Re: Yahoo!

From: Michael Martinez <Michael_at_xenite.org>
Date: Mon 04 Dec 2000 11:46:59 -0500

BARBARA SYBAL <gfx_at_gfxinc.com> WROTE:
> Long time lurker here jumping into the fray ...
>
> My site is listed in Yahoo!, but unfortunately it's
> placed so deep into a regional category that I hardly
> receive a blip of visitors from them.

TO WHICH MICHAEL MARTINEZ <Michael_at_xenite.org> REPLIED:
> I feel compelled to point out once again that category
> is not as important on Yahoo! as most people seem to
> believe.

TO WHICH BARBARA SYBAL <gfx_at_gfxinc.com> REPLIED:
> I beg to differ, somewhat ...
>
> I've had a few sites up since 1995, have been listed in
> Yahoo's "main" categories, and have noticed quite a dip
> in traffic when placed in a sub-sub-regional category.

I don't mind providing concrete example after concrete
example, although it may get old quickly. Category is
only part of the equation. Yahoo!'s query tool can
only search what is in their database, which only
includes site title, description, URL, and category.

> I do have keywords in the description, and when
> searched, the bottom line is that the main categories
> are listed, usually, but not always, ahead of the
> regional ones.

You're missing the point. How the categories are
ranked isn't as important as which Web sites the users
see first. Listings of categories don't provide
immediately useful results. Some surfers are going to
click on that first category, others are going to
click on the Web Sites link (the individual Yahoo!
listings) and/or the Web Pages link (the Google
listings).

What you want is for the surfers to see YOUR WEB SITE
first. Even if you get in the category you feel is
most important, you could end up in the middle of a
lot of sites, or near the bottom.

So the best strategy with Yahoo! is address the query
tool. It's NOT going to rank the sites by category,
and it's NOT going to rank the sites alphabetically.
It's looking for whatever the engineers at Yahoo! (or
whomever wrote their software) decided is most
relevant. A COOL listing is going to rank better than
a listing starting with the letter "A" (and, yes, it
will appear first in the category, too -- but that's
cream).

People use directories exactly like search engines:
they type in what they are looking for and click on
SEARCH. Most people do not browse the categories.

And, yes, Yahoo! DOES drive tons of traffic. It drives
more traffic than all other search services combined.

Getting into the right category is important because
that category listing can boost your ranking in the
query results, not because it's "the right category".
It doesn't matter as much if your title starts with
"Zebra" rather than "Apple" if you've got the keywords
you need in your title, description, and URL to help
you move ahead of the other sites.

Sites in relevant categories ARE excluded from search
results, or given very low rankings, because they
don't have the keywords the searchers are looking for.

Usability studies show time and again that the surfers
instinctively ignore everything on the page that
appears NOT to be what they are looking for. Since
surfers are looking for Web sites, not categories, if
it ain't a Web site, the surfer is less likely to
click on the link.

If you have to pick between getting "the right
category" and getting your keywords in your title,
description, and URL, go for the latter, not the
former. If you can have it both ways, great.
Otherwise, plan for the query tool.

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Received on Mon Dec 04 2000 - 10:46:59 CST