The Google search engine now drives primary search results on Yahoo. While this is certainly an improvement for users of Yahoo search, it's a disaster for many businesses that counted on their Yahoo listing to deliver substantial traffic.

This change has also led many site owners to question value of a listing in Yahoo directory. In this article, I will outline pros and cons of maintaining, or paying for, a Yahoo listing. In process, I will delve into more details of recent changes.

Argument #1: Yahoo Listings Mean Link Popularity

Pro: Even if Yahoo listing itself delivers little or no traffic, other search engines will rank your website higher if it's listed in Yahoo. Because Yahoo is so important, a link from Yahoo counts more than a regular link. Thanks to its higher "PageRank," Yahoo means even more to Google.

Con: Yahoo listings do not deliver nearly as significant a contribution in this area as you might think. You can verify this by doing a "backward links" search on Google for any Yahoo-listed website. The most important links are listed first, and Yahoo listing is rarely even on first page of links for top ranked sites on Google.

Argument #2: Listed Sites Look Better In The Search Results

Pro: Websites with a Yahoo listing show up in combined Yahoo/Google results with their title, description, and category from Yahoo directory. This may boost response when site appears in search results. This applies when URL listed in results is same as URL in Yahoo listing.

Con: Results listed with Yahoo information include a link to site's category, which may prompt surfers to pass over your listing and go to category. Sites without Yahoo listings have more inviting "search within this site" link, which leads to more results exclusively from your site.

So, Is A Yahoo Listing Worth It?

Before submitting your site to search engines you should have some insight into, 1.. how they function. 2.. what some of differences are. 3.. which ones to submit to. 4.. do I need to pay for a submission?

Is it a Search Engine or a Directory?

When submitting your site to a search engine or search directory be aware that there is a difference between two. Not being aware of this difference can create problems. Example, Google is a search engine and Yahoo is a directory. The basic difference between two is in way submission is reviewed and entered into database index. Search Engines

Search engines are databases that use robots/spiders to crawl Internet and index web sites. The database listing is automatically generated from information gathered from pages of web site. The sites may be found through random search of Internet or through a submission.

Directories

Directory databases are compiled from submissions and reviewed by editors, real live human beings. The editors physically review submission, rate it, and catagorize it. Take great care in describing a site when submitting it to a directory. The methods used to achieve a high search engine ranking DOES NOT work when submitting to a directory.

Submission

Understanding where major search engines and directories get some of their database information from can help when it come time to submit a site. It can save a lot of time and possibly quite a few dollars.

Many major search engines and directories get their search results from third-party search providers. Some of these third-party search providers are other search engines or directories. So by reviewing who provides search results to whom may help with your submission process. Submitting to one search engine may get your site displayed in another one where you would have had to pay for submission.

Example:

Google, most popular search engine on Internet, provides main results to AOL Search, Netscape Search, and Yahoo (fee-based). Google uses Open Directory for back-up results. The Open Directory also provides directory back-up results for AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, HotBot(fee-based submission), Lycos(fee-based submission), and Netscape Search.

Needless to say, getting your site listed in Open Directory is well worth time spent submitting it. DMOZ (http://dmoz.org/)