Yahoo! Local Listings - Aabaco - Yext - Anyone solve the mystery?

ccbackus · Dec 29, 2015

I had a number of listings setup under a Yahoo! Small Business account. I hadn't looked at them lately, and knew that Yahoo! was exiting the maintenance of these listings, and had hoped to reclaim them on the Aabaco platform.

I submitted my Yahoo! e-mail address, and confirmed that I received a number of e-mails in advance of the switchover from Yahoo Small business, but I'm not getting anything from Aabaco.

I called the number from the website (866-434-9017), and he couldn't find my account. He referred me to another help line (888.814.2524) but that one said they don't assist anyone without a paid account and referred me to Yext. He seemed to think that Yext was taking over the "free" listings, so I'm assuming that in order to update the Yahoo Local listing going forward, this requires a paid account through either Aabaco or Yext.

Is this what others are finding as well?

Linda Buquet · Dec 29, 2015

Hi Craig,

In a fairly recent post at the Pro Community Raj from Yext said: "Yahoo will continue to offer free listings managed via the Yext dashboard. Let me know if you have questions: Raj at Yext dot Com."

Here is a fairly recent thread at the forum.

<a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/local-search/36836-clean-up-yahoo-local-mess.html">Clean Up Yahoo Local Mess</a>

Not sure it will give you the specific answer you are looking for but it's a really good discussion and Christian from Yext weighed in on the whole general topic of how complicated all these data issues are and why. But the comment from Raj above is the one that seemed to relate directly to Yahoo data.

ccbackus · Dec 30, 2015

Linda, I read through everything, and have a better feel for the situation. It looks like the next best person to try is Raj@yext.com. I've sent him an e-mail, and we'll see what happens. If I'm able to make some progress one way or the other, I'll report back here to the group.

Thanks!

JacobMaslow · Dec 30, 2015

Paid listings was transferred to Aabaco several months ago. Free lisitngs was supposed to be added to the dashboard in November.

As of a week or two ago that has not happened.

JoshuaMackens · Jan 3, 2016

Linda Buquet said:
"Yahoo will continue to offer free listings managed via the Yext dashboard."

Is there a free Yext dashboard now? Or is Yahoo "free" as long as you're a Yext subscriber?

Linda Buquet · Jan 3, 2016

I believe it's the latter, but I was quoting Raj, so let me ping him and see if he can shed some light. Could be tomorrow though.

RajNijjer · Jan 4, 2016

Folks

Based on the thread, there are two unique items which can be summarized as:
1. Migrating your Yahoo SMB account to Aabaco
2. Claiming your Yahoo Listings (with Yext) once the account has been migrated

I can help with #2 and cannot with #1. You must work with Aabaco to migrate your SMB account accurately. This is true with any vendor Yahoo/Aabaco works with.

For #2, we provide a free basic listing options which is located on the https://www.yext.com/pl/yahoo-claims/plans.html page and I added a screenshot at Awesome Screenshot. Note that the free basic listing can take upwards of 30 days to publish/update and only include basic NAP attributes. You can easily upgrade and take advantage of the full Yext platform with expanded listing capabilities and publisher network.

I hope this helps and if needed, feel free to email me at raj@yext.com.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Raj
VP, Community
Raj@Yext.com
Tweet: @RajNijjer

ccbackus · Jan 4, 2016

I was able to walk through the sign up process based on Raj's information. The important thing to note is that once you choose "Verify Your Listing" you need to go through the sign-up process as usual, and once you get to the check-out screen, that's where you scroll down to find the link to "Claim your basic listing only on Yahoo!" Once you select that link, they make one last pitch to upgrade to a paid account, or allow you to process an automated phone call, or submit paperwork to validate the business. For my initial proof of concept, I wasn't able to use the phone number as it must have been an old tracking number from Yellow Pages, and submitted a State of Texas Franchise Tax form. My client should get an e-mail in two weeks confirming acceptance.

JoshuaMackens · Feb 9, 2016

Raj, what should we do about duplicate listings?

