Link Building with Yahoo

Yahoo’s SLURP is a link-affecting search bot you should be aware of if you are analyzing Google and its link preferences. SLURP uses what are termed as “graphs” by its creators instead of search algorithms. These graphs analyze and boot out linked spam, irrelevant pages, mirror sites and unrelated links.

Very often, what seems to be inadequate results from Yahoo just reflects the differences in the way this search bot works. SLURP seems to attach less importance to cross-site links and comment links than does Google. It attaches equal (if not more) importance to high page rank sites you link with, especially social media and Yahoo sites – and, you should know, less to backlinks.

This program is very active working at least twice a week to find new material on your site. Other search bots just index the first couple of paragraphs but SLURP instead indexes your complete text. In addition it also indexes “dynamic pages” enabling it to crawl all of your .PHP files.

Studying your server logs to see how much SLURP crawls your sites is an important tactic. If it does not appear in the server logs you may have to make your site more attractive to it by using your links. SLURP begins to access your links when it has finished with your Metatags and site content. Links that point to its favorite sites and directories are particularly sought after so it makes sense to submit to Yahoo directories as much as possible. By making sure that links are placed on all pages, your site will rank better with Yahoo.

An example of the search syntax that will display specific page links in Yahoo is “linkdomain:www.sitename.com”.

People-friendly content is what Yahoo and SLURP are all about. This should be kept in mind so that keywords included in your titles and links do not feel forced. You have to straddle the line between maximizing use of your keywords while keeping the content natural and relevant.

Trying to optimize pages for as many search bots as possible is a recipe for disaster if you are not completely at ease with analysis and programming code. By trying to not be too “clever”, focusing on the content and understanding how SLURP works is the best strategy for dealing with Yahoo’s somewhat different search bot.

SLURP can be optimized for your site naturally by creating a presence on Yahoo! Answers with anchor texts from your website. Link your site there by integrating the link in your answers whenever possible but in a natural way. Since the site is policed by its own members, if the inclusion of the links starts looking forced or like spam they will zealously report you.

Other sites that have a web presence and page ranking such as Twitter, StumbleUpon and Digg can also be linked to your answer, provided it looks and sounds natural.

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