 |
Inside Guide to Getting Listed in Yahoo! |
| Did you know? You can click on the "Quest" graphic at any time to return to the main page | |
|
Inside Guide to Getting Listed in Yahoo! |
| Did you know? You can click on the "Quest" graphic at any time to return to the main page | |
Note: This guide is very long, as befits
Yahoo!'s supreme position as the ultimate source of
traffic for your site. By following the advice here, you
will do wonders for your chance to get listed in Yahoo!
Bookmark this page and approach it in small helpings if
it appears intimidating... please read the whole page at
least once; there are some special tips towards the end
that will help you to list your site more easily.
Give it a spin : Try a search on Yahoo!
In Depth AnalysisSuper-important note: Since Yahoo! only gives you one chance to list your site, make sure you get it right! As the most popular site on the Internet, Yahoo! can be an extremely powerful generator of traffic to your site. This is especially true if your site covers a niche or very specialized topic, as Yahoo!'s drill-down directory structure makes it easy for visitors to pinpoint the exact subject they are looking for. Yahoo!'s success boils down to one factor: humans! Unlike the search engines (remember, Yahoo! is a directory), which siphon information about sites automatically into their databases, the process of adding sites to Yahoo! is largely a manual one. Every single site in Yahoo! has been visited by at least one real person, usually a member of the hardcore team of site spotters known as the Yahoo! Surfers. This ensures that the sites listed in Yahoo! are better than the average of all web sites, since obvious scam sites and sites with little or no content are excluded from the Yahoo! directory. Equally -- barring minor exceptions -- sites are only allowed a single entry per major topic in the directory, as opposed to the dozens or hundreds of separate pages that can be listed with search engines. In addition, Yahoo! has recently cleaned up its directory by deleting tens of thousands of broken links, zapping certain other sites and reorganizing whole categories. However, this attention to detail also contributes at times to making the process of listing a site with Yahoo! a frustrating experience. Yahoo! has a very detailed explanation of how sites get listed in the directory, and this should obviously be your first port of call. Since it is almost impossible to get a listing modified after it has been entered into Yahoo!, it is vital that you get the process right first time. The two key elements to consider when listing your site with Yahoo! are:-
Findability : how Yahoo! ranks searches To improve your chances of your listing being found, you need to understand how Yahoo! ranks the results returned from searches. This is not actually complicated stuff, but it may be a little confusing at first. Try a couple of practice searches, and re-read the following a few times to make sure it's clear to you... Now fasten your seat belt, here we go! Yahoo! ranks search results as follows:-
1. Category listings Top ranking goes to categories that match the search terms completely. For instance, a search for "free email" will return:-
These are the first four results that will be returned from the "free email" search. As you can see, Yahoo! puts priority on categories that contain the search terms as a phrase (i.e. in the same order as they were specified in the search) and then on the number of times the terms appear within the full name of the category. Note that at this level, none of the individual listings appear, just the categories themselves. Categories will only be listed if they match all the search terms. 2. Sites with all search terms in title (in order) Next, the results will include sites that contain all the search terms in their title, in the same order as they were specified during the search. 3. Sites with all search terms in title (out of order) Note: from here onwards, the results returned by Yahoo! sometime deviate a little from what I am describing here; I have not yet been able to perfectly simulate their ranking algorithm, so what I am sharing with you here is a good approximation. It will certainly be enough to help you get listed, and hopefully to get listed well! Sites that contain all the search terms in their title, but not in the same order as they were entered, will show up next. 4. Sites with all search terms in description (in order) Next, you will see sites that contain all the search terms in their description, as an exact match to the search phrase that was entered. 5. Sites with all search terms across title and description Going down the foodchain a little more, you will see sites listed that contain all the search terms, but spread across their title and description. 