yahoo directory, is it worth the money?

Hello,

I launched my site in the late part of june so i have really been waiting for a PR update. I have been getting as many backlinks as possible while I wait but I am wondering if it is worth paying the $299 to be listed in the yahoo directory. All my competitors are listed. Does the directory have an abnormally positive influence on google? More than few other backlinks with decent PR?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
mswimm

Mike, as I said in a previous post. You have a great looking site. i would be patient, keep building backlinks and wait. Yahoo! might include you on their own...keep going with the backlinks, you will eventually get the result you want.

Brandon

The other thing to consider with Yahoo Directory is the traffic. It is not the kind of volumn a good SERP listing can produce, but I get 50 - 80 clicks a month from the Yahoo Directory. That's about $.35 - $.40 per click. I wouldn't pay that for the clicks alone, but it should be considered when looking at the cost/benefit of a paid listing.

i woudnt pay a $ to yahoo :-)
Brandon is right, just hang in there, wait for the update...

A link is a link.

If you can afford to pay them, then why not pay them for inclusion in their directory. Just never pay them for Site Match. That is the biggest rip-off you can imagine (punishing you for high rankings).

Depends on your budget, I suppose, and there are some industries out there where customers are more inclined to search the index than the SERPs. For my clients that can afford it without thinking about it, it's a no-brainer. For the lil guys, we wait for our buddy Slurp.

I don't think its worth $300/ per year.

They don't even give a real link! All they give is a 302 redirect, which does NOT pass Pagerank. The Yahoo directory is not what it used to be. It used to be like DMOZ, now its more like the Zeal directory- virtually zero pagerank gain.

I don't think PageRank should be the main consideration for getting a listing in Yahoo, but that 302 is really bad. Imagine what would happen if those 302 URL's of Yahoo wouldn't be so incredibly complex.... Google would follow those links and index them with the content of the destination. Yahoo gets saved by their own complexity here,...

It amazes me every time how Yahoo seems to always be more interested in making money than that they actually try to deliver a real service. They should just stick to their games and shopping and all the other stuff they do and leave directories and search to others.

Maybe PageRank shouldn't be the main consideration for getting a listing in Yahoo. Ok- but for $300 per year they don't give pagerank OR traffic! I honestly don't consider 30 or 80 visitors per month traffic.

If I can get a free Yahoo listing- great! Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. But to pay- I can receive a better return on investment using other methods. The one exception here is if your website is targeting an EXTREMELY high Pay Per Click keyword. Example: Mesothelioma - $100 per click.

Now if this listing helps you in the Yahoo serps, that is a different story. But this is debatable and speculative. Any one have experience with this?

Wow, I was considering buying in to the yahoo directory until you just posted this. I had no idea they did this. When did this start?

They would sell LOTS more directory entries if they gave REAL links. I would add several more of my own sites... and so would lots of people here. Then the Yahoo directory would have a lot better representation and it would most likely draw a greater amount of traffic.

Here is another thing that Yahoo does when you´re listed in their directory:

In the search results you no longer show up with your own title and description. With a Yahoo Directory Listing you will be in the SERPs with the title and description that one of their human reviewers has given you. So no more use of the title to atract searchers to click on your link. Your description now is something like: "offers ........ to ...... for ......." or "sells ...... for ......... "

Originally I said that if you can afford it, why not pay them. But I changed my mind now that we´re discussing this whole thing. These links of Yahoo are worth nothing. A 302 redirect, lousy titles and descriptions, very few visitors, no services basically. Spend the 300 on Google Adwords,..

>Spend the 300 on Google Adwords
Or quality one-time fee directory listings.

I hate the fact that you must use their unbiased, non-keyword rich directory descriptions. These descriptions must be non promotional. If your competitor has a more exciting title, your Yahoo click through will go waaay down.

The Yahoo click through is bad enough considering all of the paid listings above the organic search. I'm sorry but I am not optimistic about much in this industry now. Greed has blinded the search industry's eyes- And its hurting the searchers and webmasters.

Hmm, quality one time fee directories. Does someone have a list of such directories that are quality? This would be a useful list.