Apr
20
Yahoo Unleashes Slurp 3.0
Filed Under Yahoo Updates | Leave a Comment
Yahoo has taken another step to shorten the gap between them and Google by upgrading their primary searchbot Slurp. Slurp is the evolution of the Inktomi spider that Yahoo purchased a few years ago. While nowhere near as impartial as Googlebot, Slurp is still behind Google and ASK, but about equal now to the new Live search from Microsoft.
Is there anything that you need to know as far as SEO goes? Not really. It is the same old story with Yahoo, no real new developments. There is no way they will ever be able to compete with Google unless they let Microsoft’s purchase of Yahoo to go through. The fact is Google has made strides with Universal Search, and Yahoo answered with “Search Assist” a pretty lame response. In fact you have to dig deep to find blog posts in Yahoo’s index.
I did a search for “Data Recovery Services From DTI” the title of a post I wrote a week ago. It is #1 on Google’s blog search, but nowhere in Yahoo. This shows that Yahoo is way behind in new media searches.
If Yahoo is ever going to make a dent in Google’s search empire, they better start paying attention to blogs and other Web 2.0 type sites.
There are some changes that you might have to make to track Slurp’s activities on your site. Visit Yahoo’s search blog for more info. Finally, if your robots.txt file makes specific reference to Slurp you should modify that as well. Read my post SEO robots.txt validation to learn more about that important file.
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Oct
31
Yahoo Updates Their Index
Filed Under Yahoo Updates | 1 Comment
Yahoo’s index has changed. They had notified webmasters in September that they had made upgrades to their algorithm to go along with the new Yahoo Search Assist. It took a couple of weeks for them to roll out the update, but there are significant ranking changes in their SERP’s.
What Has Changed In Yahoo?
One of the more significant changes I noticed was there are more blog type pages in their natural SERP’s. Yahoo has always been behind Google when it comes to recognizing blogs as solid content providers. This blog has never had many pages in Yahoo’s SERP’s, but today I noticed over 75 posts that cracked the top 20 for its keywords. This is good news for social network marketing based search engine optimization strategies.
One thing that I have noticed in comparing Yahoo to Google is that Yahoo’s SERP’s have improved and in many cases are better than Google. The reason why everyone used Google in the first place was the relevancy of their results. Over the last year Google’s results have been watered down with ad-only, weak content sites. Yahoo has tightened up the Inktomi engine and let in fresh content sites. They don’t give as much juice to Wikipedia either which is a good sign.
The bottom line is that except for ASK, the major search engines have all suffered from content spam and are not as relevant as they used to be just 3 years ago. From a marketing standpoint it is more important than ever to utilize social network marketing strategies and to follow Solid SEO Guidelines.
A final note: Yahoo’s spider which is called Slurp is still based upon Inktomi. Meta tags are very important to Yahoo, more so than Google. Your site’s description can greatly affect your placement. With WordPress there is a plugin called Head Meta Description which allows you to control the meta description, but on other websites it is important to optimize your description for Yahoo. If you don’t have a proper meta description Yahoo will resort to the one that is in the Yahoo Directory which is BAD. If that has happened to your site you can apply the following meta tag for both Yahoo and Google’s directory which is just as lame, the ODP:
<meta name=”robots” content=”noodp,noydir” />
Be sure to check your meta tags if you expect to have any placement in Yahoo.
Another problem with Yahoo is their ping service. I have noticed that many Site Explorer API’s are not functioning anymore. None of the WordPress systems I maintain are able to update Yahoo through ping or XML-RPC. If you are unsure of what XML-RPC or ping services are read my post: Search Engine Optimization and Social Network Marketing for an explanation and a list of ping services.
I believe that these are just some bugs related to their Search Assist update and the recent shuffling of their index.
Oct
3
Yahoo Update - Search Assist
Filed Under Yahoo Updates | 6 Comments
Yahoo is joining the party with its new “Search Assist“. Google’s Universal Search and to an extent the new Microsoft Live Search have been intermixing the SERP’s with more than just web page results. There are two ways to look at this trend, from a user standpoint and from a SEO standpoint. For the most part as a user I like Universal Search, especially with the added functionality of personalized searching through iGoogle. From an SEO viewpoint I like all this because it validates what I have been telling my clients for years “get with Web 2.0, Social Network Marketing, multimedia and not just SEO”. Read Search Engine Optimization and Social Network Marketing for my philosophy on Web 2.0 and SEO.
