Being in the UK has it’s benefits but the confusion surrounding our version of the Yahoo Directory isn’t one of them.
A few years ago people from the UK were happy to pay the US$299.00 non-refundable recurring annual fee in the knowledge that our site would be listed in a directory that helped our search rankings and actually sent traffic.
Then in 2005 Yahoo stopped charging a fee to submit sites to the UK directory and while this was initially thought to be great news people quickly realised that sites were not actually being reviewed - it became almost a DMOZ situation with an increased volume of submissions and a massive drop in revenue making it impossible for Yahoo to actually review sites on time.
The problem
Let’s say I want to submit Blogstorm to the UK directory in the UK > Internet > Search Engine Optimisation section, here is the screen I’m greeted with:
Now if I visit the main Yahoo Directory and the United Kingdom > Internet > Search Engine Optimization
section I get this screen:
So my choice is to either submit for free to uk.dir.yahoo.com and risk not being included or to submit to the UK section of the dir.yahoo.com US version and pay $299 every year for life.
Looking at the latest submissions there are plenty of UK sites being added to the US directory so why doesn’t Yahoo just charge for submission to the UK version as well?
Do you need to pay every year?
Paying a $299 fee to keep your site in the directory every year is pretty steep but totally worthwhile. It gives Yahoo the resources to review sites every year and keep the directory clean.
Subject to Section 1.3 above, the current Recurring Annual Fee is US $299.00 for web sites that do not offer adult content and/or services and is US $600.00 for web sites that do offer adult content and/or services. If Yahoo! is unable to successfully charge your card or if the charge is refused, your site will be removed. IT IS THE APPLICANT’S RESPONSBILITY TO KEEP CREDIT CARD INFORMATION CURRENT.
Not one of my sites has ever been removed for cancelling the charge after the first year. Look at any category in the directory and I bet you can find expired sites - how is this possible if Yahoo is reviewing all the sites every year?
Are all these people really paying $299 every year to Yahoo for sites that are expired? Most credit cards only last a few years and I doubt people will update their details with Yahoo when they change.
Have you every been removed for non-payment? Have you ever been listed for free in the Yahoo UK directory?
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