Yahoo! Site Explorer

Contents

Sitemap XML File Help & Strategies

Yahoo! Site Explorer

Yahoo! Site Explorer (YSE) provides optional access to information about your site. It tells you how many pages of your site Yahoo! knows about, and how many incoming links you have received.

However, you do not need this information to build a successful site. If you decide that you want access to YSE, follow the instructions below to arrange it.

If you pinged your sitemap URL to Yahoo!, you won't have access to YSE. To gain access to it, you'll also need to submit your sitemap URL via the YSE submission page.

You can re-submit your sitemap URL at any time. Submitting it indicates to Yahoo! that you have changes to your site, so you won't be accused of spamming Yahoo! if you do submit it again. (This is what SBI! will be doing for you.)

Copy Your Sitemap URL

Directions for Use
  • Copy your sitemap URL from SE HQ.
  • Log into Yahoo!'s Free Submit page, click on Submit Site Feed and paste your sitemap URL into the text box. Click on Submit Feed.
  • On the next page, you may have to enter just the file name again.

For Yahoo!, copy only the sitemap URL file name from the top of Search Engine HQ...
(ex., qMGy9jeF.xml).

Be sure not to copy the dash before or any spaces after the file name.

Then log into Yahoo!'s My Sites (if you already submitted your site) at...

https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/mysites

Submit Your Sitemap URL

After logging in, you'll see your site listed. Click on the "0" (zero) in the Feeds column.

Yahoo submit sitemap

Paste the file name into the text box on the next page...

Yahoo submit site

You'll see a "Processed" message that indicates that Yahoo! found and accepted your sitemap.

In the left column, click on Authentication.

authentication

Create the Verification File

You have the option of uploading a verification HTML file to the root of your site, or placing a META tag in the HEAD section of your home page. Choose the Verification File method.

What Is the META Tag Method?

If you upload your own HTML, you could choose to verify by inserting a proprietary Yahoo! META tag.

If you decide to use the META tag option, follow the instructions available after you start the authentication process, or check this Yahoo! help page for instructions.

The Verification File Method

Directions for Use
  • Click on the Download button to download the HTML file you will upload to your site.

  • Add the norobots META tag inside the head section of that file.

    Or...

  • If you cannot download the file, copy and paste the code on the left into a text file.
  • Copy the authentication key from the Yahoo! page. Save your new text file and name it by pasting in the authentication key.
  • On the Yahoo! page, highlight the text string and copy it.
  • Paste the string into the text file, in the space before the </body> tag.
  • Click and drag to highlight the file name. Copy it.
  • Save the text file again.

Download the file provided by Yahoo! and proceed to the next section below. If you cannot download it for some reason, use the following method...

Select the HTML code below by clicking on the Highlight All button. Then copy it (Ctrl-C -- Command-C on a Mac) and paste (Ctrl-V/Command-V) into a text document.

Verification File Code


Important Note for Mac Users: If you use TextEdit in RTF (Rich Text Format), click on Format in the menu, then select Make Plain Text, before pasting in the text.

Back at Yahoo!, double-click on the text string to highlight it...

Copy the highlighted text string and paste it into your text document (before the </body> tag, as noted in the HTML that you copied-and-pasted above).

Next, click-and-drag to select the file name (that Yahoo! provides), as shown here...

Copy that file name. Then save the text document. Paste the file name ("y_key_71f515be1959d40a.html" in the screenshot above) when asked to name the file.

Caveat

As you highlight the file name, the highlighting may extend past the left end of the name (see screenshot above). It should not affect the file name, but confirm before saving that you have not added any extra spaces at either end of the name.

Upload the Verification File & Authenticate Site Ownership

To upload the verification file, return to Site Central (leave the Yahoo! window open -- you'll be returning to it). In the One Page at a Time section, click on the Upload Your Own HTML Page button. Click on the question marks for online help if you need it. Follow the Directions for Use on the right to upload the file and build the page.

Directions for Use
  • In Site Central, click on Upload Your Own HTML Page.
  • Click on the Browse button (Choose File if using Safari) and select the saved file. Select No if you have RSS turned on. Click on Upload Your HTML.
  • Ignore the error messages. Click Here to Continue to Step 3.
  • Scroll down the page and click on Build It! to build the page.
  • Back on the Yahoo! page, click on Ready to Authenticate to verify ownership of your site.

Return to the open Yahoo! window and click on the Ready to Authenticate button.

Yahoo! will confirm that it will authenticate your site ownership by checking this file within 24 hours.

Important

Be sure to click on No in the RSS section. If you do not click on No, your verification file will appear in your RSS feed and on your Blog It! page.