The Yahoo Directory is rarely talked about any more, but it was one of the first search engines (i.e. human based search). In January 2002, Yahoo began charging an annual fee for your site to be submitted to the Yahoo Directory for approval. Sites included prior to that date were grandfathered in and did not have to pay an annual fee.

But it appears that some sites that have paid for inclusion into the Yahoo Directory are no longer being charged for the annual resubmission fee.

A few webmasters confirmed in a WebmasterWorld thread that they have not been charged the fee and their listing is still there.

I've always had 3 websites that I paid for inclusion into Yahoo Directory. Now, 2 of the three are no longer listed under my Yahoo account (the backend where my billing info etc. is).

I noticed this after realizing I wasn't charged for them towards the end of last year. But the listings are still active in the directory - they show up in the same categories, everything just like when I was paying for them.

I have two sites listed in the Y directory. One was listed about 3 years ago. I paid the fee but it never renewed, it remains in the directory to this day. The other listing I just paid for last December. Since my credit card expires before next December, I'm pretty sure I won't be billed for it. I'll be interested to see if it stays in the directory. I suspect it will stay.

Maybe Yahoo downsized the employee who managed the bills for the Yahoo Directory? ;-)

I would not be surprised if Yahoo let's certain sites remain in the directory without paying. Quality sites should not be delisted from one of the best human edited directories, simply because they did not pay.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Like The Story? Vote For It On Yahoo Buzz! Or On Sphinn!