Forum Moderators: goodroi
What would be the overall effect to you, if Yahoo told Google to dump the ODP as part of a new contract provision?
If ODP is considered open source, then I doubt Yahoo! or Google could be done for anti-competitive practices
Since open source is meant to be "open source", it shouldnt mean that a business is obligated to use it.
I guess it would be illegal if Yahoo "threatened" Google....and that can easily be done in a smoke filled room :)
However, like said, Google has high standards, and you have to ask who is REALLY in control here
Doesn't matter if it is free or not.
The idea is that it hurts consumers.
Lots of companies get away with this stuff - doesn't mean they should.
Of course, Yahoo probably wouldn't phrase stuff that way. And smarter companies can get around this somewhat by implying certain things in negotiations.
One example of somewhat similar conduct:
[ameritech.com...]
What would be the overall effect to you, if Yahoo told Google to dump the ODP as part of a new contract provision?
I would start by notifying clientele of the event itself, and then go on to explain why now, even more of my attention is spent away from the ODP.
I would then continue such a notification with a statement regarding why it is that I no longer felt as though the ODP was a legitimate source of targeted traffic.
Thankfully, many existing clients understand that the ODP, alone, is very much worthless - as reflected in traffic statistics.
Enough said.
would only apply if you could successfully argue that ODP is better than Yahoo for relevancy?? :)
If ODP were to be dropped from google it would not hurt me all together but it would change the way things happened. ODP is a nice structure, if google were to lose ODP then a competitor would pull ahead by having the advantage of the ODP.
My site isn't in ODP right now. The only way this move would affect me, is if it changes Google's algo for computing SERPs. If the ODP links counted for less, then this could actually help me a lot.
That is like you saying Overture only driven results are better than google. :)
This statement is not entirely true either. As many, many people have experienced and become frustrated with ODP as it can sometimes take over 6 months to get a site listed. People are more willing to take the time to get a job done when they are getting paid. Fact of life.
What's the "Greenbuster function" on ODP? It sounds like some sort of product for golfers who don't know how to putt. :)
Yahoo has dozens of dead listings that have been in there for a long time even after reporting them they are still there. Sites are not added unless you pay so many sites are neglected. How can you say a site that is moderated +pay is a better resource than vulenteer workers updating a DB all the time.
In theory, the ODP can review and list more sites than Yahoo does because it doesn't charge for reviews and has a larger labor force. In practice, the ODP's quality varies enormously from category to category, depending on who the editors are. (And on whether the categories or subcategories even have editors; many don't.)
Bottom line: The ODP might do a better job than Yahoo for "Widgets," but Yahoo might do a better job than the ODP for "Thingamabobs." It all depends on the topic.
It's an interesting thought, though. I rather like the idea ... not just because it wouldn't affect me, but because to me, that would make Google's results more like "pure Google" to me.
Yahoo and AOL are commetitors. I don't think they would like the other guy's directory fueling Google. So yes, Yahoo can try. But AOL will object.
Perhaps Google will create a google.yahoo.com thats directory is powered by Yahoo inself. That would make sense. To Google fuels to choose from.
It's hard to say what the impact of such a change might be on the site's traffic patterns.
Indications are that YAHOO! already uses PR in searches. Extending this a little bit to apply it within categories would be much better than the alphabetical listings YAHOO! now has. You wouldn't have to wade through all the !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sites to get to the good ones.
I'll 2nd ChrisR's comments as well, Y! does not have enough ground to make this demand, they themselves use another SE's db. They obviously choose to do this with Google, cause they do such a good job. Why force them to be inferior now?
Google is however changing, I'm seeing more and more push toward traditionally advertising their product. I don't disagree with it, but I can see a Overture in the making. Not sure if this is good for the general consumer. Time for someone else to step-up and make another attempt at this SE thing. Teoma, maybe, but not as AskJeeves. Just my opinion.
> The yahoo deal displays lower level results. The deal with aol, netscape and compuserve will be displaying nearly pure google results as well as adwords.
Good point, I completely missed that. For niche terms it doesn't matter much, but for those of us whose inktomi listings don't bring AOL referals in part because they were buried, this could help considerably.
I think he started it to get things going early this morning :)
Or, if you believe in conspiracy theories he is "really" taking a informal poll for GoogleGuy ;)
Although Yahoo and ODP have flaws and dead listings, I am currently of the opinion, Google switching to Yahoo and dropping ODP is a good idea (not the least of which is it will be beneficial to me:) )
