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:
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.