According to a thread at the Search Engine Watch forums it is possible to get back into Yahoo Search after being banned by paying for reinclusion using Yahoo Search Submit. This news was released by a forum participant who noted that after being banned by Yahoo Search they made some changes to their website (to address the issues) and were denied reinclusion. In response they chose to try using Yahoo Search Submit after which they were pleasantly surprised to see they were miraculously reincluded into Yahoo’s organic results. Is it really this easy to buy a spot in Yahoo?

First Things First – What is Search Submit?
Yahoo Search Submit is Yahoo’s controversial paid inclusion program which guarantees a website will be reviewed and if approved, rapidly included into Yahoo Search’s database. Additionally, sites within Search Submit are guaranteed a high frequency of indexing by Yahoo and have the ability to submit custom meta data.

Exploring the Issue
Considering that the site is ‘reviewed’ does that mean the Yahoo Search Submit reviewer has no idea of the submitters prior record of being banned? This example could all point to a rare miscommunication between Yahoo departments or a fundamental loophole that adds credence to Jim Lanzone’s (CEO of Ask) opinion that Yahoo’s paid inclusion is hypocritical.

Unfortunately, the fact is we don’t know exactly what happened behind the scenes that allowed this previously banned website to get reincluded into Yahoo’s index. For all we know the reviewer may have known the submitters prior history but took a closer look at noted the SPAM (or whatever got the person dropped) was rectified and allowed reinclusion. At this time there is no formal comment from Yahoo.

Special thanks to Barry @ Search Engine Round Table for documenting this interesting piece of Yahoo goodness!

by Ross Dunn, CEO, StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc.
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