Web Marketing Strategy Update

I went back and had a look at the Yahoo Search Content Quality Guidelines the other day after Michael Campbell mentioned them in his ezine. They tell us that Yahoo wants to index:

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1. Original and unique content of genuine value
2. Pages designed primarily for humans, with search engine considerations secondary
3. Hyperlinks intended to help people find interesting, related content, when applicable
4. Metadata (including title and description) that accurately describes the contents of a web page
5. Good web design in general

Immediate Thoughts:

No revelations in (1) & (2).
(3) Seems to shout “anchor text,” but probably simply refers to linking in general since it’s said that for years
(4) Makes it plain that the title and meta description tag ARE important.
(5) Reinforces that search engines like html that validates, with structured sites full of good old plain links.

So what is search engine spam to Yahoo? Well, here’s what Yahoo says it doesn’t want in its index:

1. Pages that harm accuracy, diversity or relevance of search results
2. Pages dedicated to directing the user to another page

The most popular keyword research tool online is closing it’s doors to the public. When I first started using it, it was called the GoTo Keyword Suggestion Tool. Do you remember GoTo?

Later it became the Overture Keyword Suggestion Tool as part of GoTo’s massive re-branding exercise. Recently (actually, not that recently anymore, although it seems it!), Overture was acquired by Yahoo, and it seems they have decided it’s time for the tool to go.

But actually, it’s no great loss though, because:

1. Over the years, the massive increase in bots running searches on the network (checking ad positions, etc.) and Overture’s combining of word variations into single terms, has led to the results becoming so skewed that they can’t be relied on to provide you with anything more than an overview.

2. There’s now a much better, more accurate, and most importantly FREE keyword research tool from the oldest and biggest name in the keyword mining business — Wordtracker.

You can find it here. Go over and try it now.