Lesson #41 SE Update: Changes at Yahoo!
Written By Cyndalie

Yahoo is beginning to launch their new search engine technology and will now begin to use it's own algorithm and crawler. Over the next few weeks major changes will become apparent as Yahoo begins to squeeze out it's reliance on Google and amp up to become a more threatening competitor in the search engine arena.

I've done a bit of research in articles and on search engine forums to find out what the "experts" say about the launch of the new technology and what optimizers can do about it.

First, let's talk about what's new. Jim Hedger is the SEO Manager at StepForth Search Engine Placement and he recently wrote about some of the changes we will be seeing in Yahoo (Article). First he notes that Yahoo's new algorithm is similar to that of Inktomi or early Altavista; "Elements such as keyword densities, keyword enriched titles and keyword arrangement seem to be important factors in Yahoo's current algorithm". Yahoo will not behave exactly like Inktomi, however as the two companies work together and continue to merge, similar algorithmic attributes will complement one another for consistency and testing purposes. You will still see some of Goggle's listings in the mix, which is expected to maintain the overall continuity of the engine's result until a full integration has been completed.

Description tags are expected to be weighed by Yahoo's new algorithm. As I have mentioned in past articles, consistency is the key. The keywords that you put in your title should match what appears in your description and keyword tags, as well as what appears on the page you are optimizing. Tips for better ranking in the new Yahoo is to maintain a simple site structure, maintain basic keyword (and key phrase) densities. It seems back to basics and simple since it is more based on the physical content and optimization of your page as opposed to link popularity and page rank.

Yahoo's new crawler, or spider, is named YahooSlurp (not the name is similar to Inktomi's Slurp crawler). A few highlights about YahooSlurp by Jim Hedger were outlined. He states commonalities like; YahooSlurp will work a lot like GoogleBot in that it will follow every HREF link on a found website. Regarding dynamic links, Hedger advises that although YahooSlurp can spider dynamic pages, a static version of the dynamic page or allowing the dynamic page to be served on an .html page is helpful. He also advises to create a static sitemap (See: Sitemap Your Advantage).

Before we continue you may want to try out Yahoo's new algorithm here.

Now, since we know that the new Yahoo is basically a blend between Inktomi and Google and is gearing up to compete with Google (minus the spam), we can take a look at what it means for the paid inclusion options provided by Yahoo and Inktomi - are they worth it?

Being touted as the "Yahoo Directory Debate", the argument rages on regarding what these changes mean for those who have spent the 299-600$ fee for inclusion in the Yahoo Directory and what it means for the traffic results they may get from it. Admin at Web Pro World brought up an interesting point: " If you're in the Yahoo directory and someone searches for your service or product in Yahoo search (and receives Google results) then there's a link in your listing that will take searchers to your page in the directory. So you're paying for a link in Yahoo search that takes people away from your site." This is a good point and something to consider.

However, on the flip side, a competitor listing that came up in the rankings where you did not could lead the visitor to the Directory listings where they can find your site. Depending on how competitive your market is and what category you selected to have you listing placed in, this is something to consider. When purchasing a listing at Yahoo try finding a relevant category where:

a) the category name features a keyword which you want to rank for
b) chose the category with fewer competitor listings and don't forget to suggest a secondary primary or regional based listing for your business.

Keep in mind that a good link in the Yahoo Directory could help boost your Page Ranking in Google. The argument is still open ended and ultimately it's up to you whether you want to pay to get listed or hold off until a listing becomes more of a need than a luxury.

If you want to get an extra bit of attention from YahooSlurp, using the paid inclusion services offered by Inktomi can help your site get visited by YSlurp more frequently for a quicker indexing and re indexing rate. This is useful when testing your optimization against your ranking and allows for you to tweak and test more often than regular indexing schedules allow (usually every 30 days).

Of course, the million dollar question is "how do I submit directly to Yahoo Slurp"? Well, here is the official FAQ page about Yahoo's new crawler. You will find interesting information about the new crawler. For example, " Yahoo! Slurp follows HREF links. It does not follow SRC links. This means that Yahoo! Slurp does not retrieve or index individual frames referred to by SRC links," so if you use frames - optimize those NoFrames tags today! (See: Getting Around Frames).

Interested in seeing Yahoo's Search Site Listing Guidelines? Visit this page.

There is no URL submission form yet for Yahoo Search but I'll be keeping an eye out and will inform you in an upcoming lesson to keep you abreast of all the changes in all the search engines. Until next time, research and stay informed, keep ahead of the game!