How Yahoo’s Search Assist Will Change The SERP’s
By following in the footsteps of Google’s Universal Search, Yahoo is giving more credence to Social Network Marketing and multimedia content, as well as giving more weight to user generated content than it ever has before. Read my post The Changing Face Of Google - Universal Search Explained for more details on what Universal Search is.
While I do cover usability in this blog, it is from the webmaster standpoint. How to best get your site set up for users and lead conversion. That being said, this post is going to cover how Yahoo’s Search Assist is going to effect your placement, and what you can do to take advantage of it. Like I said with Universal Search, if you do things like me, in other words you blog and have multimedia going on like videos and podcasts you will be fine. These new Web 2.0 centered searches are looking for fresh content sources, and reward sites that put out fresh content with increased weight in Yahoo and PR in Google (if they ever get around to updating page rank that is).
OK so what is Search Assist and why should you care? I think the biggest effect Search Assist will have is on how users search on Yahoo. When using Yahoo’s Search Assist, the top row of advertisements or sponsored results are in some cases gone! The natural SERP’s are at the top and the ads are on the right. This is going to appeal to a lot of experienced searchers who will avoid paid listings like the plague. I have found that drilling down into the concepts or links within the Search Assist will eliminate the top ads. My feeling is this is a glitch and they will get those ads back in. My beef with Yahoo has always been the prominence of paid or sponsor links in the SERP’s. I personally don’t trust sites that are either so new that they aren’t in the organic SERP’s, or that are older but don’t have any links to them. That doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling especially when I’m looking to exchange money online.
The graphic below is a search for “data recovery” without the Search Assist activated:
The red arrows show the tab that you use to activate Search Assist as well as the non-paid organic SERP’s location without the Search Assist. The tab opens the window which supposedly helps figure out your “intent”. That is what all the search engine people are calling their intuitive search updates. They think they can glean a users intent by certain keywords and possible search history like Google does in the Personalized Search.
If Yahoo feels that you are having problems finding what you are looking for, the Search Assist box will “automagically” appear. That isn’t my term, blame Tim Mayer on the Yahoo Search Blog where they talk about Search Assist. Below is a screenshot of the Search Assist in action for “hard drive data recovery”:
Where the link finger is, that’s the new Yahoo Search Assist. The fact that it is “exploring concepts” and placing media related and user written content in its search matrix, is very good for sites that embrace Web 2.0 and SEO. Also note that the organic content is at the top and no ads appear, except on the right hand side. There are usually at least 4 prominent ads for that term, so the organic listings are now in full view!
Using Search Assist Output when Your Blog Is Part Of A Website And Not A Stand Alone Site
If your blog is part of an existing domain then you have an opportunity to really take advantage of these changes and use them to your advantage. The key is to plan your content properly so your posts are linking in to the home page of your primary site with your top keywords in the anchor text. When you are blogging about a subject covered by sub pages to your home page, then link to them in your posts. If you are unsure of what I mean by sub pages, read my post on Website Linking Strategies which explains links and pass through ratio (now called “link juice” by the masses).
By using a foundation of marketing pages on your core website, you can use the blog to promote those pages with posts. In return you can also link to your posts from the website pages. The best solution is to actually have your blogs feed appear on your foundation pages. I use CaRP Evolution to turn RSS to HTML as well as adding XML-RPC and ping services into the header of static non-blog pages. I have been testing these tactics on a couple of websites and so far the results have been excellent.
By incorporating dynamic content into static pages, and using your blog as a promotional tool, your site will stand a much better chance of appearing in SERP’s that are flavored with Yahoo’s Search Assist and on Google’s Universal Search.
Using Search Assist Output when Your Blog Is A Stand Alone Website
If a blog is your entire website, read my article WordPress SEO Promoting WordPress Pages with Posts for more insight on using solid SEO strategies for building foundation pages within your blog for promotion. These tactics along with the inherent RSS, ping and XML-RPC in WordPress will insure that your site gets the exposure within these assisted search tools from Live, Yahoo and Google. Obviously you will still need incoming links and content to keep the spiders coming to your site and ranking it high in the SERP’s.
Looking at Yahoo Search Assist from a site owner standpoint, there isn’t a lot you can do other than maintain good practices to offset the changing search engine indexes. By using all the tools that WordPress has to offer, or keeping your static site updated and fresh, you will at least have a fighting chance to gain more exposure. Embrace social network marketing so all your traffic source eggs are not in one basket!