Yahoo Tips

This article originally appeared in the Yahoo! Small Business newsletter, Insights. A wide variety of other informative articles is available in Yahoo!’s Small Business resources page.

Yahoo is considered one of the big three along with Google and MSN and by concentrating a little more time and effort on Yahoo optimization it is quite possible to gain a good amount of traffic. Consider implementing the search engine optimization tips below to help you achieve this goal.

1. Target Keywords – Search engines look for keywords when scanning the Web for content in order to show relevant results. Two important things to consider when building the keywords list are: 1.1.  Target keywords should be at least two words long. The majority of sites usually are relevant for a single word, which creates more competition. Having additional words will increase your chances of success. 1.2. Colleagues, friends and customers may have some insight, so brainstorm with them when compiling keywords. They may have ideas that you haven’t considered.

2. Positioning Keywords on Your Site – Search engine crawlers will scan your web pages for appropriate keywords, so it’s important to place them where they’re easy to find. The most effective locations to place your keywords are: 2.1.   HTML title tags – Your site’s title, which appears at the top of the browser window, is the first piece that crawlers will read. Write the titles of your headlines around your top two or three phrases. 2.2.      META tags -META tags deliver information to the search engines for ranking purposes, explain the web page’s content, and store keywords for search engines, which helps in the ranking process. 2.3.  Headlines – Include your target keywords in the headlines of your pages. Search engine crawlers scan pages from top to bottom, so the headline will be one of the first things they detect.
3. Page Layouts – The layout of your web page also can affect a search engine’s ability to find keywords. Here are two things you can do to make your page layouts more conducive to natural searches: 3.1.   If you use tables, simplify the structure to keep your keywords higher on the page. 3.2. Make sure that your keywords appear in text–search engines can’t read JavaScript or text that’s embedded in images.
4. Additional Tips – Here are a few other tips to consider to get you even closer to a high search ranking:  Use HTML links instead of JavaScript - Try to include your keywords in your link text, too. Avoid frames – Most search engines can’t follow frame links, so make sure there is another way to index your site. Make your pages static – Search engines may not be able to read CGI or database-generated pages, so try to make as many of your pages as constant as possible.