| Getting
your site an optimum listing in Yahoo! is perhaps
the most important step in effective web site promotion.
An optimum listing in Yahoo! can bring in more traffic
to your site than all the search engines combined.
In addition to this, getting listed in Yahoo! will
also help you improve the link popularity of your
site which helps in improving the ranking of your
site in the search engines. In this article, we
focus on how you can get your site an optimum listing
in Yahoo!.
First,
you should note that Yahoo! is not a search engine
- it is a directory. Unlike the search engines,
an actual human editor evaluates your site.
Before
starting, read Yahoo!'s instructions thoroughly.
Read their Help Index and their How To page. Familiarize
yourself with these instructions because they mean
every word of what they say.
Before
you submit your site, go through your entire site
and ensure that there are no missing graphics, no
links leading to empty or non-existent pages, no
"Under construction" symbols and no typos
or grammatical errors. Your site should be easy
to navigate, should load quickly and should look
professional. Furthermore, your site must provide
unique content. Yahoo!'s definition of unique content
is very strict - if your site simply consists of
a one page sales letter, or, if it only contains
links to various affiliate programs, you will find
it impossible to get listed. For getting listed
in Yahoo!, your site needs to have at least a few
pages of good content in it.
Also,
your site needs to be in its own domain, especially
if it is of a commercial nature. Having your own
domain adds more credibility to your site and tells
Yahoo! that yours is a serious site which won't
be taken down very soon. Getting into Yahoo! is
hard enough - not having your own domain will make
it that much harder.
Furthermore,
if your site is of a commercial nature (i.e. it
is selling something), you need to mention the physical
address of your business either in the home page
of your site or in a separate Contact Us page which
is linked prominently from the home page. This should
be the actual physical address of your business
- not a Post Office Box address. Of course, mentioning
the physical address of your business is something
you should be doing anyway - it boosts the credibility
of your business which improves sales. Along with
the physical address, you should also mention a
phone number and a fax number (if you have one).
Of course, you should always mention an email address.
Also,
before submitting, select the two most important
keywords for your site based on their popularity.
If you don't know how to choose the keywords which
are applicable for your site, have a look at my
article on Choosing the correct keywords for your
site. In this article, I have mentioned that while
selecting the keywords for your site, you should
look at both the popularity of the keyword as well
as its competitiveness. However, for the purpose
of this article, don't worry about the competitiveness
- select keywords only on the basis of popularity.
Now,
let's analyze how Yahoo! displays its search results.
There are 4 sections in the Yahoo! search results
- Categories, Web Sites, Web Pages, and News. For
the purpose of this article, we can ignore the News
section and concentrate on the Categories, Web Sites
and Web Pages sections. When someone searches for
a keyword in Yahoo!, it first checks to see whether
there are any categories which contain all the individual
words of the keyword. If so, it first displays the
names of those categories. It then displays the
web sites in the Yahoo! index which match the keyword.
Finally, in the Web Pages section, it displays sites
from Google.
Your
first task is to find out whether your site is already
listed in Yahoo!. Type in the domain name of your
site in Yahoo!'s search box, and see whether your
site comes up in the Web Sites section. Note that
for your site to be listed in Yahoo!, it has to
come up in the Web Sites section. If it is listed
in the Web Pages section but not in the Web Sites
section, it means that your site is listed in Google,
not Yahoo!. If your site is already listed but you
are not satisfied with the listing, read the last
section of this article on changing your site's
listing in Yahoo!.
Assuming
that your site is not listed, your objective is
to get your site a high ranking in the Web Sites
section. Here are the factors which influence the
ranking of your site in the Web Sites section:
i)
Presence of the keyword or a part of the keyword
somewhere in the name of the category or in the
name of a higher level category.
ii)
Click Popularity: The concept of click popularity
means that when a user searches for something in
Yahoo!, it tries to find out which sites satisfied
the user's needs. It does this by keeping track
of two things: a) which sites the user clicked on
among the sites displayed in the results and b)
how much time the user spent in those sites. The
logic behind this is that if a user clicked on a
particular site and spent a lot of time in that
site, that site must have satisfied the user's needs
and hence, must be relevant to that particular keyword.
