5 replies to this topic

[Faken]

Chris from WebProNews looks into the world of Search Engine results by comparing Google and Yahoo against each other, and comparing their relative values.

Google Results Vs Yahoo Results
By Chris Richardson

According to a Nielsen//Netratings study, Google holds the top spot for search engine destinations. However, if you take a closer look at N//N's findings, you see that Yahoo and MSN share the second and third positions, respectively. Because MSN search is still using Overture to serve their search results more people are vicariously using the Yahoo method of search than they do Google.

What search results do you prefer or find more relevant? Yahoo/Overture or Google? Share your thoughts at WebProWorld.

To most in the search industry, it is common knowledge that Google values "off-page" optimization (backlinks, in-bound links), while Yahoo seems to prefer on-page optimization (title tags, keyword density). Although there are some indications that Yahoo is placing more value on links.

This topic of search engine preference has been discussed extensively. In this WebProWorld forum thread, a comment about using both engines equally and receiving satisfactory results was made, leading to a discussion about the relevancy of Google's results. Poster Downstrike had these thoughts:

"Time was - and it was quite some time - Google was the best place to do most any search. The kind of people who send spam to our Inboxes quickly realized that sending spam to our search results was even better.

[In this regard,] Google's reaction [has been similar to] email networks trying to filter out virus messages. For several months earlier this year, they were filtering out more legitimate emails with attachments than viruses… If you want to see all of the best results, you'll need to get a second opinion. In your case, it's Yahoo."

Several forum participants share Strike's opinion with comments like; "Google is slowly dropping the ball" and "I agree that Google is not the same it used to be".

Yahoo's results didn't necessarily receive the highest marks either. On ihelpyou, moderator Chrishirst said, "IMO, Yahoo results seem to be more about the $$$ than relevancy and notably the same site doesn't even appear in the first couple of hundred results at Google." If you take a quick scan of the SEO forums, the Yahoo categories are littered with topics like, "I've just lost all my Yahoo listings. Please help." These situations indicate that each engine still has some growing pains to work through.

Which set of results do you find more useful? In the WebProWorld discussion, Venividi summed the state of search results quite nicely, "Normal sites are buried deep beyond the first 6 to 10 pages. Google and Yahoo have become a list of portals and other search engines, which is really a waste of time."

To be fair, Google results aren't the only ones being taken to task. In a post on WebmasterWorld, Isitreal offered a scathing evaluation of search engine users, "Who uses Yahoo/MSN? People who don't change their default browser search settings. IE is set to MSN. Yahoo website users [use Yahoo search], and that portal [has] heavy traffic… People who know nothing about search engines, and just [search with] what they're used to."

Another poster on WebProWorld defends Google, saying, "Until MSN and Yahoo can update their results daily (like Google does) they will not compare to the big G." However, the point made about results updating is disputed in the HighRankings forum, where Semko says, "Yahoo search results are very dynamic, they get updated nearly every second, as tons of info are constantly added to Yahoo." The truth undoubtedly lies somewhere in between.

With the increased search engine bot activity Google and Yahoo may be trying to streamline their indexes in order to root out spam and provide more relevant results. In the end, it comes down to preference. The search engine gives you the results you are looking for, no matter your level of experience, is likely to be the one you use.

The question remains, which engine gives you these results?

Chris Richardson

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Great article on these two... hope you enjoyed it as well!

Faken

[Snudge]

Do not no much about search engines and how they work to really comment nevertheless a good read and was quite intresting,

See you doo learn a new thing everyday

Regards

Snudge

[Canen Art]

See you doo learn a new thing everyday

Thats funny you would say that.. I say that at work everyday. There is always something new to learn everyday, cause if you stop learning then you must not be doing something right. But that was a very interesting artical.

Regards,

Jason
Canen Art

[Penaf]

I guess google is the most used web browser cause your site to be listed there you don't have to pay instead of yahoo and others that use overture where you have to pay fortunes for your site to be top listed on searches! Is like people say ... Google is the people's browser and yahoo for the rich!
Either way, on yahoo you also get lots of useless links and links to paid sites that claim to be free

[Snudge]

I believe u can pay google as well for you to go higher n the search lists (thus y they are now floating on the stock exchange) err same as them all tbh - they have just announced that they have almost doubled there search capacity from 4billion pages to 8+ billion

Regards

Snudge

[Gio]

I prefer google, but it seems like they index alot of blog pages, so text matches are misleading alot of the times.