Does Listing in Yahoo Directory Hurt Yahoo Ranking?

[JonOSteen]

I am noticing an interesting phenomenon with Yahoo and I wanted to see if others are experiencing the same problem. I launched four new sites in early October for four different clients. Although the subject matter of each site was similar, there were no other similarities to the sites (they didn't link to each other, did not share content, etc.).

All four of the sites were submitted to the PositionTech SiteMatch. The sites all did extremely well in Yahoo for relevant searches. I then submitted two of those sites (that already were listed in SiteMatch) to Yahoo Directory. Those two sites were both added. Almost immediately after the sites were added to the directory, their rankings on Yahoo dropped significantly. The other two sites were unaffected.

It is my hypothesis that Yahoo's change to the title/description of the site affects the rankings in the Yahoo. Therefore, any benefit from a directory listing can be outweighed by the negative effect on the changes to the title/description.

Am I crazy? I am strongly considering immediately cancelling one of the Yahoo Directory listings to see if the site again ranks well for relevant keyword phrases once the original title/description are restored.

[bhartzer]

You could try cancelling/removing the Yahoo! Directory listing to see if the rankings come back, but I would suspect that they won't.

Personally, I'm a fan of paying for the Yahoo! Directory listing but I'm not a fan of paying for any paid inclusion programs.

[cbp]

http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=31235

CBP

[DriWashSolutions]

Originally Posted by JonOSteen

Almost immediately after the sites were added to the directory, their rankings on Yahoo dropped significantly.

No, you're not crazy. The same thing happened to me. I went from the first page to the second page on most of my keywords.

They changed my site's title in the SERPS as well, but the some of the other sites that are in the directory (as my competitors) have titles from their site, rather than from the directory.

[superiorlabels]

Your problem might be using PositionTech SiteMatch. I used those folks and for a year I couldn't get Yahoo to recognize my site. After Sitematch expired, about a month later I bounced to #2 for the phrase "address labels" on Yahoo. I've been #1 on Google for close to a year.

What really frustrated me is that I had spoken with the President of PositionTech and he promised me to look into my ranking problems and get back to me. Follow-up e-mails and phone calls to him were ignored, except for one e-mail that stated that they "don't guarantee placement"

If I was you, I'd drop them and see if your position doesn't improve. Tho... my requests to cancel the service were ignored. I had to wait for the 12 months to expire.

You would be far better off using Yahoo's data feed.

[cbp]

superiorlabels - Welcome to WPW..

You are confused about paying for a listing in the Yahoo Directory (which is what this thread is about) and paying for listing in Yahoo's index via SiteMatch - these are two very different beasts.

CBP

[travelmex]

I am not an expert, just a marketing guy. Our company is in the travel industry and our site www.itmco.com used to be in the first page of results for "mexico vacations" and other destinations. After we paid to be included in yahoo's directory in January 2004, we dropped from their web results completely. We had to sign up with overture since February just to appear in Yahoo's results. We come up on the first page on Google and MSN's beta search engines.

Originally Posted by JonOSteen

I am noticing an interesting phenomenon with Yahoo and I wanted to see if others are experiencing the same problem. I launched four new sites in early October for four different clients. Although the subject matter of each site was similar, there were no other similarities to the sites (they didn't link to each other, did not share content, etc.).

All four of the sites were submitted to the PositionTech SiteMatch. The sites all did extremely well in Yahoo for relevant searches. I then submitted two of those sites (that already were listed in SiteMatch) to Yahoo Directory. Those two sites were both added. Almost immediately after the sites were added to the directory, their rankings on Yahoo dropped significantly. The other two sites were unaffected.

It is my hypothesis that Yahoo's change to the title/description of the site affects the rankings in the Yahoo. Therefore, any benefit from a directory listing can be outweighed by the negative effect on the changes to the title/description.

Am I crazy? I am strongly considering immediately cancelling one of the Yahoo Directory listings to see if the site again ranks well for relevant keyword phrases once the original title/description are restored.

[keywordguy]

I have had several customers that I submitted to Yahoo using a paid listing in their directory. I've also noticed the same result.

While I'm a fan of the Yahoo directory service, I don't like the fact that editors will sometimes re-write titles and descriptions to the point they don't clearly represent the site.

E.G. - One of my customers who operates a large real estate firm had his listing changed so that the title read as a classified site when it fact it was part of the MLS (multiple listing service).

After several requests to get Yahoo to edit the listing it remains unchanged.

[sfowler]

Looks like I have found a good reason not to throw money at Yahoo! I object in principle to the idea of paying to be considered and can find something better t odo with the money anyway. Added to that, my category is not particularly highly ranked.

[cbp]

I have a site ranked number one in Yahoo for keyword. Recently paid for Y! Directory listing (wanted the anchor text to rank better in Google) .... did not loose Yahoo ranking after Directory listing.

Rankings go up and down for lots of reasons- maybe coincidental with Directory listing????

CBP

[Jayms]

Funny. Mine dropped too after I paid for the Directory inclusion AND Sitematch. I ranked high before, but shortly afterward my rankings plummeted to page 6. Don't ask me why, this seems like too many coincidences.

What's interesting is that my rankings crept up back to page 1 where they were. So I checked my stats for Sitematch just for grins and LO and BEHOLD, I had been SUSPENDED for a week or so because I needed to verify an email address or something (I can't remember).

Needless to say that I left it the way it was...not verifying anything and leaving my Sitematch unattended...a win for me since I do not have to pay anymore...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it right?

[Manpasand]

I haven't any bad experience yet of loosing Y! ranking after Directory listing.