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I say I think b/c it is so bad it seems like a bug. There was also no weather report on the Yahoo! blog.
Anyone else seeing what I am seeing?
Yahoo has certainly removed most of the spam sites. IMO this is a very positive update.
For those who think otherwise, perhaps there were some problems with your tactics/seo techniques? From our end it seems like a quality update.
translation: My site did well
Umm if seo techniques that yahoo favors is being a page about nothing maybe a related word on a page no links and seo like scraped content then yes this is a good update.
It seems that there is no filter on results. In my view, the relevancy of yahoo results has dropped exactly since the moment they drop the "view as xml" link. I don't know in what way these things can be related. I only know that they've happened at the same time. Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can correlate search relevancy with "view as xml" link.
found one site in top 10 that had a couple paragraphs typed up that basically said this is where we will put our information on red widgets, so if you are looking for red widgets this will eventually be the place to go. Since we will be continually updating our red widget information be sure to come back often.
But if you are looking for red widgets they don't have anything about them or even any affiliate links about them. But they do have affiliate links for blue doodads which is a related product but not what anyone searching for red widgets would be looking for.
I don't mind being beaten by relevant sites but this is ridiculous.
In my category, there's one page that ranks #4 about a "magical" chain letter where you just need to put 5 bucks in an evelope, send it to someone and you will receive a hundred other envelopes each containing similar amounts.
I did do a comparison between my site and the #1 site in my category using Alexa (yeah... i know that's not the best tool to do a comparison). I noticed that my site seems to get far more traffic than the #1 site even though I'm on page #3. BTW... the #1 site is hand-coded - CANNOT BE MOVED!
I can only deduce that people are smart enough to know that the site in question is just cloaking all his affiliate links. So do I really care about ranking well in Yahoo!? Yes and no...
Yes because I still want to be found...
No because if the #1 site is hand-coded, there's nothing I can do about it.
I just gotta find ways NOT to depend on SE's.
I don't think we should figure out what the new factors are or need to. I think it all comes down to value and this is the direction we all should be moving towards. This is truely what the search engines want -- basic SEO and extraorinary value to their searchers. Since this is the direction SE are attempting to take I hope they start gaining some better ground. I would much rather compete with top listing on a true value level than an SEO game the system level. Competing with junk and spam is hard where we are limited by our own morals (even that of SEs) thus not willing to cross the line; plus this raises the risk of long term success. Competing with other valued sites requires creativity, ingenuity, and innovation which in turn consistantly increases value for our visitors, search engines, industries, and us.
I would NEVER submit my own sites to Yahoo's paid directory because of this. I am actually liking the rest of the results though. Seem more relevant to me.
Yahoo does link quality links, who wouldn't. This doesnt mean necessarily reciprocal links.
A dial or two has been tweaked much too hard.
Is anyone here suprised? Investors are probably dumping their stock because their search engine has banned so many websites it is no longer functional. Its not hard for any investor to type in typical keywords into yahoo search and find half the internet missing/since its been banned.
likewise they have such a poor attitude towards webmasters and anti-business in general, that investors are finally wising up. What kind of company will ban its own paying customers.. in mass... and expect to stay in business for very long.
Creating a new "yahoo/overture" interface isnt going to correct the plummeting conversions and garbage search partner feeds and poor customer service.
I feel they are going out of business. Even stuff that ranks well, the clicks are skimpy. Do to over zealous banning, the user community no longer trusts Yahoo Search. The community is speaking with month after month in usage decline. I hope someone wises up over there. Until that happens, i'm putting "Sell" recommendation on yahoo stock.
Yahoo stock takes a beating today. Biggest 1 day drop ever.
Is anyone here suprised?
I am not surprised in the least. I believe in Karma; and unfortunately, Yahoo has been unbelievably arrogant, treating many of us very badly. They have "banned" sites for very minor "violations" of their "guidelines", then refused to reconsider any of our pleas for reinclusion. I am not suggesting that the disgruntled webmaster community is responsible for their poor stock performance, but it certainly doesn't help. Webmasters have a loud voice and a big influence.
Their SiteMatch program is a joke. They told us when it was released several years ago that it would be an avenue for websites to get included into the index. Rather, they just take your money and reject your pages with no explanation. I recently submitted an 80 page site that was rejected because 4 of those pages have "affiliate" links. Big woo. The other 76 pages do not have a single commercial link -- not even Adsense or YPN (even though it WAS invited into the YPN program). How narrow minded. How arrogant.
I am sorry, but they are going down the road that Looksmart did, in my opinion. They steal your $300 (per year!) to put you in their directory, which doesn't drive any traffic, then steal your money when you submit your site to Sitematch, then "ban" you from the serps without so much as a simple review when you feel your site is ready for submission.
Tell me where the logic is, that a site is good enough to be accepted into the YPN, but "banned" from their serps? How do they expect to make money for their investors with this attitude?
I am not surprised their stocks are plummeting. I am actually encouraged. Come on MSN! MSN has been so humble and supportive and I am very excited about Vista.
In the end, webmasters are the ones who are going to make money for Yahoo and their investors by purchasing advertising. That relationship is built through customer service, support, fairness, humbleness, and trust. If they had a more webmaster-friendly philosophy, they might be in a better position today.
Karma can be a real B*%&#
Anyway...that's my vent for the day.
Looksmart
By the way... Has anyone seen a post from one of the Yahoo people lately? Maybe they are up to something.
Another 2 puzzle me - they have done better on keyword content than the sites we have with IBL's using the same terms.
I have a 2 sites that are doing very well in Yahoo now as well; sites NOT listed in Yahoo's Directory. The site that I work for (my real job, lol) has a Directory Listing and it sucks on some terms we need in Yahoo. The Directory listing is actually hurting us in Yahoo's own search results. We contacted them to change this and, of course, they never answer. Yahoo should NOT use the Directory listing in the search results.I would NEVER submit my own sites to Yahoo's paid directory because of this. I am actually liking the rest of the results though.
I'm questioning the Yahoo listings as well. It's messed up our meta title text with the directory title put in by an editor - resulting in less obvious listings.
"Our mission is to steadily improve relevance to reduce the number of queries we do poorly on. In the process, some results may shift, but if you look at enough queries, you should see an overall improvement across the board. Thanks for all your feedback and keep the examples coming for this release and all future changes we make."
Maybe we should smack em on the hand with a ruler for cheating and not keeping their eyes on their own paper.
