Get Listed in Yahoo! Learn the Secrets Today
| Category: Search engines - Optimisation | Date: 2003-06-12 |
Recent web traffic surveys have shown that approximately 40% of all search engine traffic comes from the Yahoo.com directory. The smaller your company, the more important Yahoo is as a free traffic generating source. Would you like to learn the secrets to get your web site listed in Yahoo?
Great! Keep reading...
Yahoo is a directory, not a spider generated search engine. Each and every web site submission to Yahoo is evaluated by a content editor - a human being actually looks at every web site and grades it for worthiness (at least thats what Yahoo advertises). Some people say that only 25% of web sites submitted ever make it into the Yahoo directory - but the actual percentage may be even lower than that!
Im going to show you how to raise your odds of getting in. But, you should know three things before we go on...
Content is King.
Your site should have an ample amount of on target information. Your information should provide value to your users. Remember, a human being will be visiting your site. They will be looking for relevant, high value content (depending in which category you submitted your site).
Your Web Site Should be Professional.
Your web site should have a professional and polished look. However, this doesnt mean that you have to spend thousands of dollars on a web design. Your site should load quickly and include a simple, but robust navigation system. You should use appropriate colors and design elements. (Look at some of your competitors or other web sites for examples of professionalism). And lastly, make sure that you dont have any typos, grammar errors or spelling errors!
Your Own Domain Name.
You should have your own domain name, i.e., www.mycompany.com - although Yahoo still accepts a small portion of sites with subdomains ( www.geocities.com/yourname/ ). I *strongly* suggest that you have your own domain name - not only for Yahoo - but because it makes you appear to be serious about your business to everyone else as well.
Now on to the instructions ...
TITLE
The TITLE of your site is important. You should use your most important keyword in your title. Make you title short, sweet and to the point. I like to use a title thats less than 5 words, but use your discretion. Do not add promotional language or hype! The Yahoo editor will cut this out - or worse may even reject your site.
URL
You are limited to submitting one URL per domain. And in most cases, you should submit your root URL, i.e., http://www.mycompany.com/index.html. If you want to submit a URL other than the root, youll need to justify it in the FINAL COMMENTS section (see below).
DESCRIPTION
Your site DESCRIPTION should be less than 25 words. And you should use your most important keyword at least once in your description. But, Im going to give you a tip... use 15 words or less - in one sentence - with no commas. Youll be more likely to get *exactly* what you want listed in Yahoo that way. If you use 25 words and more than one sentence, the content editor may chop your description into something they think is more reasonable. Lastly, just like the TITLE, dont use any marketing hype - if you do - you run the risk of being shut out of the Yahoo directory!
NOTE: The use of your keywords in your TITLE and DESCRIPTION are very important. When someone enters a search phrase in Yahoo, their search engine looks for your keyword in the TITLE and DESCRIPTION you enter when you submit your site to Yahoo - the search engine does not look in any of your meta tags or anywhere on your site for the keywords!
CATEGORIES
Choose your CATEGORIES on Yahoo carefully. Since you most likely have a commercial site, you should probably start in the BUSINESS_AND_ECONOMY section. You can list your site in two categories within this section - use both of them! You should go to Yahoo ( http://www.yahoo.com ) and drill down into some of the categories to see where your site will best fit. Next, you should do a search on your KEYWORD phrase or phrases and see what categories pop up.
Also, search for your competitors and see where they are listed. One caveat, if there are hundreds or thousands of other sites in a particular category, you need to decide if there is another category which might be more appropriate for your site. Once you chose your two categories, write down the category URLs (or copy and paste into a blank text editor document). Put these in order of importance, since Yahoo may only list your site in one category.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Make sure you have all your CONTACT INFORMATION handy. Yahoo requires your Full Name, E-Mail Address, Company Name, Company Phone, Company Fax, Company Address, City, State/Province, Zip Code/Postal Code, and Country. I would suggest you have this all ready in a text editor file, so that you can simply cut-and-paste when you go to submit - this also helps to avoid typos.
FINAL COMMENTS
Your FINAL COMMENTS can include a short blurb about your site or it can include anything you would like to explain about your site. This section will be read by the content editor, so this is your last chance to convey information. Use a maximum of 200 characters in this field!
OK, now your are ready to submit your site to Yahoo!!!
Connect to the internet, fire up your web browser and paste your number 1 rated category URL into your browser and hit enter. Congratulations, you should now be viewing the category page where your site belongs. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the SUGGEST A SITE link.
You are now on the Suggest A Site page...
STEP 1 ...
Your category 1 URL should already be displayed, since you came from that URL. Enter your TITLE, URL and DESCRIPTION. Follow the instructions for each entry in each step carefully. Dont violate Yahoos rules or you may get bumped!