In this case, the site's click popularity for that
keyword improves and so does its ranking for that
keyword. But, if a user did not go to a particular
site, or returned to Yahoo! soon after going to
that site, that site must not be providing relevant
information for that particular keyword. In this
case, the site's click popularity for that keyword
declines and so does its ranking for that keyword.
So,
how do you ensure that your site's click popularity
is high? Some people have suggested that you can
improve the click popularity of your site by regularly
searching for the keywords that are applicable for
your site, clicking on your site's listing in Yahoo!,
and then by not going back to Yahoo!. They have
also suggested that you can click on a competitor's
listing in Yahoo! and then can immediately click
on the browser's Back button to go back to Yahoo!,
so that Yahoo! thinks that this site did not satisfy
the user's needs and hence gives it a lower ranking.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only
is this method unethical, it is also ineffective.
Yahoo! keeps track of the I.P. address (i.e. the
unique address which identifies a computer on the
Internet) of its visitors. It ignores repeated clicks
on the same site from the same I.P. address. It
also uses cookies to track the activities of its
visitors. Of course, if you are using a dialup connection
to the Internet and your Internet Service Provider
assigns you with a dynamic I.P address, you can
get around this restriction by disconnecting your
computer from the Internet and then again logging
in and by deleting the cookies. But, forgetting
for a moment the sheer amount of time that you would
need to spend doing this, remember that Yahoo! gets
millions of visitors every day. How much influence
can a single person have in such a situation?
There
are only two ways of improving the click popularity
of your site - the description of your site in Yahoo!
needs to be attractive and you need to build an
excellent web site with great content which satisfies
your visitor's needs so that they stay longer in
your site.
iii)
Presence of the keyword or a part of the keyword
in the Title and Description - If you want to rank
highly for a keyword, the Title and the Description
that you use to submit your site to Yahoo! should
contain the keyword. Note that this Title is not
the title that you have used in the home page of
your web site and that this Description is not the
description that you have used in the Meta Description
tag of your home page. Rather, it is the Title and
the Description of your site's listing in Yahoo!.
An
important point to note here is that Yahoo! searches
for strings rather than words. This means that if
one of the individual words of the keyword is embedded
inside another word, this will still boost your
rankings. For instance, if the keywords applicable
for your site contain the word Australia, but the
description of your site in Yahoo! contains the
word Australian, the fact that the string Australia
is present inside the word Australian will be taken
into consideration when your site is ranked.
iv)
Prominence of the keyword in the Title and the Description
- "Prominence" means how close the keyword
is to the beginning of the Title and Description.
Other things remaining the same, closer the keyword
to the beginning of the Title and the Description,
higher your ranking.
v)
Presence of the keyword or a part of the keyword
in the URL - You will get a slightly higher ranking
if the keyword or a part of the keyword is also
present in the URL of your site.
Now
we come to the Title for your site. The Title is
important not only because the presence of a keyword
in the Title helps to boost the ranking of your
site, but also because sites in the various categories
in Yahoo! are listed alphabetically according to
the Title. However, Yahoo! insists that the Title
should always be the official name of your site.
Hence, short of changing the official name of your
site, there is not much you can do about the Title.
Now
we come to how you should write the description
of your site. When you write the description, your
aim should be to make the Yahoo! editor's job as
easy as possible. You should not give the editor
the feeling that he/she needs to edit your description
in any way. The moment an editor starts to edit
your description, you risk having your keywords
removed from your description or worse, having it
changed in a way which does not reflect the content
of your site.
Your
description should be a single sentence which conveys
what your site is all about and contains the two
keywords you are targeting as close as possible
to the beginning of the description. However, your
description should not just be a list of keywords
- the description that you use should be a proper
sentence and should be grammatically correct. It
should also be attractive to your visitors so that
they actually click on it, which will improve the
click popularity of your site, and hence its ranking
in Yahoo!.
