Expanding Your Search Horizons

I'll admit it. I'm a Google fan. The search engine's "little guy" appeal and relevant search results won me over years ago. My friends, on the other hand, prefer Yahoo. Devoted fans of the online portal, they constantly try to find ways to convert me from my stubborn Google loyalty by installing Yahoo's Messenger and Toolbar on my PC and even setting my browser homepage to - you guessed it - http://www.yahoo.com. At first, I instantly changed my homepage back to Google. But over time, that blind devotion started to wear down a bit, although I've had more luck with Google relevancy.

Yahoo! Search and Microsoft's MSN Search might have gotten off to a slow start but now things are finally starting to pick up. Recent studies show Google user loyalty is beginning to fade as the gap on search engine competition closes. According to Forrester analyst Charlene Li, more and more Google users are setting their browser homepages to Yahoo and MSN. In a separate study, Kirk Bannerman of http://www.business-at-home.us noted that the most popular engines over a 90-day period were:

Google: 33%

Yahoo: 31%

MSN: 23%

All others: 13%

Of course, for those who don't know, MSN still uses Yahoo's Overture, and Yahoo also owns Inktomi, so if you figure that into the equation, then Yahoo has a broader reach than Google. If this is any indication of where Yahoo is headed, then the company might just stand a chance at regaining its top spot (just don't tell my friends I said that).

Remembering the not-so-distant days when it was almost a sentence of doom to have Google frown upon your site, I think a little search competition is a good thing. No longer do site owners and SEOs have to be slaves to Google. If current trends continue, though, it will be necessary to rank well in multiple industry leaders in order to retain search traffic.

But how does one optimize for multiple search engines? Off-page factors seem to be most important to Google, while Yahoo apparently weighs on-page factors more importantly. Meanwhile, MSN has been called a search engine marketing "heaven" because its results are so easily manipulated. Here are a few tips that will help you rank high on all the top engines:

1. Choose and use keywords and key phrases wisely. This has always been important to SEO but now experts believe Yahoo puts even more weight on keyword usage than Google does - which means this step is more crucial than ever before.

2. Make use of page elements. Title, meta and header tags are must-haves and should include keywords and key phrases whenever possible. Recent SEO studies have suggested Yahoo weighs title tags up to 20% in determining keyword density, making this tag extremely important.

3. Write relevant content with user interests in mind. Be sure to include keywords and key phrases on the page.

4. Maintain your site, keeping content fresh and updated. Search engines love fresh content!

5. Submit your site to directories and search engines. Yahoo encourages submitting sites to its own directory for $299, although DMOZ listings can benefit both Yahoo and Google rankings.

6. Submit news, press releases and articles to various sources. This is a great way to get links back to your site.

7. Participate in reciprocal linking. Link exchange programs such as MyLinksNetwork.com are very helpful in getting useful inbound links to your site. There is, however, some speculation about how much of a benefit this will have on Yahoo rankings, since Yahoo seems to value links less than on-page content.

8. Start a blog or an RSS feed. Blogging is a great way to maintain fresh content - and lots of it! RSS allows you to share your content with your audience. And did I mention that the search engines love it??

These few tips and tricks should help boost your rankings, but don't stop there. MyLinksNetwork.com provides members of its link exchange program free articles and suggestions on search engine optimization.