SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Yahoo!

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

I don't understand.

Yahoo seems to be incredibly successful. They have tons of people going to their website.

Why are they constantly being discussed as though it is a piece of shit company that doesn't deserve to exist?

Posted: Jan 12 2009 06:59 am

Their search engine is, apparently, considered inferior to Google.

In 2004-2005, I would argue that maybe it was. When I was trying to get the site off the ground, I noticed they cached my pages a lot less frequently than Google, and it took longer to get new pages listed. The Yahoo SE was/is also considered easier to exploit with black hat techniques.

That being said, Yahoo is a better overall site. It is a one stop news portal/sports scores/television listings dealy and it is my homepage on my PC.

On my phone though, I turn to Google because it loads faster.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Syd Lexia wrote:

Their search engine is, apparently, considered inferior to Google.

In 2004-2005, I would argue that maybe it was. When I was trying to get the site off the ground, I noticed they cached my pages a lot less frequently than Google, and it took longer to get new pages listed. The Yahoo SE was/is also considered easier to exploit with black hat techniques.

That being said, Yahoo is a better overall site. It is a one stop news portal/sports scores/television listings dealy and it is my homepage on my PC.

On my phone though, I turn to Google because it loads faster.

Yahoo! should just use Google and take the profit from the ad clicks. Then focus on what they do. The worlds #1 web portal.

It is frustrating to watch this huge company with so much to offer be beaten on year after year for no reason.

Posted: Jan 12 2009 09:47 pm

I use Yahoo but when it comes to image searches, Google delivers much better results.

Posted: Jan 12 2009 10:09 pm

Their constant whorish requests to update the firefox toolbar can suck my dick.

Posted: Jan 13 2009 07:04 am

Web portals are a thing of the past. The advent of RSS feeds and self syndication has diminished the role web portals used to play as content aggregators. They are no longer the gateways to the Internet they were in 90s. Web portals are still going to be around, but you can't stay a company the size of Yahoo! just being a web portal. In fact, the recent layoffs show that you can't stay a company the size of Yahoo! doing what they're doing right now.

Yahoo!'s problem is that they have been upstaged by Google in pretty much every regard. Google's search engine blew everything that had been done before right out of the water. Google Ads has an iron grip on the ad market. Gmail was such an innovation that Yahoo! had to completely overhaul their web mail service to stay competitive. Google is the front runner in the race of web based applications in which Yahoo! is mostly represented by its acquisitions (Flickr, del.icio.us). The few innovative products they create (e.g. Yahoo! Pipes) fail to get the word out.

It's constantly being second best that has damaged their reputation, probably disproportionately. Yahoo! still has its strengths, but in a business that is as fast moving as the web industry, you're evaluated by your ability to innovate more than anything else.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Tyop wrote:

Web portals are a thing of the past. The advent of RSS feeds and self syndication has diminished the role web portals used to play as content aggregators. They are no longer the gateways to the Internet they were in 90s. Web portals are still going to be around, but you can't stay a company the size of Yahoo! just being a web portal. In fact, the recent layoffs show that you can't stay a company the size of Yahoo! doing what they're doing right now.

Yahoo!'s problem is that they have been upstaged by Google in pretty much every regard. Google's search engine blew everything that had been done before right out of the water. Google Ads has an iron grip on the ad market. Gmail was such an innovation that Yahoo! had to completely overhaul their web mail service to stay competitive. Google is the front runner in the race of web based applications in which Yahoo! is mostly represented by its acquisitions (Flickr, del.icio.us). The few innovative products they create (e.g. Yahoo! Pipes) fail to get the word out.

It's constantly being second best that has damaged their reputation, probably disproportionately. Yahoo! still has its strengths, but in a business that is as fast moving as the web industry, you're evaluated by your ability to innovate more than anything else.

I still don't think it would be hard for them to fix it.

Their websites are all inconsistent. If they were to make them look like they were all part of a single brand, that would help.

If the focused on their content portals and offered less, but more meaningful advertising slots, that would help.

Awe who am I kidding, they should just sell themselves to the highest bidder... If they wanted to be competitive, they would be. They are content with their position so it seems.