Yahoo Web vs. Directory results

I'm confused!

[Eljaybe]

Help! I apologize for the numerous questions about this, but I have to get these questions answered in order to understand Yahoo much better....

1. How are Yahoo Web results listed? Do you have to pay $299/yr. to get listed here? If my site is listed thru Inktomi, will I be listed in Yahoo results?

2. How are Yahoo Directory results listed? Are they included in the Yahoo Web results also?

3. Does it matter what Directory category your site is listed under when someone does a search for a specific product or service covered in your site? For example, if your site is under the category "Restaurants" and someone searches for "Italian Restaurant" (and your site has all types of restaurants listed) will your site be listed in the search results (Web or Directory results)?

I hope I didn't confuse anyone. I appreciate any help. Thanks!

[Mohamed_E]

1. Yahoo search currently only lists web results, which (again, currently) are supplied by Google. There is a general belief that Google results will at some time (nobody really knows when) be replaced by one of the search engines that Yahoo now owns.

Which one is not clear: Yahoo bought Inktomi, so at one time it was assumed that Inktomi results would be used. But Yahoo is in the process of buying Overture, which owns both AltaVista and the web search technology of FAST.

Currently listing is free, as Google spiders the whole web for free.

Yahoo Directory results, as far as I know, are only available to those who explicitly search the directory. Again, this may (or may not) change when the post-Google Yahoo emerges.

[Eljaybe]

So are you saying that if I pay the $299 to be listed in the Yahoo directory, I may only see my listing pop up on the Directory search results page, but not on a normal Yahoo search?
How many people surf Yahoo Directory vs. the Web? It can't be that many.
If I submit my site to Google, I have a better chance of being listed on Yahoo search results, correct?

[Mohamed_E]

All you get for your $299 is a listing in the directory. In addition you get the side benefit that Google counts that as a link. There have been many discussions in this forum on the value of a Yahoo Directory listing with the current setup.

Submitting your site to Google is not very useful; if you have links Google will find you without the need for submitting, and if you have no or few links Google will ignore you, even if you submit. But it does no harm.

But please remember, there will alomost certainly be big changes in how Yahoo operates, probably fairly soon.

[Eljaybe]

Thank you. That is helpful information. I know Yahoo will be changing soon, and we are already covered on Inktomi so maybe we will be ok.