The yahoo question?

[Chief Tutor]

I have been reading that if you optimize a site for yahoo, then it is over optimized for google. Does anyone have any thoughts on this theory. BTW, when I mean optimized for Google, I mean have your ducks in a row ie title tags, meta tags, alt tags, content, links etc...

Would be interested to hear people's thoughts.

[HHI Golf Guy]

We have top 3 rankings for competitive KW's on Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

META tags are not very important, and most SE's place little or no weight on these tags. I use them more as a reminder to myself as to what KW's I am optimizing a page for as well as to throw off the local realtors that study our pages to find out why they rank so high :)

Your TITLE tage is extremely important. It tell both the web surfer and the SE's what your page should be about.

When you speak about over optimizing, I think that what you may be referring to is KW stuffing or having a high density of KW's. Unfortunately (or fortunately) there is no magic KW density formula. Some pages can have 3% density and rank well, while other pages may have 12% density and rank well.

Ranking well depends on a large number of factors. First and foremost is the competition for the KW. This doesn't neccesarily mean the amount of monthly searches for that phrase, but the number of competing pages.

You need to study the sites of your leading competitors to see what elements work well for them.

You should also remember that nature of SE algo's is dynamic. For example, the algo will weight ranking elements depending upon what other elements exist or do not exist. What works well for one site might not work well for another because of additional elements that are present or missing.

Sounds confusing? It is. Add to the fact that it is not uncommon for SE's to change their algos you can see that achieving top rankings for competitive KW's is a very challenging task.

The best advice - hire an SEO. If you want to do it on your own, be prepared to spend alot of time reading, studying, and experimenting. And no matter which route you go, give it some time. For example, the FSBO and real estate site that I have in my signature will not be open for business until May or June, but we are already giving the SE's time to index the site and develop our link building program so that when we are ready to open the doors the site will generate leads and income.

It is not uncommon for it to take 6-12 months or more to get top rankings. If you need site traffic right away, invest in a targeted PPC campaign.

[Apply]

Golf Guy is speaking sense. I would advise you to get an SEO firm - choose carefully, The amount you spend will be recouped easily if they are any good. Also, make sure the firm you choose teaches you how to take over from them and develop the rankings yourself. This way in the long run you will save and understand more. It is not that complex but requires the right advice and the time to learn.

[VegasMack]

I have been reading that if you optimize a site for yahoo, then it is over optimized for google. Does anyone have any thoughts on this theory. BTW, when I mean optimized for Google, I mean have your ducks in a row ie title tags, meta tags, alt tags, content, links etc...

Would be interested to hear people's thoughts.I agree with the bulk of what HHI Golf Guy said. However, I have found that what works on one SE does not necessarily work on the others.

I have sites ranked in the Top 10 of all 3 majors, and I have sites that will rank in one or two but not the 3rd.

I have also attempted to optimize a site for one of the SE only to see rankings drop on another.

There are defiantly differences in the algorithms.

Hope that helps.

~VegasMack

[apascu]

martin,
In general, I would agree with you about Yahoo (and MSN) accepting more "over-optimizing" than google. You can stuff your keywords with a higher density and in all the usual spots without getting penalized at yahoo and MSN. What I find makes the difference in the long run is your backlinks. If you have a good network of links, you'll get top placement in all engines unless you totally spam your site with too many keywords.

and yes, get an SEO firm =) I'm sure there's someone on this forum that would be happy to help you out - it's hard to find good SEO people - there's so many "crooks" out there trying to take a realtor's money...so if you can get a referral, that is best.

[kelsheikh]

and yes, get an SEO firm =) I'm sure there's someone on this forum that would be happy to help you out - it's hard to find good SEO people I would just do it yourself....save money. Its nothing you should pay for.

[spanishproperty]

Getting an SEO company to run your website is very risky indeed unless you find the right one, there are so many rogue companies out there taking people for a ride so do be careful if you go down that route.

Find someone you know that has had a good experience with a firm but do some research yourself, it is time consuming but worth it in the long run.

[Malok]

I like having control over what gets put where, so I would be reluctant to turn over the keys and let them take things for a drive so to speak.


A peer of mine allowed a SEO company to take over - and he ended up getting links/postings on HERPES websites.


Not exactly the sort of image most persons would be shooting for in marketing IMO. :)

[twalters84]

Hey there,

For this particular issue, you are going to get many differnet answers.

When people say optimized for yahoo but overoptimized for google, they are talking about keyword density.

Every SEO specialist has a different opinion about the optimal keyword density. However, all opinions are usually below 10%. Some opinions are as low as 2% keyword density.

For off-page SEO work, you can really do that yourself. For on-page SEO work, I would hire a programmer and SEO consultant.

I hope you find my advice valuable.

Sincerely,
Travis Walters

[VegasRealEstate]

When this thread was started, it was important to get noticed on Google and Yahoo. But the fact that google dominates the search market, I would work on getting noticed on Google. The fact that yahoo and msn keep losing market shares tells you that consumers are finding google to be the most useful. So unless you can rank in the top 5 on Yahoo, I wouldnt waste your time. Focus on Google and forget about MSN. I have numerous #1 positions on MSN and I get almost no traffic from them.

[RobM]

I think if you focus less on Yahoo and more on Google, you will reap bigger rewards, since google has the larger portion of the search market

[tina.anderson]

I think if you focus less on Yahoo and more on Google, you will reap bigger rewards, since google has the larger portion of the search market


Yes, as it stands right now it really pays to focus your efforts on ranking well on Google. In regards to the first post, what do you mean by over optimizing for Google by optimizing well for Yahoo? I didn't know you could optimize too much.