Yahoo stuffed with scraper sites

but they are the quickest to ban whole IP blocks or domains

[zeus]

I think I will never get there drift in controling a SE, they ban a whole IP block or all domains on it, but they are so stuffed with subdomains and scraper sites, I think its a shame they dont do a little more for the search, there is so many sites missing in there index now, its incredible.

Why dont they learn a little from google and make a good filter if a site is not following there rules, so they dont have to ban blocks of domains manualy.

I would like 3 big search engines - MSN, google and yahoo.

[mfishy]

Yeah, it is intersting, and yet even more evidene of their incompetence, that they have to resort to banning entire ip blocks :)

[randle]

they ban a whole IP block or all domains on it

This is definitely happening with Yahoo. Their penalty program has moved well beyond the merits, (or lack thereof) of the individual site.

[mfishy]

yah, the draconian tactics were dragged along from the old schooler's from inktomi i suppose.

This to me (the banning of entire ip ranges) is yet ANOTHER sign of weakness. If you cannot detect what sites are gaming you badly, you simply remove them all just in case...rofl...:)

[randle]

the draconian tactics were dragged along from the old schooler's from inktomi i suppose.

I would like to think they just have a bad hang over from the days when every web master was scared to death of getting kicked out of the Yahoo directory. There actually was a day when getting listed high in their directory was a very big deal and hand creating serp’s can be a little intoxicating I'm sure. (I know it would be for me if I was at the controls)

Unfortunately the reality of what’s happening today with their index is simple laziness. It’s easier to zap an entire c-block, or server, than to work hard at perfecting the proper algorithmic filters needed to keep the serp’s looking clean. If they can’t straighten it out algorithmically they could at least have the people doling out the hand penalties take a few minutes to review the sites being penalized instead of removing sites in blanket fashion.

I know it’s no easy matter creating a search engine, and I don’t mean to be critical; but it is what it is.

[ZoltanTheBold]

Unfortunately the reality of what’s happening today with their index is simple laziness.

This is undoubtedly true, but I believe you would also have to add incompetence into the mix. Yahoo are very much a 1990's company struggling to keep up with current trends online, let alone anticipate new ones.

It is always easy to over-analyse SERPs in any major SE, so I often find it is better to have a look at what else they're up to by way of an insight. A good indicator with Yahoo is their sloppy approach in other areas, most notably in their Help section.

I recently had to setup a Yahoo Merchant Solution for a client and it was not uncommon to find a solution to a problem in their Help in 4 different places. I don't mean it was repeated 4 times in 4 locations to aide the user. Rather there were old bits in old sections, part of this repeated in newer sections (with pages designed slightly differently), and others that seemed to be in the wrong place entirely.

They take a similar approach to mundane details like passwords. My client changed their password at one point. This new password was of course needed to log them into the system, yet it wasn't recognized when they tried to login to another part of Yahoo (this still used the old one!).

I know these details seem trivial, yet they give a good insight into how Yahoo operate. Beyond the frankly rather poor interface to their main site, they are a sloppy, unprofessional company who simply haven't kept up.

Given the pace of change online their position, tenuous as it is, will not last. Although I prefer to have a number of leading SEs I won't grieve for the loss of Yahoo. Someone else will take their place.

[zeus]

I think its a REAL problem if they just ban whole blocks or all domains on a block, they have to get a filter to fix the spamming if it was the case in the penalty, also if you look through there search results there are SO many sites missing on there index and I mean quality sites.

They realy need to take this search business up again or simply drop it if they cant handle it, maybe get msn search instead of inktomi, because MSN realy want to make a change in this bizz.

[nefitco]

Let's face it- buying Overture was a big mistake. It's clear YSM does not have the technical talent to maintain never mind grow YSM. Don't you get the feeling there's a brain drain going on at Y? I think they're so enamored with video and Yahoo Music Engine they're willing to concede to 3rd of 4th place in search and PPC. Income from video and music is covering up a disaster in PPC and the bad news will only get worse when the Y/MS PPC agreement ends in 3 months.

[randle]

Make no mistake these guys are printing money; they are extremely successful and giving stock holders a great return. They know what their doing. However when it comes to pure search they just don’t display a real passion for it. They don’t spend 24/7 thinking about search and it shows in a lot of different areas. They do it because they have to, not because that’s what they are.

[zeus]

ofcause they are erning money, but there search results are horror no.1, I think its getting worse every month, but Im not sure its because of there algo anymore, I simply think its because they have baned so many IP/domains with time that the good sites are missing.