"Watchman Syndrome" in action. Is Yandex a partner or a “business killer”?

Looking around the Internet and weighing our strengths, we decided to make a catalog of goods to the modern society in the field of electronics and home appliances - alldigital.ru. With great enthusiasm, we collected information on products, structured data, often presented somehow on the Internet, established connections with stores, argued that “we are serious and for a long time”, created and create reviews of the products presented. From some moment the fruits of works became visible in Google - traffic slowly went up. Yandex responded absolutely coldly to everything — about 40,000 people present in the Yandex index, alldigital.ru pages are on the reserved issue pages, where even a very inquisitive user doesn’t get a click. Soberly assessing the situation, they decided that they would help us gain more confidence from PS Yandex hosting site in the Yandex Catalog. Believing in our strength, we sent a request for placement in the Yandex Catalog, of course, on a paid basis. The response of the Yandex Catalog Administration appeared stars in our eyes, but not with joy being accepted into the aforesaid highly respected resource, but from that cast-iron frying pan that flew into our forehead from the Yandex Catalog Administration. The verdict read:

Answer from 09.22.10: “Your order for paid placement in the catalog of the website“ Electronic prices catalog in online stores ”(http://www.alldigital.ru/) is not accepted. The reason for the site is a huge number of proposals that are not available .. "

Assessing the situation, looking at the players on the market, including Yandex.Market, they came to the conclusion that every product catalog that offers maximum information about the products on the market must have ALL models produced by manufacturers and it does not matter whether they are currently in stock in those stores that are now in our catalog. At any time, such a product may appear, and the user can track the appearance of a product anywhere in stores. We decided to consider the first attempt as simply unsuccessful, or the catalog editor simply inattentively assessed our resource or did not attach much importance to seriousness. Considering that, despite this small annoying mistake, we still decided: in general, the mission of Yandex, which it brings to the Internet, is to help develop resources in it, and not hinder it. The application for paid accommodation has been filed again. Waited for the answer with interest:

Answer dated 10.22.10: “Your order for paid placement in the site directory“ AllDigital online electronics stores catalog ”(http://www.alldigital.ru/) is not accepted. The reason for the site stated a huge number of product offers, which are actually out of stock. "

Word by word. We took time out, doubled the number of stores on the site, the total number exceeded 200, and then applied again. The answer this time was more interesting:

Answer dated February 14, 2011: “Your order for paid placement in the site directory“ AllDigital - catalog of electrical goods and prices ”(http://www.alldigital.ru/) is not accepted. The reason the site is still in the content stage. ”

Wow! We began to learn, but from this sadly. Particularly interesting was the definition of "content stage". Now the letters to the Administration of the Yandex Catalog have already been sent directly:

From us, 02/25/2011: Dear Administration of the Yandex Catalog! The owner of the site alldigital.ru has repeatedly applied for a site registration in the Yandex Catalog. In making the site directory was refused. The formal reason for the refusal was the opinion of the Catalog Administration that the website alldigital.ru is “in the information content stage”. The site owner can not agree with this position, since the specifics of the sites as information resources implies that each site is constantly in the content stage, information on the site is continuously updated and changed. The previous refusals to register the site were justified by the presence of goods on alldigital.ru offers from stores. At the same time, the study of other sites represented in the Yandex Catalog (in particular, price.ru, abc.ru, torg.mail.ru) showed that similar requirements are not imposed on them. Based on the foregoing, we ask you to provide specific requirements (for example, an indication of the need for certain content on a specific page / section of a site) that the site needs to fulfill in order to be included in the Yandex Catalog. Otherwise, the situation may be considered within the framework of the legislation on restriction of competition, since the Administration of the Yandex Catalog purposefully and unreasonably prevents the inclusion of the website alldigital.ru in the Catalog.

