The major Internet portals like Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Google, etc. do not place links on their home page that go anywhere except deeper into the properties. Advertising is generally the only exception.
So it surprised us when Yahoo contacted us earlier this week to say that they are testing outside links from their home page. The goal, they say, is to make Yahoo.com as relevant as possible to their. By linking to outside websites, their hope is that the relevance (perceived or actual) of the Yahoo portal will increase.
An article from CrunchGear was included in the test and was on the Yahoo home page for an hour or so yesterday. Other sites were linked to as well. The links were placed prominently at top center in the “featured” section.
Yahoo says that they will analyze the data and feedback from the test to determine whether or not they’ll make this a permanent policy. My request is that they keep testing, and feel free to use our properties at any time.
