In the world of SEO, three directory listings have been seen as pivotal to any serious optimization/link building campaign:

1. DMOZ
2. BOTW (best of the web)
3. Yahoo! directory

Murmurs emerged this week that Yahoo! was giving away free renewals to its famous directory. A directory that would normally cost site owners $299 for a listing.

My first thoughts were " interesting move for a company whose financials have been a little worse for wear of lateshareholders will love this strategy.

Barry Schwartz and Loren Baker have both covered the discussion, and they raise a good point. While the directory probably offers a reasonable revenue line, its not exactly a key focus moving forwards.

It might have reached a point where administration costs dont align with the focus and revenue potential of the service, and accordingly the company is re-organizing the way it is managed.

At this stage there has been no formal statement from Yahoo! about the complimentary renewals " so it could be a glitch in the system rather than a deliberate strategy for all we know.

Heres one of the comments from the forum discussing the free renewals

Ive always had 3 websites that I paid for inclusion into Yahoo Directory. Now, 2 of the three are no longer listed under my Yahoo account (the backend where my billing info etc. is).

I noticed this after realizing I wasnt charged for them towards the end of last year. But the listings are still active in the directory - they show up in the same categories, everything just like when I was paying for them.

The funny thing is, my oldest website which was listed in Yahoo Dir first, still shows up in my account and I am still paying for it.

While its great for those that are receiving the free listings, and disappointing for those still having to payI cant help but think that the Yahoo! Directory is on a downward spiral.

Its value to SEO/ranking is questionable these daysand with freebies being issued, you have to wonder how long its going to exist in its current form. While Im sure it wont hit the deadpool anytime soonI cant see it being reincarnated into anything useful either.

Its rapidly becoming just another one of those directories that used to be good.

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