6. Sites with some search terms in title and/or description Finally, we get to the bulk of the listings: sites that contain at least some of the search terms in their title and/or description. Additional Notes When you visit a category, either by browsing down from the main Yahoo! page or by selecting one of the category links returned at the top of a search, you will see that all the sites are listed in alphabetic order of their title. There are, once again, some exceptions. Certain sites have paid for their listings, or have in some other way demonstrated their great worth to Yahoo! These sites will appear "above the line" i.e. above the horizontal rule that divides the main site listings from the sub-categories above. New site listings will also appear at the top for a short time, usually a few days. Finally, certain sites have a recommended or reviewed symbol next to them, which will attract attention. These come from Yahoo! Internet Life (Yahoo!'s paper and web-based magazine) or from other areas of Yahoo! Appearance : What your site's entry will look like A listing in Yahoo! consists of a title (hyperlinked to the specified URL) and, if you are lucky, a 6-20 word description of the site. That's it -- your whole site, your whole online life, distilled into a couple of sentences! Still, that's the way Yahoo! works, and since they have listed well over half a million sites in this format, I am afraid they're not about to change things for you. Instead, you need to learn how to exploit your listing. How to Get Listed with Yahoo!Now we come to the meat and gravy (or vegetarian substitute of your choice) of Yahoo!'s site listing process. Why did I take you through all the steps above? Well, it's really important to understand how Yahoo! will present information to searchers so that you can prepare your listing in the right way. The first thing you have to do is walk away from Yahoo! for a few minutes, and just think hard about your site. What is the one theme running through the site; what is its main focus or subject area. For a site that covers many broad subjects this is going to be a really tough question to answer... but you have to pigeonhole your site in some way, as you are going to have to get really specific during the Yahoo! submission process. Found your niche? Great. Now carry out some trial searches on Yahoo!, using keywords that your visitors are likely to be using to find sites like yours. Take very careful note of which categories turn up at the top of the search results. Repeat this process for several different sets of keywords. Try putting your keywords in a different order. Essentially, you're trying to get a "feel" for the way Yahoo! treats your subject. Hopefully you should have narrowed down the choice to one or a few categories. If you cannot find any categories that match your search terms, look a little further down the list of results to find out where sites similar to yours are listed. Now comes the cunning part: choose the category that came up most frequently for searches on different sets of keywords. Alternatively, choose the category that came up first when you searched for what you considered to be the "most likely" keywords that people will use to find your site. A word of caution: If you run a commercial site (and since the Yahoo! Surfers are a pretty smart bunch of people they'll soon see what is commercial and what is not) i.e. you are selling something or clearly making money from your site, you MUST list it somewhere under the Business and Economy: Companies hierarchy of categories. If you ignore this, there is almost no chance you will get listed. A Yahoo! Surfer may well choose to add you to other categories, so don't despair... but don't shoot yourself in the foot before you start! Similarly, if you run a personal site (i.e. one which is clearly chatting about you, your hobbies, your family and so on) you need to list it under Society and Culture: People: Personal Home Pages When you have found the appropriate category (and if it is inappropriate, let me say right off that you will NOT get listed) click the Add URL button at the top of the page. Step 1 : The key information that is going to help you rank well : Title, URL and Description Ok. Now you have a chance to enter your basic information. First, check again that you have chosen the right category to list your site in. Next, enter the title of your site. Follow the advice to the letter: use only your site's official name, and don't go overboard on the hype -- Yahoo! Surfers hate hype and will pass on listing your site. If possible, try to get your main search terms (the ones you decided were most important) into the title. If you are submitting to a fairly empty category (you did go and have a look at how many sites were listed there, didn't you?) you can choose a different set of search terms than the one you used to find the category... that way you get two bites at the same cake: one chance in a search that turns up the category containing your site, and one chance in a search that turns up your actual site. A word of caution: Yahoo! ranks sites within a given category alphabetically, so it may be tempting to specify as the title of your site something beginning with "A" or even with a character that comes before "A" such as "!" or "@". Don't! Unless everything on your site (your title, your domain name, your company name etc.) justifies the use of the letter "A" (for instance, if your site represents Apple Computers), stick to your name. Add your URL. Cut and paste it from your site, or from your handy URL list. Don't rely on typing it in correctly. How your cheeks would burn if you knew that you had submitted a perfect entry, except for the minor detail that you typed the wrong URL and nobody could find your site! Now you need to add a description for your site. Keep it short, really short. Although some sites have managed to get away with 25 or 30 word descriptions, shorter seems to be better in general. 