It does have to some extent for instance when your type a certain query in Google you might have noticed that Google does show results and among those top results which appear on Google first page are from Yahoo answers so this way when you have given a best answer it will appear in Google top searches and yes you will get backlinks and that means traffic

Of course, firstly, you should earn authority it will be shown with level 2 of your account.
What is the benefit? - you get traffic, visitors and potential clients. Surely answer for question which is 2 years old, won't be very useful. Meanwhile, fresh posts and your advice would be effective.

I can't say anything about backlinks value but yes it matters as far as you are doing it for branding and exposure. Moreover, I have seen ,many times people search in Google and found yahoo answers as well in search results. So, I think somewhere it holds importance.

Yahoo links are alright, yet you need to be helpful and relevant with them. The best benefit in some cases can be traffic generation from the links. Link Authority is just another part of the process. If you go to Yahoo and build 100 links your account will be deleted you need to contribute as well.

As far as backlinks go, yahoo answers are a good source for traffic but NOT for ranking.
But that's not important. A backlink does more than build trust in google's eyes. It is supposed to provide a source for a target audience to come and visit your website.
Example:
Yahoo Question:
I have problems with my dog pulling on the leash when we go for walks. How can I train him to stop this?

Your answer:
Visit my website http://trainyourdrogright.com/stop-d...om-leading-you

It gives you great tips as how you can train your dog and take control over your walks again!
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Anyone who stumbles across this question and clicks your link is as good as targeted traffic can get.
You may not rank better because of it BUT you will get more traffic to your website.

Yahoo answer has value in the search engines but I don't use it anymore because they have a lot of stupid soccer moms on there that love to flag your answers even if the answer is helpful.

Some SEO experts think NOfollow is almost waste and useless. But in reality Nofollow backlinks too have some value.. First traffic brought back from any part is valuable for traffic is a major factor for Page Rank which in turn is major factor in SEO ranking, Furthermore Even no follow links gets value when 2 sites have every factors (like DOfollow backlinks and other SEO factors) then Search Engines will start to consider Nofollow as a factor to decide rankings.

Once simple fact will remain true forever "Potential(related) traffic from any source is valuable and are helpful in Search Engine Optimization

Yes , Yahoo answer is the effective back-link techniques of SEO off page .

YA still ranks in Google which means your link will have a possibility to send you referral traffic. The link will have value but you should NOT rely on jus that. Invest time to do different types of link building. Not just that.

My suggestion is Yahoo answer is the effective back-link techniques of SEO off page .

Its not a big deal that if you want to get dofollow backlinks from Yahoo Answers, well in a current scenario it do work how ever if any one try to do any spamming activity yahoo close or deactivate the account so it is very very important that use yahoo answers as a help and if really link in yahoo answer is helpful then only its good and accepted by yahoo answers team and viewers else luck how may days one can play.

yeah i used yahoo ans and really helped in ranking

Y! answers are good for getting referral traffic, but its of no use in terms of SEO, it won't help you as a SEO backlink.

Yahoo Answering is useful to get traffic to your website. But your answer should be quality answer and if it is selected as best answer, the ranking would be improved. But you should done it in a daily basis.

For traffic yes but for backlinks you will only find out that you need to do more and more.

I am doing yahoo answers for a client. Answers 2-4 questions in a month. Hope it will work for me.

To me yahoo answers are good for quality traffic not for the back links/rankings, as of my observation now a days i am not able to see any yahoo answers in serp's mostly personal blogs and content sites are appearing

It is effective and good for back links diversity.

It is a great place to get no follow backlinks. I would not invest a great deal of time using yahoo. Add it to the end of your to do list for the day