Broadly,
here are the rules that you should remember when
forming the description:
i)
Make sure that the description can tell a visitor
what your site is all about. Things like "Have
a look at our site" or "Welcome to my
site" does not tell a visitor what your site
does.
ii)
Avoid hype of any sort. Avoid using ALL CAPS or
exclamation marks. Phrases like "The best web
site dealing with widgets!!" or "Offers
the BEST QUALITY, CHEAPEST WIDGETS you can find
anywhere" are inappropriate.
iii)
Don't capitalize any word in your description -
not even the first word. For some reason, Yahoo!
prefers that the first word of your description
is not capitalized. If you look at the sites in
any Yahoo! category, you will find that almost none
of them have the first word capitalized. Of course,
if some of the words in the description are proper
nouns, then you should capitalize them.
iv)
Write the description in the third person. Don't
say "We offer financial planning and credit
counseling services", say "offers financial
planning and credit counseling services.".
v)
Don't make your description too long - limit yourself
to 10 words at the most. If you are lucky, you may
be able to get accepted with a description longer
than 10 words. However, longer the description,
higher the probability that the editor will want
to edit it.
vi)
Check your description for typos and grammatical
mistakes.
vii)
End your description with a period. If the editor
has to add the period to the end of your description,
she may also end up editing the description, which
is not what you want. Your aim is to have the editor
accept the exact description that you had written
in order to ensure that your keywords are not removed
from the description.
Now
that you know the description that you should use,
it is time to establish the category to which you
should submit your site. First of all, you need
to determine whether your site is regionally specific.
If your site is applicable to a specific geographic
region, then you should submit your site to the
appropriate Regional Category in Yahoo!. However,
if your site is not specific to a particular region,
then your site should be listed in one of the main
Yahoo! categories.
Now,
if your site is commercial in nature (i.e. if it
sells a product or service) and is not regionally
specific, it belongs somewhere under the Business
and Economy > Shopping and Services or Business
and Economy > Business to Business categories.
If your site is targeted towards individual consumers,
then your site needs to be under the Shopping and
Services category. If your site is targeted towards
other businesses, it needs to be in the Business
to Business category.
If
your site is both commercial in nature and regionally
specific, your site needs to be under the Business
and Economy > Shopping and Services or Business
and Economy > Business to Business category of
the relevant regional category.
With
this background, let's see how you can determine
the appropriate category for your site. Simply search
for the two keywords which you have determined earlier.
Go through all the categories which the top ranking
sites belong to. Note down the category (or categories)
which contain sites which are very similar to yours.
In many cases, there will only be one category which
contains sites similar to yours. In that case, this
is the category to which you should submit your
site. If you find that there is more than one category
which contains sites similar to yours, and if you
are convinced that all these categories are applicable
for your site, select the two categories which contain
the least number of sites. Your primary category
will be the one with the least number of sites.
The secondary category will obviously be the other
category.
Now,
create a text file in which you can record the details
of your submission. Note down the date when you
are submitting, the URL of your web site, the Title
and the Description of your site as well as the
URLs of the category (or the 2 categories) which
are applicable for your site. Now go to the URL
of the Primary category for your site, click on
the Suggest a Site link at the bottom of the page
and follow the instructions there. (If that category
does not have a Suggest a Site link, then it means
that it is a very general category to which new
sites cannot be added.) Instead of submitting your
site right away, I recommend that you first use
a dummy, non-existent site to know the questions
that Yahoo! is going to ask you. Note down the answers
to these questions in the text file so that you
can paste them later when you are actually submitting
your site. Of course, don't actually submit the
dummy site by clicking on the final submission button
- just use it to get an idea of the questions that
Yahoo! will ask you.
Of
particular importance is the box where Yahoo! asks
for some additional information about your site.
If you have identified an additional category which
is applicable for your site, mention something like
"My site also belongs to" and then give
the URL of the additional category.
Once
you have noted down the answers to all the questions
that Yahoo! is going to ask you, double check everything
present in the text file to ensure that there are
no mistakes and that all the URLs (i.e. the URLs
of the categories as well as the URL of your site)
are working correctly. It is very difficult to change
your site's listing in Yahoo! once you get listed,
and hence, you need to ensure that you do everything
correctly the first time. Then, offer a prayer to
Goddess Yahoo! :-), go to the URL of the primary
category for your site, click on the Suggest a Site
link listed at the bottom and submit your site.