STEP 2 ...
Enter your category 2 URL and follow the instructions.
STEP 3 ...
Copy and paste your info and follow the instructions.
STEP 4 ...
Copy and paste your info and follow the instructions. Click the SUBMIT button and youre done!
If you arent listed within 2 weeks, submit your site again. Its possible that the Yahoo content editors just didnt get around to your site. Keep submitting your site every two weeks - you wont be penalized.
If you arent listed within 8 weeks, check your web server log files. Look for a visit from add.yahoo.com which is the Yahoo spider that validates your URL. Next look for a visit from a referral page - if you see a log file hit, one of the Yahoo content editors has visited your site. If you arent listed within a few weeks after a visit from an editor, your site was most likely rejected.
If your site was rejected, you probably need to take a long, hard look at your site. Can you improve it? Do you really deserve to be in the Yahoo directory? Remember, Yahoo prides itself on providing the *best* and *most relevant* content on the web.
If youve done everything above, and still get rejected, is there anything you can do? Sure - try the old fashioned way - telephone, fax and snail mail! Youd be surprised at how effective this avenue may be for you. Most folks never go this far - and if you do - Yahoo may give your site a second look. Following is Yahoos contact info:
Yahoo! Corporation
3420 Central Expressway, 2nd Floor
Santa Clara, CA 95051
USA
email: url-support@yahoo-inc.com
Telephone Support for URL Listing: (408) 731-3333
Tel: (408) 731-3300 8:30am-5:00pm PST
Fax: (408) 731-3301
Remember to build your case and support it with FACTS! Use stats like site visitors/hits, testimonials from customers, and independent reviews of your site. Be honest with them and promote your case.
As a last ditch effort, try listing your site in a Yahoo REGIONAL directory category. It may be that your site (or business) is better suited for a regional audience and it may get you listed!
The URL is http://www.yahoo.com/regional/
OK, now lets assume you get into the Yahoo directory. Take a second and pat yourself on the back - your site should show immediate traffic from Yahoo! And you should have received an email from Yahoo that looks something like this...
The URL you submitted has been added to Yahoo! It will appear after our next update ...
Hey partner - youre in Yahoo! Simply by following the procedures above, youve turned your web site into a heavy hitting, net traffic hawg! Happy surfing....
About the Author
Kevin Wakefield is the founder of WiredMarketer.com, a free resource portal targeted to home based internet business owners, web marketing professionals, and aspiring entrepreneurs. He also publishes a companion ezine, Wired@Home.
info@wiredmarketer.com
http://www.wiredmarketer.com
Great! Keep reading...
Yahoo is a directory, not a spider generated search engine. Each and every web site submission to Yahoo is evaluated by a content editor - a human being actually looks at every web site and grades it for worthiness (at least thats what Yahoo advertises). Some people say that only 25% of web sites submitted ever make it into the Yahoo directory - but the actual percentage may be even lower than that!
Im going to show you how to raise your odds of getting in. But, you should know three things before we go on...
Content is King.
Your site should have an ample amount of on target information. Your information should provide value to your users. Remember, a human being will be visiting your site. They will be looking for relevant, high value content (depending in which category you submitted your site).
Your Web Site Should be Professional.
Your web site should have a professional and polished look. However, this doesnt mean that you have to spend thousands of dollars on a web design. Your site should load quickly and include a simple, but robust navigation system. You should use appropriate colors and design elements. (Look at some of your competitors or other web sites for examples of professionalism). And lastly, make sure that you dont have any typos, grammar errors or spelling errors!
Your Own Domain Name.
You should have your own domain name, i.e., www.mycompany.com - although Yahoo still accepts a small portion of sites with subdomains ( www.geocities.com/yourname/ ). I *strongly* suggest that you have your own domain name - not only for Yahoo - but because it makes you appear to be serious about your business to everyone else as well.
Now on to the instructions ...
TITLE
The TITLE of your site is important. You should use your most important keyword in your title. Make you title short, sweet and to the point. I like to use a title thats less than 5 words, but use your discretion. Do not add promotional language or hype! The Yahoo editor will cut this out - or worse may even reject your site.
URL
You are limited to submitting one URL per domain. And in most cases, you should submit your root URL, i.e., http://www.mycompany.com/index.html. If you want to submit a URL other than the root, youll need to justify it in the FINAL COMMENTS section (see below).
DESCRIPTION
Your site DESCRIPTION should be less than 25 words. And you should use your most important keyword at least once in your description. But, Im going to give you a tip... use 15 words or less - in one sentence - with no commas. Youll be more likely to get *exactly* what you want listed in Yahoo that way. If you use 25 words and more than one sentence, the content editor may chop your description into something they think is more reasonable. Lastly, just like the TITLE, dont use any marketing hype - if you do - you run the risk of being shut out of the Yahoo directory!
