July 9th, 2010 by Nick

In the last few months, a lot of words have been written about the competition between Google and Bing. It is clear that Google’s international hegemony is not under any serious threat for some time to come, so some of the commentary may have been a bit off the mark from time to time. However, the omission of the search engine Yahoo! in some of these debates is perhaps more of a problem. Search engine optimization involves having an understanding of how best to exploit the opportunities provided by all the major search engines. It is important that SEO debates which generate more heat than light are subjected to critical examination.

Yahoo! is not about to challenge Google, but that does not mean it should be neglected. The less successful search engine does attract many users, and it does provide search results that can be pretty useful from time to time. Therefore it is worth considering it as a small part of an overarching SEO strategy. A site can have certain aspects of it adjusted to ensure that the needs of Yahoo! are met. At Searchengineoptimization.co.uk we have the expertise which means that this can be accomplished without upsetting any other elements of the site-specific strategy. However, it is of course also possible to share some basic tips, with the caveat that it is accepted that every site has its own unique needs.

The basic SEO road to success can be adhered to when pursuing optimization for Yahoo! The emphasis has to be placed on creating unique content of the highest quality and applying it frequently and regularly to a site. Relevance is of course crucial. Hence it is prudent to establish a content plan which will work in practice and can be sustained over time. Keywords will play their part, and it is sensible to use them sparingly. Keyword research is a vital element of the strategy, whatever the search engine under consideration. It has to be reviewed periodically and adjusted as necessary.

When it comes to link building, there is some advice which is Yahoo! specific. It appears that this particular search engine puts great stress on internal links when it evaluates a site. It is thus worth taking extra care to establish that there are no errors in the internal links. Appropriate anchor text should also be employed and can be altered if new developments make this an astute move.

Getting your URL correct is an obvious but necessary step. The web crawlers of Yahoo! will not behave as you would wish if you omit to get this right. It is a question of having a URL which is not only apt for your online firm, but is also straightforward. Inclusion of a keyword or the name of the firm could be the cherry on the cake.

SEO is often not about optimising for merely one search engine. It may be that part of a particular target audience likes to use one of the search engines which are not Google. It may be wise not to forget Yahoo!, regardless of the fuss made about Bing.

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