RajNijjer · Feb 11, 2016

Josh, in regards to do we fix duplicate listings for free accounts? Can you explain please?

JoshuaMackens · Feb 11, 2016

If there are 2 listings on Yahoo for the business, how do we remove one of them?

RajNijjer · Feb 11, 2016

Josh, our upgraded plans feature duplicate suppression. We offer this through our Yext Certified Partner program which includes many other benefits, inclusive of volume pricing. If you want to learn more, feel free to email me at raj@yext.com.

JoshuaMackens · Feb 15, 2016

How about claiming an existing Yahoo profile? I went through the process but it looks like it's about to add a listing instead of claiming it?

Blaine · Feb 15, 2016

I'm liking this thread. I was just today looking around seeing if their was still a way to get a new client on yahoo local.

Len Telapost · Feb 16, 2016

Ah yes. Glad to see this thread over here. Since mentioning this on one of my blogs I've heard from dozens of business owners.

This is my understanding to date:
Yahoo said "

Yahoo is partnering with Yext to deliver an even better Local Listings experience ...... Yext has partnered with Yahoo to improve this process."
Source: https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN26672.html

From this I personally feel that it is safe to assume that not only do Yahoo and Yext have an agreement to keep the listings completely free but that the process will be even easier for business owners to manage their local listings.

Unfortunately, since announcing this in November, attempting to manage a Yahoo Local Business Listing has become impossible in every test that I have run.

I am left to assume that either Yext or Yahoo has failed to hold up their end of the bargain.

I have several ongoing personal tests which I have put in place and so far I have yet to get to a management console of a single business. It appears that Yext is trying to force everyone to pay them for what Yahoo insists will remain free (and even easier to use).

ccbackus, how was your experience?

Linda Buquet · Feb 16, 2016

Hi Len and welcome. Glad you joined us!

I just a direct link to the Yahoo free submission page. Have you tried this?
https://www.yext.com/pl/yahoo-claims/free-claim-checkout.html

If that doesn't work, Raj from Yext left his email above. I'd contact him.

He seems very open to helping people with free Yahoo listings so I don't think they are trying to force people to sign up.

Len Telapost · Feb 16, 2016

Thanks Linda!

I first contacted Raj 11/19/2015 trying to figure this out. He's offered to help in email although I wanted to know if and how the process worked (without intervention since lots of people will want to claim their Yahoo listing at some point- thousands? millions?).

Following the normal steps I have yet to find anyone who has (ever) successfully verified a biz via the Yext free pages. (I've gotten through the normal steps with multiple test businesses but then the phone verification never happens.)

This link is great; where in the world did you find it? I have seen no mention of it anywhere on the Yahoo or Yext site. This is basically the same page you get if you navigate through all of their local listing scans and find all of the little tiny hidden links when trying to claim a business listing.

To see the normal process Yahoo and Yext send people to, it is right here:
https://www.yext.com/pl/yahoo-claims/index.html

Almost any business owner who navigates through that or tries to call Yext will be led to believe that they have to pay to claim their Yahoo local business listing.

Check it out!

Len Telapost · Feb 16, 2016

Has anyone here ever successfully claimed a Yahoo listing via Yext, and had it verified?

Genuinely curious. Maybe I've just been terribly unlucky.

Linda Buquet · Feb 16, 2016

Len Telapost said:
This link is great; where in the world did you find it?

I couldn't remember initially. Then I tracked it down to a comment at Phil's.

<a href="http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2016/01/29/now-you-can-fix-your-yahoo-local-listing-without-paying-for-yext/">Now You Can Fix Your Yahoo Local Listing without Paying for Yext | LocalVisibilitySystem.com</a>

I think a couple people in comments had some success.

And in this G+ post a couple had success and Raj explains the timeline for changes to go through is 30 days.

circini · Feb 17, 2016

I am having almost the identical issue with them. I spent an hour on the phone trying to sort it out and cancel the service but I finally had to give up due to time constraints. The language barrier and the data mess is impossible. I hope you fair better.

Rick G.
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