Yandex’s answer, dated 02.25.201: One of the reasons why www.alldigital.ru was denied registration in Yandex.Catalog is the presence on this site of a significant number of products without specific offers from online stores (for example, http: // www.alldigital.ru/catalog/vendor/197/AEROVISION/11/digitalphoto, http://www.alldigital.ru/catalog/vendor/1247/Aksion/52/vacuumcleaners/, no reviews about online stores (for example , http://www.alldigital.ru/shop/list/6/). It is also not always obvious what makes up the average cost of goods. For example, on the page http://www.alldigital.ru/catalog/30/tripodsmonopod for the Ryazan region, the range of the cost of an ERA WT-3530 tripod is shown from 920 to 980 rubles, while on the http: // www. alldigital.ru/product/9582/ERA_WT-3530 The price of the product is 950 rubles. and only one product offer from VIDEOMAX store (920 rubles). In our opinion, www.alldigital.ru is still in the initial stage of its development. We are convinced that over time, its information content will increase significantly, and it can be placed in the Yandex.Catalog on a free or paid basis.

It turns out, even if the manufacturer has such a product in the lists (Yandex has pointed out to us the catalog of manufacturers, and not the catalog of goods on our website), we are not able to present it and tell about it if there is no price for it. Even if this is not the main directory of the site, but the catalog of manufacturers and the goods they produce. With an error at the price, we agreed - it was missed during the tests, but the mandatory requirement - to add feedback from visitors about online stores - this is already a dictation of how to conduct business. Nevertheless, we breathe deeply and work further, then we write the answer:

We, dated March 22, 2011: According to your remarks, the following works were carried out on the site: - a bug was fixed in determining the price of goods in the region; user accounts were added; users were able to add their feedback on stores; the store page was reworked; and categories) for which at the moment there are no offers from stores on the site. The range of products on the site has increased, there is constant work on its further expansion. To date, all the comments issued by Blinked by you to the site have been eliminated. The site owner considers the level of development acceptable for re-consideration of AllDigital as a contender for inclusion in Yandex.Catalog.

Answer Ya.K from April 01, 2011: “Your order for paid registration in the catalog of the site“ AllDigital - prices for electronics and home appliances ”(http://www.alldigital.ru/) is not accepted. Reason: According to the editors, the site is still at the content stage. ”

This was followed by a call to the editor of the Yandex catalog with a request to explain more clearly where the criterion of the “information filled site” that will satisfy the Yandex Catalog Administration. In the conversation followed the answer, indicating the following:

In the alldigital.ru catalog there are too few offers in such a popular category as “Tablet computers” in such a large enough region as Arkhangelsk.

Realizing that all questions should be documented, we sent another letter:

We, on 04/18/2011: The owner of the site alldigital.ru has repeatedly applied for registration of the site in the Yandex Catalog. With each appeal, we received a refusal under one pretext or another. On our next appeal to the Yandex Catalog, we received another refusal with the motivation: “According to the editors, the site is still at the content stage”. As before, we believe that the reason is incorrect: any site that is based on the business model of the product catalog is constantly in the content stage. Directly to alldigital.ru weekly adds several reviews of popular products, unique, created directly by the site team. The number of themes and goods from stores represented in the catalog is constantly increasing: the total number of goods represented in the field of electronics and household appliances exceeded 17,500, with more than 92,000 price offers from approximately 250 stores. The functionality of alldigital.ru is improving, new, some unique, opportunities for users and webmasters appear, which indicates the readiness of the resource to constantly evolve, improve and increase its information content. All of the above is a natural and ongoing process for the development of any information resource, unless it is a business card site of any company. Previously, we have repeatedly asked for clarification of the specific requirements that the site owner needs to fulfill in order for the site to be included in the Yandex Catalog. What are the criteria for administering the Yandex Catalog for the information content of such a resource as alldigital.ru? What information and how much is required to be present on the pages of the site so that you find it sufficiently informative for inclusion in the Yandex Catalog? Further, you voiced the position that today alldigital.ru site contains insufficient supply from stores in the regions. This is true, but this situation is dictated by the market: most of the activity of online stores, as well as Internet traffic, is concentrated in the following regions: Moscow 37.3% St. Petersburg 10.6% Yekaterinburg 2.9% Novosibirsk 2.3% Krasnodar 2.3% Chelyabinsk 2.3% Samara 2.2% Ufa 2.0% As can be seen, the main activity falls on Moscow and St. Petersburg. Regional representation of goods on the Internet is often expressed precisely by delivery from central regions. For an example, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 16Gb tablet you mentioned, (see the link http://market.yandex.ru/offers.xml?modelid=6407300&hid=6427100&hyperid=6407300&grhow=shop) is presented in the Arkhangelsk region, even in the Yandex catalog. Market, only shops from Moscow and St. Petersburg with the delivery of goods to the region. Despite the general popularity of Market.Andex, he was unable to attract regional representatives for this product to his catalog. The alldigital.ru resource today does not have the ability to dictate working conditions to shops, and many of the stores refuse to provide their goods for placement in the catalog, arguing that the lack of the alldigital.ru resource “even in the Yandex Catalog” as a trusted source of information. We are working on expanding the supply of goods from stores, but we need to know what the criteria for the quantitative sufficiency of information, according to the Yandex Catalog Administration? It can be assumed based on simple logical conclusions, and as practice shows, such criteria may well be unattainable if we compare available results with Yandex.Market.

