Search Engine Tips, Part 4 (Yahoo! contd.)

by Alan Grissett, Owner and Project Manager of InfoServe Media, LLC

When submitting a Web site to Yahoo!, one of the most important things that a site owner or promoter can do is find the right category for their site to be submitted to. You want a category appropriate for your site and which has your most important term in it (more on the importance of this last part in a bit).

There are two main methods for finding out just what category a site should be submitted to. One way is to start at the Yahoo! home page and "drill down" through the categories until you find one that most accurately describes your site's content. Another way is to go to Yahoo!, enter a term describing your site, and then see what comes up. Which way is recommended? Well, although searching for categories based on keyword searches is probably faster, drilling down to find the right category might be more accurate. Sites that are returned on keyword searches may not necessarily belong to the best category for your site, so drilling down might just get you a more targeted category for your listing.

Before you actually submit a site (or have a site submitted for you), you'll need to go through your site with a fine-tooth comb. Yahoo! editors are sticklers for working links, proper spelling, and good site navigation, so make sure that everything on your site is in working order. Also, some time should be spent deciding on the title and description of your listing. Along with relevant keywords in the category URL and site domain name (e.g. www.keyword-keyword-keyword.com), keywords in the title and description are the main factors that determine how well your site is ranked in the search results at Yahoo!. In fact, because Yahoo! is a search directory and not a pure search engine, "on-the-page" criteria such as keywords in a page's text or META tags are not taken into consideration in the ranking algorithms.