Yahoo! NOYDIR Meta Tag Announced

In a move that webmasters are saying "it's about time!" Yahoo! went public on February 28th to allow webmasters the option of having their own Title and Description show in the results instead of the one that is in the Yahoo! Directory. Direct from Yahoo:

"We're adding support for the Meta tag called NOYDIR that will complement the 'NOODP' Meta tag, which we already support. If you're unfamiliar, the 'NOODP' Meta tag is basically a way for webmasters to indicate that Open Directory Project (ODP) titles and abstracts will not be used in search results for their pages. While we continue to pull from various sources to provide the best title and abstract for a given page in search results, we realize that webmasters may still want the ability to exclude titles and abstracts from the Yahoo! Directory. So, as promised, we're providing support for 'NOYDIR' which will recognize the following Meta tags on your pages:

For an example of how to place this code, simply go to the home page of Web Marketing Now and view the source code (View | Source).

While our testing has shown that Yahoo! has been allowing either the Title or the Description from the website to display in the SERPs, despite the fact that the site was listed in the Yahoo! Directory, it is clear that Yahoo! is finally doing something to benefit the webmaster.

We are still pretty much in a state of shock as this hasn't happened in a long, long time.

Also see Meta Author for more tips on effective use of meta tags in your web site.

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Jerry West is the Director of Internet Marketing. He has been consulting on the web since 1996 and has assisted hundreds of companies gain an upper-hand over their competition. Visit Web Marketing Now for the latest in marketing tips that are tested and proven.