Answer Y.K from 04/20/2011: The editors have once again carefully studied the situation with www.alldigital.ru. This was done collectively, with the participation of the project management. We do not in any way dispute the statistics you provide for products in general on the site. At the same time, attention is drawn to the fact that the Alldigital project overwhelmingly presents stores from only two regions of Russia - Moscow and St. Petersburg. Not all of these stores work on the territory of all of Russia. Previously, we gave an example of a search on www.alldigital.ru for goods in Arkhangelsk, but in other regions the situation is slightly better. For example, residents of Belgorod, who would like to order radios in their city, see in the “Radio” section 82 products from which only 8 have specific suggestions. And these offers come from only one store - WillTrade. The “Air Conditioners” heading is more representative, but out of 666 air conditioner names for Belgorod, only 50 offers are indicated, mostly from one (maximum - from 3) stores. Thus, the current level of informativeness of the main part of www.alldigital.ru is insufficient for so that the editors can recommend the site to users of Yandex.Catalog. In addition to all the above, attention is drawn to the lack of feedback on stores (although the opportunity to leave reviews on the site is provided), the opacity of the rating of goods (estimates are made in an unobvious way). Speaking about intentional “restriction of competition” from Yandex.Catalog is incorrect. The concept of competition between sites in our project does not exist, and along with, for example, Yandex.Market, it describes a number of similar resources (price.ru, torg.mail.ru, etc.).

Despite the very great patience on our part, the ping-pong game with the Yandex Directory has been going on for more than 6 months, it is pretty tired. The last response of the Yandex catalog administration carries the claims not only to the information we create ourselves (product catalog), but also the one that users must add (reviews to stores and products), as well as claims to our work algorithms (miscalculation rating of goods in the catalog). Thank you to everyone who was patient enough to read it all to the end and made conclusions similar to ours:

• We are denied registration in the catalog solely for the subjective reason of “being in the content stage”
• The question of what is the criterion of the “information filled site” has remained unanswered.
• The administration of the Yandex catalog dictates the necessary, in their opinion, functionality on a website that is not under its control
• The result of the inclusion of the site in the Yandex Catalog is unpredictable and the criteria may be completely unattainable.

All this would have no meaning, but:

1. Yandex is the dominant search engine runet and the fate of products similar to ours, for the most part depends on the "love" of HIM for us.
2. The presence in Yandex.Catalog gives a clear advantage in positioning the site in the search results, and sometimes without such a site does not go to the slightest visible positions.

All this is called the Administration of the Yandex Catalog as “non-restriction of competition”. In our opinion, from Yandex’s side, there is a policy of double standards and a completely pofigistic attitude towards those who create websites aimed at the consumer and trying to do something at all a little interesting to users on the Internet. If you want to launch a big startup, lay idle for at least six months. How many more we will sit in the ass sandbox can only explain the "almighty" Yandex. PS Today, the number of conversions from Google exceeds Yandex by 6 times and the gap is widening. Traffic is gradually going up, but is this a normal development ...