SEO Secrets For Yahoo's Engine

Different Search Engine Means Different Algorithm

All search engines have their own algorithms to determine the value and, and positioning of websites. While the majority of SEO work tends to focus on Google because of the sheer volume of searches they receive, it would be foolish to discount or ignore the other major search engines. Yahoo is considered one of the big three along with Google and MSN and by devoting a little more time and effort on Yahoo optimization it is quite possible to gain a good amount of traffic. And as we think more valued traffic.

The Most Important Factor

The first, and most important point is that Yahoo judges content in their algorithms. They do still consider links and other factors but they are geared to the way of the content site and they love sites that provide keyword-optimized content in huge quantity. While that may make it sound easier than concentrating on generating a huge base of links as you would for Google, Yahoo optimization presents its own challenges and its own unique quirks that you should consider.

Keyword Density Knowing that Yahoo loves content adds a little stress to your Keyword generation phase. Here is where you need to find the best Keywords you can and use them in your content as frequently as possible without making your content sound like gibberish. They usually require a Keyword density of around 7-8%. Good right, but you run the risk of being banned from Google as a spammer because Google likes only a 2-3% density.

Using Stems And Variants Of Keywords

Yahoo is very heavily language based. This means that it is, strictly speaking, more aware of the nuances of the written language. It will include synonyms and plurals of a keyword when considering your keyword density; something that Google does not consider to the same extent. This means that it is possible to optimize for both without diminishing your ranking with one another. We know Google likes a density of around 2% and Yahoo likes a density as high as 7% or even 8%. This means that you can effectively use 4 variations of a single keyword or phrase and a density of 2% for each. This offers further advantages. With Google you are now gearing your content towards four different keywords and offering the level they want, and you are still providing Yahoo with the much higher density rate that they require. Because you can include plurals and further stems of keywords this means you can write in a much more natural tone.

The Forgotten Meta Tags

One area now that tends to be overlooked is the Meta tag. However, Yahoo appears to still give consideration to the Meta keyword and Meta description tags in particular. This is quite rare in the case of most search engines and Google certainly does not look for keywords in your Meta tags. Heed this warning, do not attempt to fool Yahoo with Keyword stuffing and only include keywords that are important to your page.

New Content Is King

You’ve probably heard the saying that “content is king”. This is even more so true when considering Yahoo optimization. The more content you provide the better. This may mean making regular additions to your site but it will generate the kind of results you are looking for. Yahoo loves sites that have something new.

The Yahoo Spider

Many of us know that Yahoo's spider is a little lazy. It doesn’t crawl as often as other spiders do and it certainly doesn’t crawl as deep into your site to find all of your pages and index them. This means you should pay a little extra attention to creating a legible sitemap and keeping it updated as regularly as possible. Yahoo has a sitemap submission feature and using this is heavily recommended to ensure that Yahoo stays on top of the infrastructure of your site. Also do not hesitate to submit other pages from your site to Yahoo, especially those not on the direct directory path.

Controlling In Bound Links

In bound links are still important to Yahoo, but they are not as important as good content. So make sure you have some decent in bound links. These links should come from other sites that have good content too. I know you want me to give you some examples of this but I really can't. That information is classified and I may get shot if I give away all our secrets right? A good webmaster should do the work to find these sites and then use them carefully. And remember quality is far more important than quantity.

The Grand Finale

Although Google is the search engine that is all the rave right now you should be aware of something. It was once the search engine of choice for anyone who was looking to hack or crack. That reputation still follows Google around today. It is for that reason that both Yahoo and MSN are still very strong and dollar for dollar may be better search engines to be found on. Optimizing for Yahoo gives your site some serious respect. And as you saw can be done in such a way that would not hurt your rankings anywhere else.

Archie Glikakis
Position Front Page
SEO Consultant
http://positionfrontpage.com