Im finding that for many searches a good % of the top 50 are listed in the Y! directory. In my specific field for a popular keyphrase around 50% ofthe top 50 have dir listings. Additionally only around 30% of the top 100 have directory listings. My question is, how much importance do you think Y! put on a directory listing in terms of search results? I can't decide whether so many of the top sites are top because of the directory listing, or just because top sites tend to be authority sites that would likely have a listing in the dir anyway. Has anyone had experiences whereby they see themselves rise up y! rankings after buying a directory slot?
Yes from sites all started at the same time ones that were in yahoo and ones that were not... huge difference.
hmmm interesting - i expected to hear how 'its the biggest waste of $300' etc... can you estimate the kind of difference it made to you in the serps - like did u get it when you were fairly rock solid then saw a leap up the rankings?
i dont think it makes a huge difference. if you do SEO correctly you shouldnt have a problem. start link exchanges with similar sites and use your keywords in ancor text.
things like the yahoo directory and dmoz dont show effect over night. I started campaigns for 10 different sites about 1 year ago. The way I look at it it cost me tens of thousands because i did not do it for some sites. Now whats 300$? Honestly and when asked I tell this to everyone... can you afford not to do it?
It's definitely not for the traffic, that's negligible. It will definitely help you get indexed faster, and possibly make a big difference in your rankings. However, I'm not sure that it makes a huge difference in terms of SERPs. Tiptopvillas said that he finds roughly 50% of top 10 listings are Yahoo directory listed. That doesn't necessarily show a direct correlation between being in the Yahoo Directory and getting top listings. It could mean that the people who are willing to cough up $300 are more serious about their SEO and marketing in general. I would say that 95% of the people in the top 10 for competetive terms have active SEO campaigns. The ones with bigger SEO budgets are more likely to be in the Yahoo directory.
well i'm thinking about adding my site to yahoo for seo purposes but to be honest i'm not really sure about it. For example i submitted my site to site-sift today for 30 bucks and i got listed on a pr6 page. If i submit to yahoo i'd have to pay 300 bucks and get listed on a pr 4 page maybe. I don't think it really is worth it unless i see some better rankings in yahoo or google searches. Do you guys think its worth it for a site like mine or should i use that 300 to submit to other big directories.
I wouldnt be doing it for PR, couldnt care less about that. What I was trying to figure out was whether the top sites are teh top sites because they have a Y! listing, or because they figured, 'well were near the top so we might as well get a listing'.
Honestly you gotta ask yourself how much you believe in your site really... Its like advertising something on the radio or tv or whatever. If you dont have a good product then your return is crap. The yahoo directory IMO is the same thing (only much much cheaper).
Being in the index isn't going to guarantee or make likely your appearance in the serps. That is still based on the basics. I'm in the directory and was in the serps for almost a year with TWO listings, my organic and directory one, but now both have disappeared.