changes to search

[scorpion]

I think Yahoo has been making some changes to their search to help offset the loss of directory-first listings...

I notice now that they are blending the directory listing in the Web listing usually in the first few results IF the keyword searched matches a URL or title of a site in the directory...

[Quinn]

Can you give an example of this Scorpion. I looked around a little and I can't notice any changes.

[scorpion]

uh, the examples i've seen are in the adult categories. In all cases the yahoo listing for a URL was the first (or on the first page) of the returned results...One caveat, it seems this is only the case if either the site is ONLY in Yahoo, or you type in the exact URL body as keyword, or has few links in google. I hypothesize that if the site competes for many keywords it is blended in, but not near the top....

[Dante_Maure]

This has been reported in the adult categories for quite some time now, but there haven't been any signs of this migrating to the rest of the SERPs... yet.

Yet it may very well be an indication of things to come.

[JeffD]

If you search jewelry or diamonds there is little to no hint of google serp anywhere in the top 100 spots. Almost like they went back to the old days with the directory results up first. Not sure where these results are coming from.

[Dante_Maure]

Good find JeffD... there is definitely a dramatic difference showing for those keywords.

It's not showing directory style results based on the old algo though... if you click on "Directory" for the same search you'll see there are completely different SERPs (and only 1624 sites listed).

Based on the number of returns (2,140,000), it looks as though they are still using the Google index, but testing it with their own algo applied.

Very interesting indeed.

[JeffD]

narrowing a search try gold chains or gold charms the serps are almost identical to google.

[Dante_Maure]

Most searches I've looked at are still serving pure Google results.

From having watched Yahoo over a few years, they tend to test out new filters / algos in isolated areas, and then if it makes the cut, propagate it to the rest of their database.

If the diamonds example is any indication of things to come, a lot of BizEx customers are going to be quite pleased.

[babyclassroom]

Obviously Yahoo is doing some changes to the basic Google results...

I am ranked #34 on one of my keywords in Google. When I do a search in Yahoo, I come up #24; however, I'm listed with the Yahoo Directory description. The Yahoo Directory description was written by the editorial staff at Yahoo and does not appear anywhere on my site or my META tags. Incidentally, the Yahoo Directory description does NOT contain my keyword!

[Dante_Maure]

Ever since Yahoo switched over to using the Google index they've substituted their own titles and descriptions for sites listed in their directory.

Since you're coming up higher on Yahoo, I'm curious... you said the description doesn't have your keyword included. What about in your url and Yahoo title?

[Dante_Maure]

Also... is your keyword in the category string?

e.g. Top Level> Sub Topic > Generic Keyword > Specific Keyword

[babyclassroom]

The keyword I was referring to is a 2-word keyword, "xxx yyy". My Yahoo Directory description includes one of the words, "xxx" My URL also contains one of the keywords "xxx", in the following format: "www.xxxzzz.com" with no dashes. (which is actually my company name)

Keep in mind that the keyword "xxx" by itself is VERY generic -- in fact I think it is OK to mention it here -- it is "baby".

The second part of my keyword "yyy", is NOT generic at all and is the word that doesn't appear anywhere in my Yahoo Directory description, Title, or URL.

[Dante_Maure]

Part of the difference in ranking is because Yahoo filters out Google's indented listings. (second page from the same site)

So it's normal for a site's Yahoo ranking to seem higher when you're only looking at the numbered position in the results.

That's not all of it though. It does indeed look like there is a handful of additional pages that have been filtered out of Yahoo's SERPs.

Interesting point is that this is not the radically different algo testing that can be seen with the diamonds and jewelry searches.

In your case, the order of the sites ranked is identical... with just a few listings left out in the Yahoo returns.

Anybody else care to report what they're finding when they compare Yahoo vs. Google's SERPs?