Yahoo sucks. Banned me. What to do?
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 repetitionQ: 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,
EvanYahoo! 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!
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 10:04 am and is tagged with search engine yahoo, rapid adoption, content quality, quality guidelines, autoblog, black hat, google, deletions, site explorer, gripe, suspicion, intention, inclusion, long time, email, yahoo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.
on May 18th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
yeah i agree indexing by yahoo is no good. great infomation here though.
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!
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.
on January 21st, 2008 at 4:59 pm
better then Yahoo mail!
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/
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.
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
on June 27th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Looks like you are back on yahoo. Can you post an update to what you did to get re-included? did you submit for a rereview and if so did you make any changes before doing so? I’m in the same situation as you were. It’s nice to know there is someone who made it back in the results.
on June 28th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I’ve never cared much for Yahoo. In my opinion, Google is much better!
on July 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I’ve had similar issues with Yahoo answers, after having back surgery I could not work for 1 year, but wanted to keep my mind active. Everyday I would log into yahoo and proceed to the yahoo answers area, then answer as many computer questions as I could. From time to time I would input my web address link to a solution I had written myself, apparently they didn’t like that. I got no warning at all, just an email stating that I had violated their TOS and my account was suspended. While I could care less about yahoo and having an account there, it did strike me as odd that they would frown of people trying to help other people for free. I suppose they could view it as my trying to use their service for advertising but that was not the case. I suspect that Yahoo will be facing some serious changes in the months to come, with the mass exodus of upper level executives leaving the company, time will tell.
on July 31st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Yahoo Answers is a giant headache. The employees pose as ordinary users and bait others into arguments, causing account deletions and users being banned. When you try to voice your complaint on their “forum”, the regular trolls who reside there attack you and eventually you get banned from posting there. Yahoo allows the trolls to roam there and do as they please. As soon as someone has a legitimate complaint, you’re gone. Until Yahoo “cleans up house”, Yahoo Answers is totally worthless.