Make sure that you follow all the instructions that
are mentioned here to the absolute letter.
Now,
remember that if yours is a commercial site and
is not regionally specific, it must be under the
Business and Economy > Shopping and Services
or Business and Economy > Business to Business
categories of the main Yahoo! directory. Yahoo!
no longer offers a free submission option for sites
under these two categories - you have no choice
but to pay them $299 for the Business Express submission
option. For more information on this, go to their
How to Suggest a Business Express Site page. Read
the instructions and terms and conditions of the
Business Express submission in order to ensure that
your site is eligible. Paying them $299 does not
guarantee you a listing and your site is not given
any preference in its rankings. Using the Business
Express option merely guarantees that your site
will be reviewed within 7 days and that, in case
it is not accepted, you will be told why your site
was not accepted. You shall also have a chance of
appealing a rejection within 30 days. Of course,
all the instructions regarding choosing a proper
description and choosing a correct category are
still applicable.
If
your site does not belong to these two categories,
you can either submit your site for free, or you
can use the Business Express submission option.
I recommend that you first try to get your site
listed for free. Use the Business Express option
as a last resort.
Once
you have finished submitting, don't delete the text
file - you will need it later when you want to again
submit to Yahoo! (in case you are not accepted the
first time).
What
to do if your site is not accepted
This
section is intended for those who have used the
free submission and have not been listed. In case
you have used the paid submission and have been
rejected, see the next section.
Unless
you are very lucky, if you have used the free submission,
your site may not be accepted in your first attempt.
If your site is not accepted within 1 month from
the time that you submitted it, submit it again
using the same instructions as above. If your site
is still not accepted 1 month after the second submission,
some people have suggested that you write to a special
Yahoo! address - url-support@yahoo-inc.com. However,
in my personal experience, writing to this address
has not been effective. Instead, here's what you
should do:
I
have accidentally discovered the email address of
an actual editor of Yahoo!. Her name is Rosie Skaw
and her email address is rosie@yahoo-inc.com. I
am mentioning her email address here with the understanding
that no one abuses it. This method works but it
is not one of the familiar "back doors to Yahoo!"
that one often gets to hear of (believe me, there
are no back doors to Yahoo!). This email address
should be used only after you have tried to submit
your site to Yahoo! at least twice using the steps
outlined earlier and have failed.
After
submitting your site twice, if you still don't manage
to get listed, write a very polite email to Rosie.
Introduce yourself, tell her that you have been
trying to submit your site to Yahoo! and have failed.
Give her the details of your last submission - when
you submitted it, the URL of your site, the Title
and the Description that you used as well as the
category (or categories) to which you submitted
your site. If you have a unique product or service
that not many other web sites listed in Yahoo! are
offering, mention it. Or, if you provide lots of
articles and tips related to your business, mention
that too. You can also point her to the testimonials
that you have received. Request her (very politely)
to evaluate your site and add it to Yahoo! if she
finds your site appropriate.
Once
you have sent the email to Rosie, wait another month
or so to see if you get listed. If you still can't
get listed, don't send her any more emails. Yahoo!
provides a phone number for listing support. The
number is 408-731-3333. Call this number and leave
a message mentioning your URL and the date when
you last submitted and requesting (again, very politely)
that your site be listed.
If
the phone call does not get you listed, consider
writing to Yahoo! at
Yahoo!
Corporation
3420 Central Expressway,
2nd floor Santa Clara, CA 95051, USA
In
this case too, mention your URL, the date when you
last submitted, the Title and Description that you
used and the category to which you submitted. Don't
forget to mention the fact that you are selling
a unique product or that you provide lots of articles
or that you have received glowing testimonials from
users.
If
you still can't get your site listed, and you are
convinced that your site deserves to get into Yahoo!
and that you have followed all the rules, you should
then use the Business Express submission option.
