March 26, 2007

Yahoo Directory Links Gone from Search Results

Yahoo has removed the "category" links, derived from the Yahoo Directory, from its previous position in its search results. The move, which Barry Schwartz reported today at Search Engine Roundtable, was confirmed by a Yahoo spokesperson as "part of our ongoing effort to lessen the clutter on the SRP and improve the user experience."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:40 PM | Permalink

October 26, 2006

Yahoo To Add No Yahoo Directory Tag

Rejoice! I reported at the Search Engine Roundtable that Yahoo! is to add no yahoo directory tag support soon. Yesterday Yahoo added support for the NOODP tag, and based on a WebmasterWorld thread, requesting Yahoo to also support a tag to prevent the Yahoo Directory title and description from showing, Tim Mayer of Yahoo said, they are working on it. He also asked for our input on if they should make "a different tag or should the NOODP tag apply to both YDIR and ODP?"

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:22 AM | Permalink

October 25, 2006

Yahoo Adds NOODP Support & Weather Report Update

The Yahoo Search Blog announced that Yahoo has finally added support for the NOODP META tag. You can deploy this two ways;

META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOODP" (stops MSN, Google and Yahoo from using ODP directory) or META NAME="Slurp" CONTENT="NOODP (stops just Yahoo from using ODP directory)

I reported back on October 11th that this was coming and Danny explains why NOODP tag support is not enough, we need it to support a method to tell Yahoo not to use the Yahoo Directory title and description as well.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:37 AM | Permalink

October 11, 2006

Yahoo To Support The NOODP Tag; Won't Prevent Display Of Yahoo Directory Title

Last night, I spoke with Tim Mayer of Yahoo about supporting the NOODP tag at Yahoo. In short, the NOODP tag allows webmasters to tell the search engine not to use the ODP's title in the web search results. MSN was the first to implement the standard, and then Google followed. Tim Mayer said that Yahoo will be supporting the NOODP tag starting next week or the week after. But the tag will not prevent the Yahoo Directory title from displaying in the Yahoo search results.

Tim Mayer explained that Yahoo uses an algorithm to figure out when to use the title provided by (a) the webmaster, (b) the ODP directory or (c) Yahoo Directory. He said that since the NOODP is a standard already, they will add support for it. But they did not want to create a new meta tag to exclude the Yahoo Directory, because they use algorithms to best determine when to use which title. He said it doesn't mean they will not create a new tag in the future, but the NOODP tag that will be released next week will only prevent the ODP title/description from displaying.

Danny and I feel that the NOODP tag should not just tell Yahoo to not display the ODP title but also be used to tell Yahoo to not use the Yahoo Directory title. Danny clearly showed me how Yahoo's algorithms to determine when to use what title is not working a 100%.

A search on tony knowles shows the same thing it did back when he wrote; "you'll see that tonyknowles.com is given a description by Yahoo about his senate attempt. That was correct at the time, but since then, Knowles has changed the web site over for his gubernatorial attempt."

So something needs to be done here as well.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:28 AM | Permalink

April 28, 2006

Yahoo Local Adds Featured Listings

The Yahoo Search blog just announced a new Yahoo Local advertising solution named Local Featured Listings. This advertising solution enables advertisers to place their ads at the top of a local listing for different business categories. The business categories seem to be based on your location and keyword. The rate chart shows you can spend $15 to $300 depending on your location and keyword phrase, Manhattan and florist being the most expensive category, since Manhattan is very populated and florist is a popular keyword phrase. A lot more information at http://listings.local.yahoo.com/prlfl.php, I may have more later on this.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:18 AM | Permalink

March 8, 2005

Yahoo Directory Makes Changes & Further Directory Decline The Changes in the Yahoo Directory thread in our Search Engine Watch Forums notes that the Yahoo Directory home page has gained a new look and feel. In addition, sites are now sorted by popularity, as I'll explain more below.

I found it striking that instead of listing all sites in a particular category on one single page, categories with many listings (such as here) now have been broken up into multiple pages, with the option to "Next" to the other pages at the bottom. It's similar to how web search results pages operate. It's not a behavior I recall seeing before.

In my mind, it makes getting a Yahoo Directory listing even less compelling than in the past. Previously, there was some value in a listing because people might "detour" from a search results page into a category page and possibly see your listing. But now, for a popular category, there's a good chance you won't show up at all.

Of course, many people still feel paying Yahoo for a link is worthwhile because of link popularity benefits. So if you're in that camp, the changes probably won't be an issue.

Also interesting is that by default, now ALL sites are now listed in order of popularity. How's that determined? Yahoo has long listed some "Most Popular" sites in its directory but never disclosed how this was determined (such as a lack of revelations in this help page about it). I've always felt that clickthrough measurement, along with perhaps some link analysis, was part of the secret sauce.

The Google Directory has long sorted sites it gathers from the Open Directory by PageRank order. Perhaps part of the change is that sites in the Yahoo Directory are now sorted by Yahoo's own Web Rank order. I'm checking on this, along with the changes in general.

You still have to pay a $299 annual fee to submit to commercial categories at Yahoo.com (if you try to submit and only see an option to do so if you pay, that's a commercial category!).

However, folks in this WebmasterWorld thread, Yahoo Directory Changes Listing Method, discuss the directory changes they spotted back at the end of February as well as paid submission no longer being an option for Yahoo UK & Ireland, nor Yahoo Germany and apparently other European Yahoo sites. UK & Ireland now free submit in our SEW Forums also looks at this.

Overall, both Yahoo and Google have greatly decreased the visibility of their directories over the years. The latest Yahoo changes have the feel of a further backing away and perhaps a precursor to automated compilation in the future. For some related reading, see:

Google Loses Tabs In New Look: Explains how the Google Directory was demoted off the Google home page last March.
Yahoo Category Links Gone Away?: An illustrated guide from me last July, on how the Yahoo Directory has been downplayed over time, plus comments from others on the change.
On Web Directories: Covers ResearchBuzz's Tara Calishain decrying the loss of directories last November and Gary Price adding that even if Google and Yahoo are backing off, other directories are still out there.
ODP Founder Comments & Moving Past Directories: The founder of the Open Directory Project said in January that he thinks directories no longer make sense. I largely agree in this blog post about his comments, explaining why I think we moved to the current crawler-based results domination. But humans still do have a role to play, as I also explain.
AOL Search: Playing In the Big Leagues Now: Covers a redesign to AOL Search that happened in January. Part of that redesign was to drop directory category links from search results pages that were in place for ages. The directory used by AOL? The Open Directory, which AOL owns. Dropping the links was yet another sign of the decline for directories. Still want the ODP at AOL? It is there, via a link on the home page. That's all that I can find.
Is DMOZ really that great? from our forums has some recent, poignant comments from Open Directory editors saying not to blame them if the ODP has problems. They do the best they can with the few resources AOL gives them. It's long overdue that AOL either provide more support to the project or give it up to someone who will.

Finally, want to keep up with what's been added to the Yahoo Directory? New RSS feeds for various categories are available. Noticing changes at Yahoo yourself? Please contribute or comment in our thread.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:13 AM | Permalink

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