Domain Masters Radio Show

Yahoo! Search Ranking Tips

Monte: Right, right. And those that do have contact, what’s the best way…I mean, what’s the real trick here? How much content does one have to have on a page and then mix in those search results so that you’re really getting good search placement and being able to get the benefit of getting the most out of the links that you are providing on those pages?

Tim: I think you want to have…you know, just design it for the user and have enough content that fits on a regular-size screen and one of the key things we always talk about is to have a page about one specific topic and that’s really a good ultimization technique is to say that, “this page is about this topic”; because if you look at the way search works generally, if you look at the different engines, we have…you really get one or maybe two chances for your site to turn up in every group of 10 results. So, in order to convert, you want to make sure the right page shows up in each search engine for each particular query.

Monte: Right, right.

Tim: So, by having very disparate pages about different things and making them very targeted and focused, you can ensure that the right page is up for the right query. So….

Monte: And that helps…I mean, Yahoo! actually looks for that and ranks that higher?

Tim: I wouldn’t say…I think what happens…what ends up happening is, yes, you will show up probably better for that particular phrase, that queue word, that you’ll make sure that the right page from your site shows up at the right time, and therefore, you’ll get much better conversion whether the people clicking on your ads on your site, or people are actually buying the products.

Monte: Right, right. So, having a page that’s mixed with a bunch of different topics probably isn’t as good as having dedicated pages that are specific to that topic is basically one of your points?

Tim: Right. Yea, you don’t…it needs to be…it should look natural. I don’t think you should be… I don’t think you should be…I think it’s easier for a search engine to understand what a page is about if it has some focus to it rather than being about lots of different topics.

Monte: Right. And, you know, everybody…it’s so mysterious the hundred things that a Google looks at when they’re doing page rank and, you know, there’s obviously different techniques that Yahoo! uses than Google does. Can you share with us some of those differences, knowing both systems, which I’m sure you’re familiar with? But, I think it’s really interesting that you can rank really high in one engine and not rank so well in another engine and there’s so much disparity on really coming up in both engines, you know, really high; and so, there’s this mysterious 100 list of things that Google looks for and, of course, we all know some of the obvious things; but in terms of Yahoo!, what are some of the things that maybe some people don’t know about that you can share with the domain community that can help them help their pages get ranked higher? I’m really putting you on the spot, as you can see.

Tim: Yea, well, I think talking in first a general level, people often…when I talked to SES…people generally say, “Oh, Google relies mostly on links and Yahoo! relies more on page factors.” You know, we’re constantly trying, testing new algorithms and new products on our web site, so a lot of times people come and say, “Wow, I was number 30 today, and now I’m number 60, and then I’m number 20.

Monte: Right.

Tim: So, I think people should, when they look at our results, expect things to change and not be…everyone gets very concerned when, “Oh, I went down 2 places; I went up…..”

Monte: Yea, well you know it’s like it’s so viral and addictive because, one of the things that Matt cheered when he was on the show was that they stopped doing live page rank updates. They do it every 3 months now, or something, because they were getting so many calls in from webmasters like, “What the heck happened?” and it was bogging them down in the office. So, I’m sure it’s happening with Yahoo! as well. But, you know, the…is what are like a couple things that you guys look for that you know that Google does not look for?

Tim: It’s hard to know. (Monte laughs) I mean, we don’t know obviously everything that Google looks for. When I talk to people, I find people that are in the link-buying business tend to rank much better on Google than they do with us anecdotically. I would say that, I mean obviously these are…that I’m not really…I don’t think I can get into deep specifics.

Monte: Well, I mean, don’t share everything, but give us a little bit of a bone here; because that’s one of the things that people want to listen for. If they can pick up a couple key tips, you know, that helps them out, I mean obviously it helps Yahoo! out when they do that, because they want to rank higher and, if they have relevant, legitimate content and they have nice advertising links that help support the Yahoo! network, you know they’re going to want to help Yahoo! make more money and, therefore, they make more money. So, it’s a…you know, don’t share anything that I’m going to get killed for if you tell me; but, something that maybe not too many people know about.

Tim: (lots of laughter from both)

Monte: (laughing) I have Darrin cracking up over here cause, [inaudible]. I’m sorry Tim. I am laughing back here, I’m laughing my butt off. I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. I want people to walk away saying, “Oh, God, I didn’t know that. That will really help me be successful.”

Tim: Well, do you have a specific question that you want answered, and then I can…..