July 2005 Yahoo Update & Algo Change

[Marcia]

Looks like some big changes out there, and I almost hate to say this, but the balance seems to be shifting with on-page scoring and the value of inbound links.

[DaveN]

funny that Tim didn't post a weather report on the Yahoo Blog.. maybe they are trying to sneak this in the backdoor :0

DaveN

[rustybrick]

Looks like there are changes to me as well.

Nice find Marcia!

[Ben Anderson]

Yes, indeed, Marcia - I have also seen these changes. But, what exactly did you mean - does Yahoo count more on the content or on the quantity and quality of inbound links?

[KevinSource]

big changes here too...some for the better, and some for the not-so-better

[Jeff Martin]

All Im getting is an error message for searches:

Oops!
We ran into a temporary problem while performing your search. Please try your search again.

[dannysullivan]

Now that the storm hit, the weather report has arrived!
http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000158.html

[rustybrick]

The update notes many more changes in the upcoming days/weeks.

[jewboy]

Checked my KW positions today on Yahoo!, and saw some major fluctuations. Now it all makes sense....Thanks for the weather update

[Marcia]

According to what Gary Price quoted in the SEW blog, Tim is saying that the changes will still be rolling out for a bit, and that the changes are more intense this time around than last.

I'm reading that to mean that it's a bigger algo change than what we saw last time, and though I have a suspicion or two it's probably best to wait until it rolls out further before jumping to conclusions. The word "intense" does get me a little nervous though.

Though it's obviously more than just one thing, based on purely a narrow, limited quick observation, I've got a suspicion that the value of inbound links may carry a bit more weight relative to on-page factors than what it's been in the past.

[unreviewed]

The biggest change I see is regional results. I’m seeing a huge difference between results searching with a Canadian IP, and then switching to a US based IP. I understand this is common, but I think they have really ramped up that “feature”.

[Marcia]

I've been seeing substantial differences with Canadian results for quite a while. unreviewed, are you currently seeing an algo change and new results at Y! Canada?

Added: A site that's #33 is #2 at Yahoo Canada, right about where it's been for a while. Different algo, imho.

[unreviewed]

Marcia, no I’m not searching Yahoo Canada, http://ca.yahoo.com/ that always had the differences. However I use to see the same results at yahoo.com regardless of Canadian or US IP. For example my “hardest” keyword was at a rock solid 11 for the last few months no matter which IP used. Now it is position 8 when searched from Canada, and position 20 when searched from the US IP. I’m seeing this on all keywords, My next toughest word is now at position 3 on a Canadian IP and position 6 with US IP.

This could just be the result of different data centers and may change over the next few days, but has remained the same since yesterday afternoon. The site is hosted in the US, the Canadian shipping address is only on one page, and the majority of backlinks are from US web sites.

It's too early yet, just somthing I'm watching.

[Marcia]

Ah, ok. So then it's looking like a geo-targeting difference at main Yahoo Search depending on the physical IP location of the searcher, not the site's hosting or country-specific Yahoo?

Keep us posted, this is very interesting.

[smindsrt]

This update is much better than the last one. I see decent results and a few spammy sites dropped.

[shor]

Weather report from Australia:

Early grey skies clearing up for a sunny afternoon.

That is, Y! has 'cleared up' the SERPs for both AU-only and Australian Yahoo main search. There are now very few US results in AU-only - nowhere near as many as previously (top 20 results for uber-competitive KWs would have 5+ from USA).

So it looks like whining eventually works - we provided evidence of many poor local SERP results 2 or 3 times at the request of Y! ANZ Search Engineers who passed it along to their Stateside counterparts.

[agreen1125]

Yup yup...indeed the storm hits already...and I love showering in the rain! First time in months that I saw my site land on the first page. *w000000t*

[GBR&D]

I am noticing a lot less spam for a variety of high and low traffic volume queries.

[flam]

I have to say that this time it looks more like a real "modern" search engine result, hopefully they won't do the same BS as as the 2 latest updates: one week after they roll back something and scrappers/spammers are back on track.

Just one thing that I understand but often regret is that some websites in their directory are given so much importance on a few specific search results that they should open it up to others....just look at Google and MSN's results, particularly thinking about some college related searches.

[Marcia]

Just one thing that I understand but often regret is that some websites in their directory are given so much importance on a few specific search results that they should open it up to others

flam, I noticed it even more so this time around for some commercial, product-type searches.

The thing is, is it specifically the Yahoo Directory listing doing it, or is there a trust factor being factored into the algo, among other possible elements?

There are other factors that can be indicators of quality or "trustworthiness," but having been reviewed by a human editor to be accepted into a respected directory with a reliably high "hub" status, a site can pretty well be relied on to have met certain minimum quality standards and be on topic for the search.