Most people know how powerful Yahoo is as a company.  Okay, so they’re not Google but they still hold a lot of weight in the online world and they are not a company to be ignored.  This is why the Yahoo Directory is a good internet directory to get your website listed in.  The Yahoo Directory is one of the largest sites online and many SEO experts strive to get their clients’ sites listed in the directory.  But is it beneficial to you, and how can checking your competitors status help you?  Let’s take a look.

Why is the Yahoo Directory Different?

The Yahoo Directory is one of the largest directories online today and it is known for benefitting a website in terms of traffic and backlink juice.  Unlike many other directories online that are purely there for backlinking purposes, the Yahoo Directory is used by many normal people searching for services and so is a great way to increase a website’s traffic and find new customers.  In addition the “juice” that a link in the Yahoo Directory can give a website is thought by many to be more than worth the cost.  Not only does it dramatically increase a website’s ranking on the Yahoo search engine but as the Yahoo Directory is used by many other search engines and directories, many websites find that they end up with more backlinks than they many have initially bargained for.  This is especially useful for new websites.

So What’s the Catch?

Well depending on the nature of your website, you could find that getting your website listed in the Yahoo Directory will cost more than you initially budgeted for.  If you are running a non-commercial site you can submit your site for free and you should be notified as to whether your site is accepted within eight weeks.  However, if you run a commercial website you will need to pay $299 for submission or $600 if you run an adult website.  You will then receive an acceptance or a rejection within seven days.  The payments are renewed annually.

It is the high costs that cause debate amongst the SEO world as many people say that the money is more than worth it whereas others say there are better ways to spend the money.  In addition, the Yahoo Directory does not guarantee that it will accept every website that is submitted and the paid submission is not refunded even if a website is rejected.

The Yahoo Directory Backlink Checker

If you are running a commercial website and want to see whether your competitors have made use of the Yahoo Directory, the best way to do this is through a Yahoo Directory Backlink Checker.  The tool that we have on the Pingler website is completely free to use and can tell you within seconds whether your competitors are listed on the directory or not.  Whether you believe the fee is worth the money or not, by using the tool, you can alter your SEO strategy accordingly.