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How to Optimize for Yahoo!
By Ross Dunn (c) 2007

With a reported 22.1% of search traffic Yahoo is second only to
Google's 64.4% (src: Hitwise [http://www.hitwise.com/datacenter/
searchengineanalysis.php]) for search user volume so it is
extremely important not to forget that attaining a top ranking
in Yahoo can be a big boon to the bottom line. As a result, I
decided to write this update on how to attain superior rankings
in Yahoo using today's useful tools and tactics.

Overview: Optimizing for Yahoo!
Algorithmically Yahoo is Google's much younger sibling. I say
this because many of the requirements for a successful ranking
mirror Google's requirement about 4 years ago and they sum up to
one distinct fact; optimize your content boldly on Yahoo and you
will be rewarded. When I say "boldly" I do not mean use Spam; by
nature Spam and optimization do not mix... they are two entirely
separate concepts (black and white in fact).

The following are the current generalized specifications for
achieving solid rankings in Yahoo.

Web Site Optimization
SEO tactics have not changed a great deal over the past 10 years
I have been an SEO. In general terms the only effect time has
had on SEO is to vary the intensity of the optimization for
particular page elements. That is the rub of course; some search
engines appreciate the optimization of particular page elements
over others. In the case of Yahoo, this old property with a
relatively young algorithm tends to favour the following
elements:

Title Tag: Keep your title tag as short as 5 small-medium sized
words and include one complete incidence of your keyphrase.
Yahoo! blatantly favours sites that include the keyphrase in the
title tag. For an example check out "car sales" or for that
matter any phrase. Within the top 10 results you will notice
that the majority of sites listed will include at least one
incidence of the keyphrase or a crucial portion of it (i.e.
"cars"). The ones that do not include the keyphrase tend to be
sites that are extremely popular so even basic title tag
optimization is not required to attain a top ranking.

Meta Description Tag: Start this tag with an incidence of your
keyphrase and then produce a short 15 – 18 small-medium sized
word sentence clearly describing your site. Include one more
incidence of your keyphrase in the sentence. Keep in mind that
the description tag is often utilized as the description for any
rankings you achieve so it is best to make it alluring.

Meta Keyword Tag: Keyword tags have long been considered
ineffective and no longer have any importance on Google; however
Yahoo does still consider the keyword tag so it cannot hurt to
include it. The keyword tag should start with the keyphrase and
then all following words or phrases should be ordered according
to their relevance to your website; place the most important
ones up front. The max size of a keyword tag should be 250
characters – comma-delimited. Do not over repeat words; no more
than 3 repetitions of a single word within the tag.

Keywords in URL: Create keyword-based filenames that closely
represent the content within the file. Yahoo rewards
keyword-based filenames a small amount – perhaps enough to push
past your competition.

Headings: Heading 1 and 2 tags should be applied on every page
where appropriate to embolden the relevance of the page. In
other words, use the page's keyphrase within a Heading 1 tag to
further enhance the visibility of the keyphrase on the page.

Alt text for images: Don't forget to provide appropriate ALT
text for each image on your website. The ALT text must not
provide information that is already written on the website. ALT
text is supposed to provide a clear and concise description of
what the image is. Fortunately this means that adding an
incidence of the keyphrase or a portion of the keyphrase is
totally appropriate which can add slightly more credibility to
your page score when Yahoo's crawler (Slurp) indexes the page.

Inline Links: In the midst of your page it is beneficial to
include links to related pages from related content. These links
will apply relevance to the linked page; which is optimized for
the same keyphrase you linked from.

Site Structure: Site structure is a vital component to ranking
success on Yahoo; especially in competitive marketplaces where
every advantage is required to reach the top. One method that
would be successful at Yahoo (and happens to work as well on the
other major search engines) is a tried and true technique that
revolves around the linear progression of related content
throughout the website; it is commonly known as Themeing. The
following example should shed some light on this subject:

Your site is a car sales site focused on Audi. In order to
create a linear site structure you would focus each section of
the site on an individual relevancy. Say you pick "Audi A5" as
the relevant topic (see Figure 1.0). As you move deeper into the
Audi A5 section you only see A5 relevant content. The search
engine spider and your users will not be distracted by links to
other vehicles – only information on the A5. This progresses as
you proceed deeper into this arm of the website and because this
section of the site is utterly focused on the subject "Audi A5"
the odds of achieving a ranking for that term increase
considerably.