What
to do if your Business Express submission is rejected
A
common reason for Yahoo! rejecting a site when it
has used the Business Express submission option
is lack of original content. If you get a message
from Yahoo! that your site was rejected because
of a lack of unique content, then your site may
either be full of affiliate links and nothing else,
or it may be a 1 page direct response sales site.
In the former case, as I mentioned, your site cannot
hope to get listed. In the latter case, you need
to divide up your sales message into multiple pages.
Consider adding a few articles and tips related
to your site. Then, send a polite reply to Yahoo!
thanking them for their constructive feedback. Point
out the fact that after receiving the feedback,
you have added the articles and tips. Be specific
here - tell them the exact URLs which contains these
articles. Then request them to review your site
again and add it, if they find it appropriate.
Another
reason that they may say that your site lacks original
content is that you already have another site listed
in Yahoo! and are trying to get a new site listed.
If the two sites have essentially the same content,
then you will definitely be rejected. However, even
if the two sites have substantially different content,
you may still be rejected. In this case, there is
no point in appealing the rejection - Yahoo! will
definitely reject your site again when you appeal.Ê
Instead,
what you can try doing is to remove all links from
the new site to the old site (and vice-versa) and
ensuring that the design of the new site is also
completely different from the old site and that
no part of the content of the old site is present
in the new site (and vice-versa). Then, wait 2-3
months, and again submit the new site to Yahoo!
using its Business Express submission.
Another
common reason for the rejection of sites is that
in Yahoo!'s opinion, the site is still under construction.
If you are convinced that your site does not contain
missing graphics, links leading to empty or non-existent
pages, "Under construction" symbols etc.,
then a common reason for Yahoo! saying that the
site is under construction is that the site cannot
be properly viewed under Netscape. Yahoo! editors
generally use Netscape and hence, it is vitally
important that your site be accessible using Netscape.
You need to ensure that your site can be viewed
properly in Netscape v3.0 and above. In order to
see how your site looks under different browsers,
go to anybrowser.com. Once you have ensured that
your site is accessible under Netscape, send a polite
reply to their rejection note thanking them for
their constructive feedback and then stating that
the site no longer contains any elements under construction.
Then request them to review your site again and
add it, if they find it appropriate.
How
to change your site's listing in Yahoo!
If
getting your site listed in Yahoo! is tough, changing
your site's listing is a Herculean task. Firstly,
note that Yahoo! does not care about the ranking
of your site. Hence, if you are trying to submit
some minor changes to the description with a view
of getting a higher ranking, you are unlikely to
be successful. You should only think about trying
to change your listing if
a)
the URL of your site has changed, or
b) the official name of your site has changed (and
hence the Title of your listing should change),
or
c) Yahoo! has accidentally listed your site without
a Description, or
d) the Description contains a typo, or
e) Yahoo! has placed you in a totally inappropriate
category, or
f) the nature of your site has changed and the current
description does not reflect the new nature of your
site.
The
URL for changing your site's listing is http://add.yahoo.com/fast/change
Read the instructions thoroughly before submitting
your change request. In the last text box, provide
solid reasons as to why your site's listing should
be changed.
If
you can't get your site's listing changed within
1 month from the time that you have submitted your
request, try submitting your request again. If you
still can't get your listing changed within 1 month
from the second request, follow the procedures outlined
in the section on what to do if your site can't
get into Yahoo! using the free submission. However,
don't submit a change request using the Business
Express submission - Yahoo! specifically forbids
that.
Wrapping
things up:
Once
you have got your site into Yahoo! (they will send
you an email if you are accepted), your site will
be added to Yahoo!'s What's New section. Furthermore,
your site will be marked as new and will be placed
at the top of the category (or categories) for 1
week from the time that your site is first listed.
This placement at the top of the category can bring
in quite a few visitors to your site every day.
After the first week, the position of your site
in the categories will be according to the alphabetical
ranking of your Title. This will generally be accompanied
by a decrease in the number of visitors to your
site from Yahoo!.
Keyword
optimized? Click here to
submit your website to 1200+ search engines and
directories.
back
|
e-Submitter.com ............."Where the World Gets Submitted..."
