Paid Inclusion Obscures Yahoo SEO  // // October 09th 2008 //
Marketing + SEO  Yahoo's organic search results aren't always
organic. I don't think the average Yahoo user has any idea that
many Yahoo search results are paid listings via Yahoo's paid
inclusion product, Search Submit Pro. It's sort of like buying
organic apples and finding out some of them were sprayed with
pesticide.  Yet, I can see my way past the ethical minefield
paid inclusion presents. There is no expressed contract that
states that the organic search results are 100% organic. That's
an assumption that many users make and which Yahoo simply fails
to correct. There's no 100% organic 'sticker' on the Yahoo
search results.  The real question for me is how paid inclusion
impacts search engine optimization (SEO). "Why do I get only 5%
of my organic traffic from Yahoo when they're 20% of the search
market?" This is a common refrain I hear from a rising tide of
companies. There are a number of possible explanations for this
discrepancy.  Sites op