Elliott C. Back: In Aere Aedificare

It wasn’t my intention, when I wrote about how Google wouldn’t index one of my sites to make it to the #1 keyword for “Google Sucks” but it happened anyway. That’s a story for another day–right now my gripe is with infamous search engine Yahoo, which doesn’t index any of my sites at all!

Try searching for name, Elliott Back on Yahoo and you get absolutely nothing:

I tried adding my feed to Yahoo Site Explorer but it’s been 50 minutes and it hasn’t been indexed yet. I’m going to contact Webmaster Support and see what comes. My suspicion is that this is a side-effect from the rapid adoption by others of WP Autoblog, which links back to me, one of the reasons I stopped distributing it.

Update: I submitted my feed at 05/17/2007 14:18:01 and it was processed on 05/17/2007 14:26:18. Apparently it took a long time to get reported as processed, but the processing itself happened within 10 minutes.

Update 2: Well so far nothing. If any Yahoo people stop by, drop me a note or give me a call and we can get this sorted out.

Update 3: I emailed a friendly Yahoo employee who might be able to help, and also signed up for their paid search inclusion, “search submit basic,” which hopefully can nudge the site back into the index. Although, I don’t feel right paying for being indexed, it feels too black hat.

Update 4: I got the following email back from Yahoo:

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Search.

It has been determined that your site may not comply with Yahoo!’s Content Quality Guidelines located at: help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/deletions/deletions-05.html

Below are some answers to common questions regarding this issue:

Q: What are some of the common reasons that a site may violate Yahoo!’s Content Policy Guidelines?

A: Yahoo!’s Content Quality Guidelines (link above) outline what we are and are not looking for in pages that we index. Listed below are some of the more common reasons that a site may violate these guidelines:

- Cloaking (showing crawlers deceptive content about a site)
- Massive domain interlinking- Use of affiliate programs without the addition of substantial unique content
- Use of reciprocal link programs (aka “link farms”)
- Hidden text
- Excessive keyword repetition

Q: If my site has a judgment against it, can I use the SiteMatch inclusion program?

A: All pages submitted to SiteMatch are editorially reviewed. If a site has a judgment against it, it is likely to be rejected by the SiteMatch program.

Q: If my site has a judgment against it, can I use the Yahoo! Express directory inclusion program?

A: Yes, the Yahoo! Directory and Yahoo! Search Index are different systems. Inclusion or exclusion from one does not affect the other.

Q: How can I have my site re-reviewed?

A: Please review our content quality guidelines to make sure that your site meets all of them. When you feel the site is ready, please complete the form located at: add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/ysearch/cgi_rereview requesting a re-review of your site. You may wish to include an explanation of unique features on your site, or details of changes to your site’s content that may assist our editors in their evaluation.

Please allow several weeks for the review process, YST indexing, and a complete refresh of the database before checking search.yahoo.com to see if your site is listed in the Yahoo!Search Index. We do not offer specifics detailing how an individual site is not in compliance with our guidelines, but we will review your site individually. You will not be
receiving further notification regarding your request for a second review, and we are not able to offer the option of another review.

Thank you for taking the time to make the Yahoo! Search Index better.
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Customer Care.

Regards,
Evan

Yahoo! Customer Care
www.yahoo.com/

Uh, this email contains no information that could help me understand why I’m banned from Yahoo, or how to correct that ban. Thanks for the … wasted bits in cyberspace!

7 Responses to 'Yahoo sucks. Banned me. What to do?'

1. John said:

   on May 18th, 2007 at 9:57 pm

   yeah i agree indexing by yahoo is no good. great infomation here though.

2. Italy classified said:

   on May 21st, 2007 at 5:29 pm

   ;( In Italy only 5-6% users use yahoo! In my site the 99.7% access by google… and in Italy yahoo have more spam in result.. PS: do you know a script for make a site as blogger.com ? best regards!

3. Steve said:

   on October 18th, 2007 at 10:36 pm

   On the bright site, you do rank #1 for the term “yahoo site explorer sucks” which I suspect will be a very popular search term. Same thing happened to me and a zillion other legit webmasters.

4. Randy said:

   on January 21st, 2008 at 4:59 pm

   better then Yahoo mail!

5. nondescript said:

   on March 18th, 2008 at 11:13 am

   I’ve had a similar experience with Yahoo Answers. I’ve been using Yahoo for over ten years and have been a paying customer, yet they suspend my Yahoo Answers account with no real reason given. Typically, Yahoo Answer accounts are suspended because other users who read the answers don’t like the opinion and “report” the answer. Since I regularly contribute to the Religion and Spirituality section and am an atheist, I get reported frequently. I explained this to Yahoo, who gave me the following form letter response:

   Hello ,

   Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Answers.

   We appreciate your inquiry about your suspension from Yahoo! Answers
   and/or the deactivation of your Yahoo! ID. We reviewed your case, and
   decided that your account is not eligible for reinstatement.

   Once an account is disabled for a violation of the Terms of Service, the
   subscriber to the account will lose the ability to log in and access the
   account and its contents (including email and content stored with any
   other Yahoo! service). The account also will not be reactivated.

   Should you choose to create a new Yahoo! account, we invite you to read
   the Yahoo! Terms of Service and Yahoo! Community Guidelines to help
   ensure your new account is not deactivated.

   Yahoo! Terms of Service:

   info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/utos-173.html

   Yahoo! Community Guidelines:

   answers.yahoo.com/info/community_guidelines.php

   Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Answers.

   Regards,

   Brett

   Yahoo! Customer Care

   For assistance with all Yahoo! services please visit:

   help.yahoo.com/

6. John said:

   on April 8th, 2008 at 10:54 pm

   I’ve had the exact same thing happen with my Yahoo! Answers account it was suspended for some reason and they won’t tell me why. I’ve emailed them multiple times but get the same copy paste answer.

7. michael said:

   on May 5th, 2008 at 9:49 pm

   ylts.t for adut Yahoo. a lot better out there. Yahoo is for kids who need a daddy. Nos nothing good abouahoo is just a bunch of antichristians who love to be the control freaks they are. they have no accountability. So they do what ever they wish to do.Just have nothing to do with them. It is all junk any how. there i

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