WebCertain: Optimizing for Yandex is Much Different Than for Google

Rules for SEO are largely the same from market to market around the globe — but there are some nuances to consider when trying to optimize for such search engines as Yandex, Russia’s most popular, SEOmoz says. A video interview with Andy Atkins-Krüger, the founder and CEO of international SEO firm WebCertain, gives some insight.

For example, Google does not use machine learning on its natural search to anywhere near the extent that Yandex does, he says. Yandex's algorithm was created by what human assessors think of web pages, who set those as targets. Then the algorithm tries to achieve those targets. "Now what that means is that if you've got a set of results and in those results there's a kind of a certain approach that should theoretically get you to the top of those results, and you launch a site that matches that format, then the algorithm is going to say, 'Oh, no, that's not what we wanted,' and it will shift. So as an SEO, you're in a fairly difficult position because it's going to move around all the time," says Atkins-Krüger.

Growing SERP Real Estate by 2 or 3 Lines

There are six underutilized ways a site can increase its Search Engine Result Page real estate by two or three lines, writes David de Souza, founder ofMatchingDonations.org, for the SEO Book blog. he says.

These are:

1. Dual Rankings. If more than one of your pages is relevant for a search query on any given page, Google will group these listings together. For example, if a site is listed in the second position for a certain keyword and on the second page of Google in position 11 there is a different URL that also ranks for the same keyword, building enough links to push the secondary listing to page 1 will cause Google to automatically promote it to position 3, he says. "To achieve dual rankings, build both internal and external links to the lower ranking page using the anchor text of the keywords for which you wish to receive dual rankings."

2. Meta Description. "I often see websites using just a few words for their meta descriptions, resulting in only a single line in the SERPs. By adding a few more words, a website can take advantage of the second line that Google allows them for describing their site."

3. Forums. These not only get up to 4 additional listings in the SERPs, they also stand out and catch a user's eye compared to a regular listing.

4. Rich Snippets. They not only enhance rankings, and improve your CTRs but also increase the size of a listing. Here is where Schema.org will come in handy: it provides webmasters with a shared collection of recognized rich snippets supported by search engines.

5. More Results. Google will display an additional line under a listing if the site is a good source of relevant information. "You can increase the probability of Google showing this extra line by having a diverse set of content on your site, interlined with relevant anchor text."

6. Sitelinks. Google generates sitelinks automatically, you can’t do anything specifically to receive them, de Souza says. "To improve your chances of receiving sitelinks, you should follow the best practice of using informative, compact anchor and ALT text for any links to your site."