The search world is getting very odd when great rankings at Yahoo and MSN don't equal referred traffic. This has always been case to a degree, but is getting extreme and very disturbing. Google has always sent more traffic, with as much as 85% of referred search traffic coming from English Speaking Google variants in US, Canada, India, New Zealand, Australia, and UK sending more traffic than both US Yahoo and MSN.

What is value of top rankings in MSN and Yahoo if those top positions don't bring traffic?

Zippo, NONE are coming from MSN Search even though we are better ranked in several important search phrases for client sites at MSN that at Google! This is serious and it's a problem that we must resolve. "Searches performed" statistics, like those exhaustively researched by Bill Platt in a recent article are absolutely meaningless if searchers don't click through to top ranking sites! What does this mean? http://realityseo.com/2005/03/day-internet-search-engines-stopped.html

Even though I write a similar article each year, discuss this topic on large discussion lists and mention it regularly in my Reality SEO blog, I have yet to get honest answers from search engine representatives at Yahoo or MSN. I did get a couple of Yahoo Search managers to admit that more visitors stay on Yahoo site and continue to either PPC ads or to other Yahoo links because "There is more of value to searcher at Yahoo." What is of more value to a searcher than relevant search results?

I gave those Yahoo's access to my traffic statistics and those of clients so they could see that nearly 70% of my traffic and that of clients was coming from Google - EVEN WHEN THOSE SAME SITES RANKED HIGHLY IN SEARCHES AT YAHOO! No comment and no explanations as to why, when they generate huge numbers of search queries, that far fewer visitors click through from Yahoo search results than do from Google search results.

One must assume that someone searching for something visits at least a few of sites that appear in list of search results, no? They sure do visit from Google in significant numbers - consistently. But both Yahoo and MSN Search are failing to send referred search traffic to sites ranked highly in their search results. Why?

I highly recommend that all webmasters with access to statistics for their own site look seriously at your traffic referred by Yahoo & MSN for search phrases you rank well on. Do YOU have traffic referred by Yahoo or MSN Search for your high ranking search phrases. Why not?

Look at links on your page. "Website Specials" should appear as link text 3-6 times. Those links can also do with an additional 'title' attribute with terms mentioned too.

<a title="Website Specials of Month" href=website_specials.htm>Website Specials</a>

You also want terms to be mentioned as close to end of page as possible. One idea is to have a footer with a link to an about-us page.

<a title="About ACME Website Specials" href=about_acme_website_specials.htm>About ACME Website Specials</a>
</body> </html> 

Now for a list of Don'ts

• Don't bother optimising a page that redirects.Don't use robots.txt or meta tags to impede search engine access to optimised pages.
• Don't use same colour text and background.
• Don't spam keywords with immediate repeats.
• Don't force any text to appear at 4px or under.Don't use frames, if you HAVE to, your serps are going to hurt in some engines.
• Don't fill your pages up with internal scripts. Where possible, use links to external scripts.

Actively seek external, one-way, incoming links with targeted key terms as anchor text.

Don't trust automatic linking software. It's far, far too easy to get listed in link-farms and dodgy directories when using automatic submission software. You want to ensure that you have a certain level of control over who and how your site gets linked. The most valuable links you can get are from highly (Google PR) ranked sites that are related to your optimised page content. (If you haven't submitted your site to http://dmoz.org, then do it now.)

Each time you submit a form or email for a link, keep a record. Part of a good SEO campaign is backlink management and you'll be glad you have records of all applications sent out when maintenance time comes round. When asked for a "Title" of your site, give your search term, e.g. "Website Specials", if possible. The title in most cases is anchor text for link. Remember, external links with your key terms in anchor text are most valuable. Be sure that site you are submitting to will give you a direct link, not a redirect link. You can tell by mousing over some example links and looking at status bar. If you see your domain name, go for it. If their domain name shows up with bunch of other values tacked on end, give site a miss.

When searching for link candidates, it's wise to have a Google toolbar installed on your browser. If there's one available for your browser, install it. If your worried about your privacy from Google's IE toolbar, install Firefox and get Google toolbar extension installed. Your main objective is to get a link on as many pages that have a Google PR of 4+. Totally avoid unranked pages and steer well clear of pages that register as a gray bar in IE's Google toolbar. This is an indicator of a site being "black-listed" for exploiting search engines.

Directories, directories and more directories. This is a good place to start. Many directories will give you a free link without need to reciprocate. Do a Google search for directory + 'your business category'. Here's a list of some high ranking directories: http://www.bestcatalog.net/seo_tips/directories.htm. Start at top and work your way down.Free Classifieds! Search for sites that allow you to post free or cheap classifieds with basic html enabled. Get your key terms in classified ad as anchor text for link to your optimised web page.

Discussion Forums! Start hunting for discussion forums with high ranking Google PR's. The forums must allow for links in your account signature. When making sig, be sure your key terms are anchor text for link/s to your site. Once registered, start posting your little heart out and be sure to enable your signature to be attached to your post. Each post = 1 external link. Join a dozen or so forums and those links will start piling up.

Press Releases! Do you think you have something newsworthy to say? Then write up a news story and be sure to include a link (don't forget keywords = anchor text) in body or by-line. Submit article to related sites in exchange for prominent links. Submit to all major web news sites. Each website that publishes article is another incoming, one-way link with your key terms as guiding light.

Do backlink searches on your competitors. Back link searches are search criteria which asks for sites linking to a page that do not include page's domain. For example, at Google a back link search for www.acmehosting.com would be link:www.acmehosting.com -site:acmehosting.com. Duplicate your competitors efforts and get your site linked where ever they've managed to.

On a finishing note, there's one important thing to realise about Google SERPs, "Sandbox" effect. It's theorised that Google filters new domain names out of all searches except for their own domain name for a period of 6-9 months depending on popularity of site's targeted key-words. Google PR rank and SERPs are inter-related but are not same thing. Your site can enjoy a Google PR of 7 yet still be sandboxed and appear nowhere in results for your targeted key terms. The only thing you can do is work on your external linkage and optimise more pages of your site. The hard work will pay off on steady incoming traffic and high ranks at MSN and Yahoo etc. When Google finally releases your domain, then you'll enjoy similar SERPs to other majors and reliable, incoming qualified traffic.

Mark Senden is an Australian professional within the commercial art and display service industry. His services are sub-contracted to multimedia studios in Australia, UK and USA. He is currently working in Brisbane, Web Site Design and Promotion at v2Media.