit?
Will my site rank better?
Do I get a PR3 link (the apropiate category has that PR value)?
Will I get more visits from people browsing directory (1%)?

Experiences please?

[phpmaven]

The categories generally have good pagerank for the niche.

Since the links in the directory are not direct links but are urls that are redirected to the target site, I doubt that any PR is passed.

[McMohan]

Leaving aside the traffic benefit, is there any added benefit by listing in Yahoo vis-a-vis another site/directory with equal PR, human edited, relevant to the niche page?

May be it will have that just one bit extra authority site listing benefit? My 2 cents.

Mc

[steveb]

"is there any added benefit"

Definitely.

[Eurotrader]

SteveB,

Could you elaborate a bit about this "added benefit", which is not due to PR?

I assume this added benefit will contribute to a site's authority score.

Also, does being listed in DMOZ have a similar "added benefit" in search engine algorithms (aside from PR)?

Thanks!

[cabowabo]

Waste of money

You obviously haven't tested the benefits of a directory inclusion.

[cabowabo]

Um, no. It's probably the best use of $299 any website can invest.

Cheers to Steve. Absolutely. Google even recommends it in their webmaster section. If that isn't a golden hint to what it does for you, I don't know what is.

CaboWabo

[cabowabo]

people simply don't use the directory to do searches.

This is based on opinion, not on fact. Fact is, Y! Directory is searched - and searched often.

Cheers,

CaboWabo

[Eurotrader]

Cabowabo,

I completely agree with you. I am a great fan of the Yahoo directory. Hey, I'm buying my spot this weekend.

I was just asking if being in the directory is counted in the Google and Yahoo algorithm with a benefit that is ADDITIONAL to the Pagerank gain.

I'm speaking along the lines of gaining in authority, etc.

I understand that you will gain more visitors, fine. My question is solely about the effect on SE algorithms.

[Noximus]

Hi all,

Does being included in Yahoo directory ensure being included in Yahoo main index?

does anybody know this for sure?

[phpmaven]

Since the links in the directory are not direct links but are urls that are redirected to the target site, I doubt that any PR is passed.

Well, I'm gonna have to eat my hat. I just noticed that a competitor has a backlink that Google is counting that is on a Yahoo directory page. The link is being 302 redirected to their site. I can only assume that the PR is being passed as well. I always assumed that redirected links were worthless. Of course Google could be making an exception in the case of Yahoo ;)

[Kahless]

If they do not list you they do not refund the $299.00. Correct?

[acee]

Being in the Yahoo directory does not ensure inclusion in their search index.

In my experience it is quite the opposite.

Prior to Yahoo using their own index I had a modest number of referals from the directory and a substantial number from the search index to 2 of my sites.

After the switch to their own index, these 2 websites never made it into the new index, and referals from the directory are comparable with those from a free link exchange (1 or 2 per day).

Some of my other sites that have not been submitted ('for consideration') to Yahoo directory that appear in their search index enjoy a much better level of referals from Yahoo!

I've just noticed that another of my sites that has been in the directory for quite some time (2 years ish) has only the homepage in the search index. This site comprises several thousand pages.

[thunderpaste]

I just neglected to renew my express listing and got an email saying I was being dropped from the directory. 2 days later I dropped from #1 to #3 on a keyword I have had locked up for 4 years.

After reading this thread I renewed because I have no explanation for the drop in SERP. No new sites, links, content. Losing the Y directory listing was the only thing that changed in that week.

If that link was keeping me on top then its well worth the 300 bucks, at least in my line of work.

[Kahless]

I am in yahoo search results but not in the directory. I am not selling anything but do serve Google Ads on the site. I tried applying to the directory the free way every 6 to 8 weeks for the last year but nothing.

There was a whole lot of dead sites in the directory I want to get listed in. I sent them the dead sites in hopes they would list me but no, they removed the dead sites and that was it.

So it seems give them the $300 and hope they list me. If not I guess I am just out the $300 bucks.

[ScottM]

$300 for link is a lot of money for most people.

Those who are serious about keeping a domain for awhile (rather than just burning it) just might buy into this.

[JeremyL]

If the directory does not already effect the serps, how long do you think it will be before Tim sees enough of these threads about no value and makes the listings a heavy factor.

To me, I think directory listed sites should be a heavy factor in the natural serps, after all they have been reviewed by humans to be clean. That being said, if they do become more of a factor, Yahoo should review the sites each time they come up for renewal to check for sites going blackhat or becoming a completely different site after inclusion. They get paid yearly now so that should be no problem.