Yahoo and Linking

[pdwlinks]

Today we were shocked to learn that Yahoo may be penalizing our site due to our linking pages.

When we sent in a help to Site Explorer, this was the response.

by Yahoo! Site Explorer employee Tim | 20 hours ago
I'm just guessing but it probably has to do with this page on your site:
/links/add_link.html
Your site is probably still in violation of the Yahoo! Content Quality Guidelines published here:
http://help.yahoo.com/search/contentguidelines
See this recent blog post as well:
http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000503.html
Specifically, the section on linking strategies.

We use LinksManager and have just over 150 links, all but four were related to pets, as the content of our site is dogs. We are not sure if it the page that allows the links to be added or the links we have that they do not like, but we have basically used the templates provided by LinksManager and added a small amount of custom text.

Confusion does not begin to describe how we feel.

We are going to remove the four non pet related links and move the link request page off the home page and see if this helps.

Any other suggestions to this would be appreciated.

[The Old Sarge]

From Yahoo! guidelines:

"Pages that rely heavily on content or links to content created for another web site, such as affiliate content"

"Sites cross-linked excessively with other sites to inflate a site's apparent popularity (link schemes)"

Without actually seeing the page in question (/links/add_link.html), and therefore not knowing what employee Tim was referring to specifically, my guess would be one or both of those things.

If you give us a link to your page, we might be able to offer something else.

[Phil Staff]

There are many many factors that go into search engine rankings nowadays and it all isn't just linking anymore.

One thing I see right off the bat is the url to your links pages uses the word 'links'. There are so many unethical companies that use that word for their directory that I would recommend changing the name of your 'links' directory so something more relevant like 'pet_resources'. That better describes what the pages will offer than the word links.

I don't know the modifications you have made to the add link page; however, traditionally there aren't any problems with the add_link page. Many people have renamed that page to 'add_resource' or 'submit_resource' to get away from the word links.

With thousands of LinksManager users using the default add link page we haven't ever heard of a Search Engine specifically punishing a site based on their add link page. LinksManager is designed to be Search Engine Friendly and should meet all major search engines quality guidelines as long as the account is used properly.

We would be more than happy to review your site if you can provide us with a link.

Phil Staff

[pdwlinks]

Thanks for looking at the pages, they are at http://puppydogweb.com/links/links.html, you can reach this from the Home Page, clicking on Quality Pet Links on the left hand side.

We are not a heavily linked site, and the linking is only a small part of our content. We currently have a PR of 4 and have been online for almost 11 years. The Link Exchange program is something new we started a few months back.

I will take the suggestion and do a name change on the pages instead of calling them links.

Some of my competitors have thousands of links on their pages, so I sent in a reply to Tim's email asking why they are not penalized. We will see what his response is. This is the tread on Site Explorer: http://suggestions.yahoo.com/detail/?fid=63604&prop=SiteExplorer

[Phil Staff]

pdwlinks,

I read your thread on the yahoo support url you provided. I read the Yahoo blog the support person provided. I still feel that you are correct in the fact that your site is being punished for no reason.

The blog he mentioned more specifically the Linking Strategies section is something that LinksManager and LinkPartners have been preaching since the beginning of time.

Yahoo says:


Linking Strategies

Link to as many relevant pages as possible. Don't be an island, but at the same time don't link to sites that are not connected to you in any way; this can hurt search engine results. If you link to spam, your ranking could be severely hurt.
The pages you link to are the pages your users will link to. Content is king. Create great content and ask yourself if you're a fan of it and if you would link to it.
Use descriptive anchor text when linking internally and externally. Use of contextual and descriptive anchor text can have a huge impact on site rankings.You are obviously linking for the benefit of your end users. Your categories and links are to relevant sites that are good sites with good content. Your add link page shouldn't even be an issue. That page is simply for the benefit of your visitors and other webmasters so they can "submit" a site for "human review".

If they continue to mention that your links pages are in violation of their guidelines I would point them directly to LinksManager's Code of Ethics here: http://linksmanager.com/codeofethics.html . Then I would ask them to specifically let you know what is needed to correct the issue.

Again I think this is all just a misunderstanding and mistake that will work itself out in time; however, I agree that it is disconcerting that a site that is doing the right thing still ends up guilty until proven innocent.

Just my two cents. I certainly cannot speak for Yahoo and I haven't had this experience in my years with LinksManager and LinkPartners by any other members. I am glad you posted this message as your site is a clear example of how to do linking the correct way.

Please keep us updated as you get more information from Yahoo regarding this issue. Thank you!

Phil Staff

[The Old Sarge]

After looking over your site and reading the posts you linked, I come to pretty much the same conclusion that Phil has.

[westernfront]

For my two cents, I see the same as Old Sarge & Phil.. looks like a legit links page & don't see where it steps out of bounds? I'd appeal, too.

[zel218]

Maybe it's also Yahoo's way of protecting your site's PR. If there are too many links unrelated to your website it may cause more damages on your end rather than profit. Phil Staff's reply is truly a great help. I can very well understand why Yahoo did that. It's for your own sake. :)

[The Old Sarge]

Maybe it's also Yahoo's way of protecting your site's PR.

Why would Yahoo! protect something that only Google does? i.e. PR

[Duke]

Yahoo is a complete mystery to me and I've spent years trying to figure out how to place higher in their SERPS; what a waste of time IMHO.

The only thing I'd suggest has already been suggested I believe and that is to stick to linking with sites relevant to your sites content/theme/purpose or sites that compliment your sites content/theme/purpose.

Other than that I'd also suggest you don't have excessive amounts of outbound links regardless as you may possibly run the risk of being viewed as a link farm. While I'm sure that's likely not the case here you have to admit there are plenty of sites you run across that are a few pages full of outward bound links; how SE's determine one from the other is beyond me?

Lastly I'd just suggest not to all a lot of new links at once. While I still believe link building is part of the process, doing it all at once is never a good idea unless your actually running a directory.

This is all IMHO so please take it for what it's worth.