Yahoo! search engine optimisation

Achieving a high ranking on the Yahoo! search engine

The Yahoo! Search index is based on the Inktomi search engine that it acquired in 2004 and developed as its own, together with technology gained from further purchases of AltaVista and Alltheweb. All three of these search databases were well-established and advanced for the market and so Yahoo! as been able to develop an impressive search index to compete against Google and the newer MSN Search.

The original Yahoo! directory now takes a back seat within the search function and so the newer search database is the one that needs to be optimised for to achieve high rankings here. Yahoo! Search reflects many of the features and the visual layout pioneered by Google, although search performance on this tool remains closer to the results found on MSN Search, rather than the market leader.

Submitting a site to Yahoo! Search.

Yahoo! Search regularly spiders the web, so new or updated websites may get listed from existing links. There is also a free site submission form, although you need to register as a Yahoo! user to access this.

Yahoo! Search also offers a 'paid inclusion' option to help get a site listed, based on the earlier system developed by Inktomi. Paying for inclusion on Yahoo! Search has advantages, both in terms of timing and ranking position. You can submit individual pages from a site for a small fee per page, which guarantees that the site will be retained on the index for a year and 're-indexed' every 48 hours.

It is still essential that a site is optimised for the Yahoo! Search index to gain a good ranking, but a site submitted through paid inclusion does receive a ranking benefit, plus it is easy to try different optimisation techniques to see how this may impact a ranking as the revised pages will be re-indexed within a short period of time.

Factors to consider for a high search engine ranking on Yahoo! Search.

Yahoo! Search retains many of the 'traditional' factors as the key elements that can determine a site's listing, although link popularity is now also one part of the criteria being used.

Factors to consider to achieve a high ranking include:

• Search terms used within the Title tag and the Description metatag
• Page content, position and emphasis of keywords
• Pages submitted through the paid inclusion programme receive a ranking benefit
• Sites listed within the Yahoo! Directory also achieve a ranking advantage, although the search results tend to display the website listing from the directory rather than the optimised title tag
• The number of inbound hyperlinks from other relevant and quality websites.

To find out how your website can achieve a high ranking on Yahoo! Search and the other top search engines, contact us now for more information or to request a FREE website assessment to see how well your site currently performs.

A brief history of the Yahoo! search engine.

Learn more about getting a high ranking on the other main search engines with our Google optimisation and MSN Search optimisation tips.