Yahoo's Pickled SERPS

On October 1st, 2007 I first blogged about the various results from the Yahoo update which had taken place over the weekend. While, the thrust of Yahoo's direction is so very positive and I am very impressed with their progress....I had noticed a problem immediately following the update with the SERPs (search engine position results). At the time, I was conservative and hopeful that there was still work to be done on Yahoo's part. Now, 2 weeks later that prospect has definitely faded.

Initially, I noticed 4 very distinct things which I pointed out.

The first still remains, whether I am signed in or not....If I query "SEO blog", I get a suggestion for "china seo blog". The "seo blog" being the only direct keyword hit in the list, every time.

I'm not really sure where Yahoo is going with this. I don't see the relevance, at least compared to other relevant suggestions....Such as: SEO information - offered up by Ask.com or SEO software - offered up by MSN / Live. Maybe Yahoo intends to capitalize of Google's troubles in China?

The second issue I noticed was a lack of descriptions or snippets displaying for the search results. It was reported all over that Yahoo had stopped using Meta descriptions...However in searching the Yahoo Search Blog, ALL of the posts with the Yahoo team referencing information regarding this issue seem to be displaying the same page now. See text below as well.

Fourth Weather Report: Yahoo! Update Tonight
We will be making changes to the ranking of our index tonight. I would expect that this update will be mild and quick compared to recent ones but will impact the ranking of some sites.
If you have any feedback for us about the new index please email: ystfeedback@yahoo.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Tim Mayer
Yahoo! Search

However, the post dates remain the same...This one is actually 11/01/2005 (http://www.ysearchblog.com/archives/000208.html). This issue is this, originally it was reported they would be using snippets or a similar process. That does not seem to be working out for them. The search results are littered with pages that although they clearly have textual content have no description displayed in the search results...Here is an example you might all recognize...But there are many.

The 3rd thing I noticed and posted previously was blatant irrelevance within the results. No more Russian dating in the "SEO Blog" results. The Russian dating content has been removed, and....I hope you are sitting, the site has moved up in the results from #37 to #33.

Finally, the 4th and final thing I noticed really pisses me off when I am searching Yahoo now. Before I hit this, here is my big, fat disclaimer..........

I am American, I speak English. I think if you speak another language you should have every right to access every bit on content you can...Thus the translator to your right-->>. However....If I am searching in English, in regular Yahoo or Google, then I should not be bothered with results I cannot read nor translate. This applies to all languages..Not just English.

Yahoo just like Google, and many other search facilitators have other platforms intended for other languages. That surely does not mean any person should be stuck searching for information within the confines of that language either...But on the other hand, if I open Yahoo search I should be able to find English text-ed sites without the splattering of sites written in languages I cannot understand, and did NOT search for. We are talking about sites with NO translators, and SERP descriptions I cannot even read to even begin to decide if I may wish to visit the site. Guess what, I can even sign in to Yahoo....Providing them with my information which clearly establishes my English speaking tongue, and get the same damn results! Have a look..

Click to enlarge these search result images

If you think these are sparse, then you would be mistaken. I didn't spend all day doing this, but below are just a few results I pulled from my own browser using Yahoo search. Please note once again, the results do not change whether or not you are signed in.

1. Query = "SEO Blog" 4 non English text-ed pages listed in the first 10 pages.
2. Query = "Tech Blog" 1 non English text-ed pages listed in the first 10 pages.
3. Query = "Webmaster Blog" 18 non English text-ed pages listed in the first 10 pages.

So, I checked some regular sites as well...they were not very bad at all. So Yahoo has a Blog problem?

Just in case you are like me, and you were wondering...If you go to Yahoo China and search "SEO Blog"..........You will find these problems exist in that platform as well. There are in fact English text-ed sites with NO available translation utilities ranking within the SERPs...Very, well I might add.

So, Yahoo.........If I want to learn another language, besides the 2 I know, I will take a class....Thanks, anyhow.

Peace and SEO

Melanie Prough
"Baby"


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