This topic comes up fairly often - is the Yahoo Directory still worth the submission fee?
We know it gets very little traffic and drives very few leads to a web site. So probably not worth it for the ROI in direct sales. But in terms of the link value of having a nice link from the Yahoo Directory pointing to your web site?
This topic comes up a few times a year in the various SEO forums. The answer has changed through the years. In 2006 the Yahoo Directory's $299 yearly fee was well worth the money, said on expert link building. In 2008, it was beginning to become questionable and then in late 2008, Google removed the suggestion to get a link from Yahoo Directory and Open Directory Project from their webmaster guidelines. In late 2009, there were rumors that the Yahoo Directory would be closed, it was but only on international properties.
So now, in 2012, is it worth having a link from the Yahoo Directory? Does it help? Would it hurt with Penguin? Those are the questions SEOs are asking.
Would it hurt with Penguin? No - I am sorry.
But is it worth the fee? I'd say only if you think you can make your $299 per year back with it from a direct sale.
I rarely ever use the Yahoo Directory to find stuff but I will this week to look for a signage company to hire for a new set of signs for my new office - outside of that, the last time I used it was ten years ago to find a signage company for the previous building I was in.
Take my poll:
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