( http://www.sitepronews.com/images2/site-structure.jpg )

Links
When building links for Yahoo concentrate on quality not
quantity. Quality links would be one way links from sites that
specialize in content directly relevant to the content on your
own website. Building these links can be done by creating
content and syndicating it to your own industry for link love
and to build credibility. In addition, if your website is a
worthwhile resource it is entirely reasonable to tell the world
about your site in order to build links; hopefully they will
link to you because they like your site so much.

Finally, there is another tactic that has mixed results; send
out press releases once a month using PRWeb or an associated
press release agency. A good press release can easily build the
links you need in no time at all. Unfortunately the mixed
results I noted occur when press releases inevitably become
archived, at which point the link relevance will fade. As a
result, link building with press releases is only useful as an
ongoing practice and should be considered a small facet of a
robust link building campaign.


Site Explorer Settings
Yahoo's Site Explorer (http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/)
is a fantastic tool for monitoring your website(s) and running
basic link reports. If you have not already done so you should
create an account at Site Explorer and then validate your
website (prove you own it) so that you can manage the
information Yahoo has for your website. Once you have validated
your website I have noted some Site Explorer functionality that
may help your website perform on Yahoo:

  * Make certain to create a sitemap and submit it to Yahoo:
    If you haven't already done so use a XML sitemap generator
    (http://news.stepforth.com/tools/#sitemap) to create a
    sitemap for your website and then submit it to Yahoo
    using the "Add Feed" form within your website's Site
    Explorer profile.

  * Removing unnecessary dynamic content from your URLs with
    new add-on within Site Explorer:
    Do your URLs contain session ID's or other dynamic
    content that is unnecessary within the URL? If so, this
    information can be indexed by the search engines and
    ultimately can cause havoc with your rankings. Thankfully
    Yahoo has implemented a new tool within the Site Explorer
    domain management section called "Dynamic URLs Beta". Here
    are the instructions (http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/
    search/siteexplorer/dynamic/index.html) to use the Dynamic
    URLs tool.

Other Considerations
After reviewing our notes from current and previous Yahoo
promotions and taking a look at a variety of top 10 results the
following points appeared noteworthy:

  * Ensure open indexing by using Robots.txt wisely

  * A lot of our client's older content appears to be sticking
    to top rankings with little or no monthly tweaking. As a
    result, I think it is fair to assume that fresh content is
    not currently gaining much weight in the Yahoo algorithm.

  * In many cases top ranking sites have pushed the envelope
    and their sites border on Spam. Considering the top ranking
    these sites have it appears Yahoo's Spam filters are far
    less sensitive than Google's. I expect Yahoo will change
    this in the near future, but then again I have been
    surprised how long this has been the status quo.

  * One common claim throughout forums is that achieving a
    placement in the Yahoo Directory provides an instant boost
    to Yahoo rankings. Unfortunately we have not seen conclusive
    evidence that the annual $299 fee will increase rankings
    dramatically in the short term. That said, I strongly believe
    that a Yahoo Directory placement is a very reputable incoming
    link that does pay dividends in the long run at any search
    engine that weighs incoming links (the ones that count).

  * Yahoo Search Submit (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/srchsb/
    index.php) was re-introduced (http://news.stepforth.com/blog/
    2007/02/yahoo-reinvents-old-wheel-paid.php) back in February
    2007 to significant criticism (http://news.stepforth.com/
    blog/2007/03/askcoms-ceo-reconfirms-his-opinions-on.php) due
    to the potential favouritism to those who pay to get into
    the Yahoo index. Despite the negative feedback there appears
    to be some potential benefits to paying for submission. For
    one, in July I noted an interesting story where a website
    was banned from Yahoo and the webmaster got the site back
    into Yahoo's index by paying for inclusion ("Banned from
    Yahoo?" [http://news.stepforth.com/blog/2007/07/
    banned-from-yahoo-just-pay-to-get-back.php]). A second reason
    Search Submit may be worthwhile is the guarantee that your
    site will be indexed. Furthermore, the Yahoo's Search Submit
    Pro service allows you to recommend your own title and
    description tags for each page submitted and to submit pages
    that may not normally be indexed by Slurp.
================================================================
Ross Dunn is the founder and CEO of StepForth Web Marketing Inc.
(http://www.stepforth.com/). Based in Victoria, BC, Canada,
StepForth has provided professional search engine placement and
management services since 1997. Ross is a search engine
optimization and placement expert with over 9 years of marketing
experience and is a Certified Internet Marketing and Business
Strategist (CIMBS). Blending his experience in the art of web
design and search engine optimization, Ross offers a unique and
informed perspective on obtaining top search engine placements.
Ross can be reached at ross@stepforth.com
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