8-12 words is perfect. Try to get the search terms you picked out for your title in at least one more time here. A word of caution: Make sure that your description scans well in English. Don't just send in a list of keywords, otherwise you will not be listed. Again, do not succumb to marketing hype. Your site may be the "biggest" this or the "cheapest" that, but from Yahoo!'s point of view it's just another site. Now move on to the next step. Step 2 : A good chance if you want to take it : suggesting categories If you hesitated between two equally appropriate categories going in to the submission process, here's your chance! Open up a new copy of your internet browser (don't use the window that you are busy submitting to Yahoo! with) and look for that other category on Yahoo! Cut and paste the entire category extremely carefully into the space provided. A couple of tips: Don't try to suggest more than one other category, as this will be interpreted as a sign you have not bothered to target your submission enough. And unless you are very confident indeed, don't suggest an additional category for your site -- Yahoo! has so many already that it is almost guaranteed to fit somewhere. Plus it means more effort for the Yahoo! surfer, who has to check out several dozens or hundreds of sites every day, and who has a very limited amount of time to dedicate to each submission. Now move on to the next step. Step 3 : Contact information and region Enter your name and email address. I recommend that you use your real name (first and last name) and not some alias like Zorg the Terrible or whatever affectation you have taken to using on USENET or in chat forums. You are trying to inspire the ubiquitous Yahoo! Surfer to take your site seriously, and the first step is to make sure that YOU are taken seriously. Equally, if possible, use a real email address rather than one that you picked up for free somewhere (Yahoo! Mail being a possible exception). If your site includes an email address for people to write to, use that email address for your submission. Try to think consistency here. You have a chance to state the geographic location of the site next... This is appropriate if your site has a specific regional appeal, for example if you sell door-to-door in SmallTown, USA. Don't specify anything if your site is likely to have equal relevance to visitors from all over the world. Note: Just because your site is hosted in, say, Florida, don't specify where it is stored. You should reserve the geographic location information strictly for information related to the content of your site. Now move on to the final step. Step 4 : Timing can be everything; the big sell If your site is only going to be available for a limited period of time, say while a specific event is being staged, then say so! Equally, if you will be running a special promotion or similar, put some timing information in here. Note: Sites have been listed within a couple of days under the right circumstances. But don't try to cheat by assigning to your site a time limit that does not exist. Those Yahoo! Surfers will catch you... and delete your submission. Finally (phew!) we come to the Final Comments box. If you don't have anything to say, leave this blank. Don't be tempted to blab away just because the space is there. On the other hand, if for example your site has won a major award (USA Today Hot Site, Jayde Gold Diamond, Cool Site of the Day etc.) you could mention this very briefly. If your site offers any other really unique features, that can't be found elsewhere, here is where to make your very brief sales pitch. It could just swing the balance on a marginal listing. In Conclusion If you follow all the advice here to the letter, I reckon that you have about a 75-80% chance of getting your site listed on your first attempt, as opposed to the roughly 25% acceptance rate of submissions in general. All the honeyed phrases in the world will not persuade a Yahoo! Surfer to list your site if it has been submitted for a totally inappropriate category, or if it has no redeeming content altogether. One additional comment: Free sites (those hosted by providers such as GeoCities or Tripod) are much, much less likely to be listed by Yahoo! This is because these free services harbour scam and illegal sites along with all the legitimate ones, and those Yahoo! Surfers don't have the time to waste separating the wheat from the chaff. If possible, you should always try to host your site elsewhere. If the front door is locked...Gosh, I bet you thought we were done with Yahoo! Not so. There are more ways to get into Yahoo! than through the "front door"; I thought it is worthwhile exploring some of these in case the direct approach fails you:-
So there you have it, folks. How to get into Yahoo! in one (fairly long) page. Have fun... |
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