Should You Be Focusing On Yahoo Search?

Are you optimizing for Yahoo?

If not, you might want to be.

In this article, I’ll help you decide whether or not you should be focusing on Yahoo, and how to optimize your site so it ranks high in Yahoo’s search results.

While it can’t compete with numbers Google’s commands, Yahoo is still a valuable search engine in its own right.

The Case For Yahoo Search

These days, the term “search engine” has become synonymous with Google. So understandably, that’s where most marketers focus the bulk of their SEO budgets and strategies. But remember: it’s never a good a strategy to put all your eggs in one basket. And just because Google reigns supreme doesn’t mean that other search engines should be ignored. Say you’re sitting pretty on Google’s first page one day. That’s absolutely ideal in terms of SEO – but there’s no guarantee that you’ll be there the next. Google could change its algorithm. They could deliver you a penalty. A competitor could outbid you in an AdWords campaign. These are all realizations that need to be considered when you choose to focus solely on Google. Because if any of the above happens and you don’t have another search engine strategy, you can kiss all your search traffic goodbye. Or, you can devote part of your strategy to Google’s lesser-known counterpart: Yahoo.

Yahoo Search By the Numbers

As of 2017, Google controls an average of 74.54% of global searches. But while it remains the market leader, other search engines like Bing and Yahoo still command between 5%-10% of searches.

Beyond that:

• Yahoo averages 1 billion monthly users
• 600 million monthly users come from mobile

From these numbers, we can take away a few things: First, people are still using Yahoo, and 1 billion monthly users isn’t a number to ignore. Second, any optimization for Yahoo (like any other search engines) need an emphasis on mobile.

Is Yahoo Search Right For Your Business?

In most cases, I say yes. As we already covered, most marketers optimize with Google in mind. Which means optimizing for Yahoo will put you ahead of the competition, and give you a very good chance of capitalizing on Yahoo’s search traffic. Not only that, but because fewer people are focused on Yahoo you’ll face less competition in the first place, making it more likely that your site and content will receive a high rank. Of course, how much you invest in Yahoo search will depend largely on your audience, as there are differences in the demographics between people who use Google and those that turn to smaller search engines like Yahoo and Bing. Most noticeably, Bing and Yahoo users tend to come from Great Plains, Rust Belt, and southern states and tend to be more politically conservative than those that opt for Google. But here’s the big one: Yahoo traffic tends to convert better than Google traffic. That alone makes it a valuable tool, and well worth the investment.

Key Ranking Factors for Yahoo Search

The best part about optimizing for Yahoo? Due to a partnership in 2009, Yahoo search is powered by Bing, meaning the same rules apply to both sites. It also means that you’ll be optimizing for two sites, not just one – a win/win. Let’s take a look at the some of the key ranking factors for both Bing and Yahoo search.

1. Content

As with any search engine, content is king when it comes to optimization. Here’s what Bing has to say about it: “By providing clear, deep, easy to find content on your website, we are more likely to index and show your content in search results…Your content should be easy to navigate, rich and engaging to the visitor, and provide them the information they seek.” Like Google, relevant and quality content is one of your best bets to achieving a higher rank on Yahoo. Here are a few content tips to help you rank as high as possible:

• Use relevant keywords to build your content – note that unlike Google, to succeed on Bing and Yahoo you should use exact match keywords
• Focus on long-form content; it should be in-depth enough to cover all the reader’s expectations
• Content should be unique
• Use 301 redirects to pass the value of an old page on to a new one
• Produce new content consistently

1. Links

Links are also an extremely important ranking factor. Internal links will help Yahoo discover new pages on your site, while backlinks signal that outside sources trust your content, and therefore boost its authority in Yahoo’s eyes. Simply put, sites with more (quality) links rank higher. There are few differences in how links are measured in Bing and Yahoo; most noticeably, they seem to factor the number of backlinks pointing to a site more heavily than Google and give more weight to backlinks from domains with .edu and .gov. However, it’s equally important that sites don’t turn to link schemes or buying links in order to build up their link portfolio. Doing so could result in your site being delisted. To make the most of your backlinks, keep the following in mind:

• Start with a link building strategy
• Promote your links on social media
• Only link to relevant and related content
• Monitor your backlinks for quality

1. Social Signals

This is one of the biggest differences in the optimization process between Google and Yahoo. While Google maintains that social signals don’t have any direct impact on a site’s rank, Yahoo and Bing make it known that social signals have an impact on how well you rank. It goes like this: the more influential you are on social media, the more your information will be shared, which registers as a positive signal to Yahoo. And the more positive signals you gain, the higher you’ll rank. To ensure your social signals are working in your favor, you should:

• Avoid any social media schemes or automatic follower
• Don’t follow everyone that follows you; focus only on quality follows
• Post high-quality content and links to your social pages

1. Technical SEO

A site’s technical SEO will also have an impact on how well it ranks. Specifically:

• Page load time – faster load times produce a more positive user experience
• Robots.txt – this is very important, as it tells Yahoo how to interact with your site. As a best practice, Bing webmaster recommends placing the file at the root of your domain and maintain it over time
• Sitemap – these should be regularly updated to remove any old URLs
• Redirects – generally speaking, 301 redirects should be used unless a move is temporary
• Canonical tags – implementing a rel=canonical will help Yahoo determine your original URL in the case of duplicate URLs

Learn more about Bing vs Google.

Additional Tips for Yahoo Search SEO

While the above cover the major area of search optimization for Yahoo, there are a few additional factors ensure you rank as high possible.

• First, focus on your tags. Keep your title and meta description tags clear and relevant. Also, remember to use h1 tags to help users and Yahoo understand the purpose of your page, and use only one per page
• Always submit an XML sitemap and keep it clean and updated, but enable both HTML and XML
• Be cautious with rich media. Though Yahoo and Bing can crawl multimedia sites better than Google, they still stress that you shouldn’t bury content in images and rich media
• Keep your URLs clean
• Keep your most valuable content close to your homepage
• Use the keyword you are targeting a few times throughout the content on a specific page, and include keyword variations as well
• Page titles should be roughly 65 words, while page descriptions should be roughly 160 or fewer characters

How to Get Started With Yahoo Search Optimization

To get the ball rolling on Yahoo search, there are a few steps you need to cover. First, you’ll want to claim your business on Yahoo. This is much like its done on Yahoo, and can have a dramatic effect on your local SEO results. You’ll do this on a site called Yext, where you’ll search for your business and update its information. Next, you’ll submit your site to be indexed. Because Yahoo is powered by Bing’s Webmaster Tools, you’ll submit it there (for both sites!).   After creating a login, you’ll fill out the necessary forms and verify your ownership. Once submitted and verified, your site will start to be indexed by Bing and Yahoo. From there, it’s a matter of keeping your tags, content, social signals, and other Yahoo search factors as optimized and up-to-date as possible.  

Concluding Yahoo Search

It may be no Google, but Yahoo search still has a lot to offer businesses. Because the optimization processes are similar, it’s not much of a stretch for most to make the effort to rank well in Yahoo. And due to the lack of competition, it’s will prove much easier to see the first pages of the Yahoo search results. So what are you waiting for? Get started with Yahoo search today.