NOTE: The use of your keywords in your TITLE and DESCRIPTION are very important. When someone enters a search phrase in Yahoo, their search engine looks for your keyword in the TITLE and DESCRIPTION you enter when you submit your site to Yahoo - the search engine does not look in any of your meta tags or anywhere on your site for the keywords!
CATEGORIES
Choose your CATEGORIES on Yahoo carefully. Since you most likely have a commercial site, you should probably start in the BUSINESS_AND_ECONOMY section. You can list your site in two categories within this section - use both of them! You should go to Yahoo ( http://www.yahoo.com ) and drill down into some of the categories to see where your site will best fit. Next, you should do a search on your KEYWORD phrase or phrases and see what categories pop up.
Also, search for your competitors and see where they are listed. One caveat, if there are hundreds or thousands of other sites in a particular category, you need to decide if there is another category which might be more appropriate for your site. Once you chose your two categories, write down the category URLs (or copy and paste into a blank text editor document). Put these in order of importance, since Yahoo may only list your site in one category.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Make sure you have all your CONTACT INFORMATION handy. Yahoo requires your Full Name, E-Mail Address, Company Name, Company Phone, Company Fax, Company Address, City, State/Province, Zip Code/Postal Code, and Country. I would suggest you have this all ready in a text editor file, so that you can simply cut-and-paste when you go to submit - this also helps to avoid typos.
FINAL COMMENTS
Your FINAL COMMENTS can include a short blurb about your site or it can include anything you would like to explain about your site. This section will be read by the content editor, so this is your last chance to convey information. Use a maximum of 200 characters in this field!
OK, now your are ready to submit your site to Yahoo!!!
Connect to the internet, fire up your web browser and paste your number 1 rated category URL into your browser and hit enter. Congratulations, you should now be viewing the category page where your site belongs. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the SUGGEST A SITE link.
You are now on the Suggest A Site page...
STEP 1 ...
Your category 1 URL should already be displayed, since you came from that URL. Enter your TITLE, URL and DESCRIPTION. Follow the instructions for each entry in each step carefully. Dont violate Yahoos rules or you may get bumped!
STEP 2 ...
Enter your category 2 URL and follow the instructions.
STEP 3 ...
Copy and paste your info and follow the instructions.
STEP 4 ...
Copy and paste your info and follow the instructions. Click the SUBMIT button and youre done!
If you arent listed within 2 weeks, submit your site again. Its possible that the Yahoo content editors just didnt get around to your site. Keep submitting your site every two weeks - you wont be penalized.
If you arent listed within 8 weeks, check your web server log files. Look for a visit from add.yahoo.com which is the Yahoo spider that validates your URL. Next look for a visit from a referral page - if you see a log file hit, one of the Yahoo content editors has visited your site. If you arent listed within a few weeks after a visit from an editor, your site was most likely rejected.
If your site was rejected, you probably need to take a long, hard look at your site. Can you improve it? Do you really deserve to be in the Yahoo directory? Remember, Yahoo prides itself on providing the *best* and *most relevant* content on the web.
If youve done everything above, and still get rejected, is there anything you can do? Sure - try the old fashioned way - telephone, fax and snail mail! Youd be surprised at how effective this avenue may be for you. Most folks never go this far - and if you do - Yahoo may give your site a second look. Following is Yahoos contact info:
Yahoo! Corporation
3420 Central Expressway, 2nd Floor
Santa Clara, CA 95051
USA
email: url-support@yahoo-inc.com
Telephone Support for URL Listing: (408) 731-3333
Tel: (408) 731-3300 8:30am-5:00pm PST
Fax: (408) 731-3301
Remember to build your case and support it with FACTS! Use stats like site visitors/hits, testimonials from customers, and independent reviews of your site. Be honest with them and promote your case.
As a last ditch effort, try listing your site in a Yahoo REGIONAL directory category. It may be that your site (or business) is better suited for a regional audience and it may get you listed!
The URL is http://www.yahoo.com/regional/
OK, now lets assume you get into the Yahoo directory. Take a second and pat yourself on the back - your site should show immediate traffic from Yahoo! And you should have received an email from Yahoo that looks something like this...
The URL you submitted has been added to Yahoo! It will appear after our next update ...
Hey partner - youre in Yahoo! Simply by following the procedures above, youve turned your web site into a heavy hitting, net traffic hawg! Happy surfing....
About the Author
Kevin Wakefield is the founder of WiredMarketer.com, a free resource portal targeted to home based internet business owners, web marketing professionals, and aspiring entrepreneurs. He also publishes a companion ezine, Wired@Home.
info@wiredmarketer.com
http://www.wiredmarketer.com
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