Yahoo claims that submitting a web link via the free URL submission box is considered only 'suggestion' and not a guarantee that the page will be added to the index.
The only guaranteed way to have your content included is to use the Inktomi paid inclusion program. The pricing for Inktomi paid inclusion is as follows:
1st URL - $39
URLs 2-1000 - $25 each
Yahoo has not commented on the fate of its other search engines, AltaVista and AllTheWeb, which were acquired through the Overture purchase last year. Currently only the Inktomi inclusion will feed search results into the new Yahoo Search index."
Submitting a URL to Inktomi is valuable because the results would feed MSN Search, at least until MSN Search develops their own search engine. In addition, an Inktomi submission would provide results to About.com and other partners.
However, the interesting thing about Yahoo and Inktomi is that, at least according to industry insiders, the new Yahoo Search is not a simple copy of Inktomi but rather an evolved, advanced form of Inktomi. As proof one can consider comparing the search results provided by MSN and HotBot both of which serve Inktomi results – they are certainly different from the results provided by Yahoo Search...
My opinion is to continue using Inktomi at least for the benefit of appearing in the MSN Search results and to have one’s options open for the April 15th planned introduction of Yahoo Search paid submission. Nobody knows if paid inclusion in Yahoo Search will be more expensive than the $39 Inktomi currently charges per URL, so putting some portion of your marketing budget for the new big search engine player would be wise.
For more information on the new Yahoo spider, see http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/slurp/.
Are meta tags back?
Yahoo cares about page descriptions. Google usually composes its own page description based on the text of the first paragraph of the indexed page. Yahoo wants you to have a unique page description and you should diligently follow their advice.
Specifically, Yahoo advises:
“Use a "description" meta-tag and write your description accurately and carefully. After the title, the description is the most important draw for users. Make sure the document title and description attract the interest of the user but also fit the content on your site.
Use a "keyword" meta-tag to list key words for the document. Use a distinct list of keywords that relate to the specific page on your site instead of using one broad set of keywords for every page.”
posted by Jen @ 7:18 AM
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