Hilda Mateiu
Although one of the most popular, Google is not the only search engine available for internet users. The information needed can be successfully found with other search engines too like Yahoo, Bing or Blekko. These search engines all work based on different criteria and basically the type of information a person needs determines what search engine can offer the optimum results.
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation. The company was founded in 1994 by two graduate students from Stanford University as a directory of other websites, organized in a hierarchy. It was incorporated in 1995 under the name “Yahoo” which is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle", the term hierarchical referring to how the database was organized in layers of subcategories. The company grew rapidly, adding to its search engine also a web portal. Today it is mainly known besides the search engine for a series of other services provided by its portal like mail, latest news, finances, advertising, entertainment, online mapping, video sharing and social media. Besides communication and content, the company also offers mobile services, shopping and business services. Yahoo Shopping, Autos, Real Estate and Travel offer users relevant information and allows them to purchase online transactions. Small business owners can also take advantage of Yahoo! as it allows them to build their own online stores by using Yahoo! tools. Although the company is currently facing obvious problems represented by job cut offs, there are still around 700 million people visiting Yahoo! websites every month in more than 30 languages.
As both Google and Yahoo! were originally developed as search engines there was always a competition between them. Between 2000 and 2004 Yahoo! used the Google search engine, while developing its own search technology. In 2007 Yahoo! renewed its email service to become a strong competitor for Gmail. However the way the two search engines work is quite different. For example Google lists websites based on a complex system, including the frequency of the searched keywords, positioning of keywords and the presence of synonyms as well as the importance of the page, shown by PageRank. Yahoo! however can direct users to its own portal content, such as the Yahoo Full Coverage or Yahoo Shopping areas. For example if a user is interested in the latest trending searches those will be listed before even a person starts the actual search. If the searched keyword is a location, Yahoo! will automatically list points of interests, flights towards and hotels in the area. If the keyword is a type of product, brands and prices of those products will be listed, without the user having to leave the search box. This system makes Yahoo! more client orientated, listing answers before even typing the hole question.
Considering that Yahoo has the second highest reported search traffic after Google, it is essential for webmasters to obtain a top ranking in Yahoo, as it will almost certainly generate more traffic and subsequently more income. What all webmasters should know is that web sites have to be optimized differently for different search engines as some search engines appreciate the optimization of particular page elements over others. For example Yahoo! ranks pages mainly based on the following elements: title tags, meta description tags, meta keyword tags, the presence of keywords in the URL, the presence of headings in the text of a particular page, the presence of a text describing images, the presence of links as well as the site’s structure. In order to combine all those elements and offer a particular webpage the features it needs to have a high rank on Yahoo search engine, webmasters should trust the services of SEO experts. Only they have the knowledge and experience necessary to fulfill such tasks and ensure more clients and income for your business.
In order to benefit from traffic resulting from high Yahoo! listings please contact Hilda Mateiu for more professional SEO services including Yahoo! optimization.
