When it comes to search engine optimization, many website owners concentrate on Google and optimizing to get to the top of their search pages. It should be remembered that they are not the only player in town and only account for around 60-65% of all searches.

Search engines like Yahoo! and MSN still have loyal followings and if Google should slip, they are primed to step in and fill the gaps. To get valuable traffic from Yahoo!, you need to check that your search engine optimization strategies are, at the very least, not hurting your Yahoo! rankings.

Yahoo!’s search algorithms are different to Google’s and, while having similarities, there are still distinct differences. Deliver effective search engine optimization strategies to address these differences and you will rate well in Yahoo! as well as Google.

Site Stucture:
Yahoo! is probably the only search engine that really looks at site structure as part of its rankings. There are several areas that are important to Yahoo!, the first being whether or not your site is W3C compliant. Other areas of importance include the placement and ratio of code to text. The more the text the better, however having the text high up on the page has a higher rating than lower done on the page. Effective use of style sheets will reduce the amount of code which also helps your search engine optimization efforts.

Backlinks:
As with Google, backlinks are very important. The quality of the site linking, the keywords used to link and the placement of the links - high up on the page is better than towards the bottom. Yahoo! is more forgiving when it comes to reciprocal links than is Google, however, if they are going to hurt your Google ranking then take care with the number and quality of these links. To test the quality of a page for linking purposes, do a search on Yahoo! for the same keywords or phrases. PR is a Google ranking and has little influence on Yahoo!’s rankings.

Keywords:
What’s a search engine optimization tip without keywords? There is little to say about keywords. There is no magic formula, there are no magic numbers. Natural content is the key along with optimal placement of keywords. Yahoo! places a higher value on content towards the top of the page, likewise with keywords. Effective use of keywords in content in the top half of the page will rate higher than for those lower down.

Ageing:
Every new website owner finds this aspect of search engine optimization and search engine rankings quite frustrating. Whilst competitive keyword rankings take up to six months on Yahoo!, your site will return results much faster. Where ageing is important is when it comes to inbound links from young sites and when your new site links out. Effective search engine optimization strategies can improve the speed for listing on Yahoo! slightly faster than on Google.

From these four areas, you can see where you need to concentrate to get higher rankings on Yahoo! The major two factors are your site structure, and, closely related, the placement of keyword rich content. You can work to improve these areas as part of your search engine optimization strategy without jeopardizing your Google rankings.