Yahoo Algorithm

[Zafar Ahmed]

Hello,

Yahoo is one of the most popular search engine and internet portal, their search engine is in fact as important as Google.
People search Yahoo for relevant information, you miss out potential traffic if you do not have good ranking in Yahoo Search Engine.
Much has been changed in Yahoo’s Algorithm. Yet, no one has properly understood how it works, only few people know how to rank for Yahoo.

As you all know Yahoo has one of the biggest directory, therefore it is in the part of their algorithm, means if you are not in their directory you have to wait for a long time in order to appear in their SERPs. Sad? I know.
However, this is not really true. Yahoo ranks website with high inbound links in terms of both quantity and quality links and the factors discussed below. Although, Yahoo and Google; they both have the “sandbox” penalty, which sometimes makes it difficult.

How can one optimize their website for Yahoo?
Here are few factors that helps optimize your website for Yahoo.

Title of your website:
Title is the biggest and and the most important ranking factor of Yahoo. Hence, you should have your major keywords in the title.

Relevant Content:
The more relevant content you add to your website, the better ranking you get. One of the best way is to create a “blog” and update the content daily through blogs, blogs are good for relevant content.

Inbound Links:
With Yahoo, inbound links are vital. Do not forget to put the anchor text, as with Yahoo anchor relevancy is very essential. Remember, the quantity of links will not really help, it is the quality links that matters.

Click Popularity:
This must be something you have never heard of. But, this is a part of Yahoo’s algorithm. The more clicks your site gets on Yahoo Search Page, the more changes of your website getting on TOP 10. Yes, this is not part of Google’s algorithm and probably something new to you.

These were few important factors discussed above, remaining like: sitemap, age of domain, keyword density are important part of Yahoo as well and should be treated same as others.

Good Luck and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Regards,
Zafar Ahmed –

[iGuides]

Thanks Zafar for a comprehensive guide, but I was wondering how much hits can be generated via Yahoo say on highly competitive keywords? I don't think Yahoo competes with Google in this regard...

[Zafar Ahmed]

Originally Posted by iGuides

Thanks Zafar for a comprehensive guide, but I was wondering how much hits can be generated via Yahoo say on highly competitive keywords? I don't think Yahoo competes with Google in this regard...

Definitely it can't. However, many SEO's believe that Google is mostly used by 'techie' people. Therefore, results are not really effective, but yahoo sends quality traffic.

I would disagree though.

[Londoner]

I think Google is also taking into account how many people are actually clicking your listing in SERPs and corrects the ranking accordingly

[Zafar Ahmed]

Originally Posted by Londoner

I think Google is also taking into account how many people are actually clicking your listing in SERPs and corrects the ranking accordingly

That is irrelevant, Google does not have this in their algorithm yet or perhaps will not be, they are using it to supplement the current ranking algorithms instead of becoming the biggest factor in determining the ranking of your site.

[Londoner]

How do you know that Google does not have it in their ranking algorithm? - Only Google developer could say that for sure. It includes hundreds of factors - would be quite logic to take into account CTR factor as a minor determining ranking factor too. I am not saying it is important - but I believe it is used by Google.

[iGuides]

Originally Posted by Londoner

How do you know that Google does not have it in their ranking algorithm? - Only Google developer could say that for sure. It includes hundreds of factors - would be quite logic to take into account CTR factor as a minor determining ranking factor too. I am not saying it is important - but I believe it is used by Google.

That thing I have been observing all the time while searching with particular keywords on daily basis, and IMO it something really exists, may be need to make more research on the entire debate.

[NBridges]

I thought sandbox in google is already gone?

[helloname]

Thanks for the guide. However to rank well in Yahoo is harder than any other search engine.