Yahoo is the Internet's oldest Human Edited directory, a place
where human editors organize web sites into categories. However, in
October 2002, Yahoo made a giant shift to crawler-based listings for
its main results. These came from Google until February 2004. Now,
Yahoo uses its own search technology. The Yahoo Directory still
survives. You'll notice "category" links below some of the sites lists
in response to a keyword search. When offered, these will take you to
a list of web sites that have been reviewed and approved by a human
editor. it's also possible to do a pure search of just the human
compiled Data of Yahoo Directory, To do this, search from the Yahoo
Directory home page, as opposed to the regular www.Yahoo.com home
page. Then you'll get both directory category links and "Directory
Results," which are the top web site matches drawn from all categories
of the Yahoo Directory. Sites pay a fee to be included in the Yahoo
Directory's commercial listings, though they must meet editor approval
before being accepted. Non-commercial content is accepted for free.
Yahoo's content acquisition program also offers paid inclusion, where
sites can also pay to be included in Yahoo's crawler-based results.
This doesn't guarantee ranking, Yahoo promises. The CAP program also
bring in content from non-profit organizations for free. Like Google,
Yahoo sells paid placement advertising links that appear on its own
site and which are distributed to others. These are sold through
Overture. Yahoo purchased Overture in a company Yahoo purchased in
October 2003.
Getting Listed:
These days, there are two ways you can submit to Yahoo. The first one
is free, but it is not available to all sites and has other drawbacks
as well. The second, Yahoo Express, can be used by (almost) everyone
and is fast, but also costs a pretty penny. Here, we'll cover both and
hopefully help you determine which of the two suits your situation
better.
Free submission
The free submission option offered by Yahoo has several limitations.
First of all, it is not available in the "commercial directory". The
"commercial directory" consists mostly of the "Business and Economy"
category and its subcategories, which are where most commercial sites
should be placed. International Yahoos (for example Yahoo UK & Ireland
and Yahoo Australia & NZ) are exceptions to this rule, because they
still allow free submissions to the categories under "Business and
Economy". Thus, if you have a commercial site that is targeted at a
non-US audience, submitting to the appropriate international Yahoo
might be a cost-effective solution. The second limitation is that the
free submission is reserved for non-commercial sites. Hence, even if
you have a commercial site that belongs outside the "Business and
Economy" category, the only way you'll be able to get in is through
Yahoo Express. So, what makes one site commercial and another
non-commercial in the eyes of Yahoo? If you're selling a product or a
service, you're commercial. On the other hand, if your site provides a
lot of high quality content for free and does not have any banner ads
or affiliate programs, you're non-commercial. Between these two
extremes lies a large grey area. The worst thing about Yahoo's free
submission is that it is a very slow and unreliable way to get into
the directory. Usually it takes several attempts and several months
before you'll be able to get your site listed, so if you're in a
hurry, the free submission is not for you.
Yahoo Express
For those who own a commercial site or lack in patience, Yahoo
offers "Yahoo Express", a paid submission service. In exchange for
promising to review your English-language site within a week, Yahoo
wants you to pay a $299
non-refundable fee. This fee includes one free appeal within 30 days,
so if you happen to get rejected, you can fix the problems pointed out
to you by Yahoo and try again without having to pay any additional
fees. Remember, this is a review fee and it does not guarantee that
your site will be accepted into the directory. The only thing it
guarantees is that someone will look at your site within 7 days and
decide whether or not it will be added to Yahoo. So, before submitting
your site via "Yahoo Express", make sure that it complies with all of
Yahoo's guidelines. Unfortunately, simply paying the initial review
fee isn't enough. If you use "Yahoo Express" and are accepted into
Yahoo, your site will also be re-reviewed each year on the anniversary
date of your site's inclusion in the directory. This means that you'll
have to pay the $299/$600 review fee once every year, and if you
don't, your site will be removed from the directory.
Additionally, should your site change within the year in a way that
makes it ineligible for a Yahoo listing (for example, a lot of broken
images and/or links appear), it seems possible that you'll lose your
listing even if you pay the yearly fee. Naturally, a recurring annual
fee would make things very difficult for non-commercial sites that
wish to speed up their listing process with Yahoo Express. Paying a
one-time review fee might not be out of the question, but having to
pay the same fee year after year is usually impossible. However, the
annual fee only applies to sites submitted to the "commercial
directory", which consists mostly of categories under "Business and
Economy". Sites submitted to non-commercial categories do not have to
pay the yearly review fee, even if they are submitted using Yahoo
Express.