Who Does Yahoo! Think They Are? part I
Some of us have been familiar with Yahoo! as an online directory for years; my company was listed there in mid-1995. Many in the Internet industry have become increasingly frustrated and disillusioned with Yahoo! as a directory, especially noting their tendency toward being portal city. Looking at a chart of their stock price by month since early 1996, I find that they barely closed above 30 until the middle of 1998; since then they have seen closing prices over 200. So now that Yahoo! surfs on the crest of the stock market, and a seemingly endless amount of business relationships, who does Yahoo! think they are now?
Part I: The Online Directory
In the mid-1990s, you submitted your web site info to be listed in Yahoo! You waited a week or two, and it was listed just as you sent it in. They reserved the right to edit, so you had one shot to get it in right. If you followed their rules, which were mostly not going over 200 characters, you were OK. A year or so ago, people started noticing it could take a month or more to get listed in Yahoo!, if they even accepted your submission. So you sent it in over and over and still no response and no listing. You can read one humourous real life experience on the Yahoo Hates Me page. Finding this listed in Yahoo! lead me right to what can only be called the Consumer Opinion category in Yahoo! about Yahoo! Here's a page that gives tips on Getting Listed On Yahoo!. They even suggest buying banner advertising. That didn't help me, but more about that later. Why is this so hard???
1. "Personal" "Attention"
Yes, both are in quotes as many people may want to dispute associating either word with Yahoo! Unlike many online search engines that send out spiders or robots to index your site, Yahoo! relies on actual humans to check your submission for accuracy and I even hear they check your site for quality. Of course, they still seem to have time to list the ChurchSluts Ultimate Megasite. Am I saying a sex site is less important than mine of my clients'? No, but many who have fallen into the Yahoo! black hole are doubly insulted that sites like these get in (correctly) while theirs don't seem to be considered.
2. The Rules
The rules for listing your site aren't so hard. Pick 2 or 3 categories that are relevant, and try to make one regional. But then there are the rules for the description, that most important element where you get the chance to describe your site/business and get some important keywords in. Here are the rules from Yahoo's site:
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