Are there any clear, significant differences between Google SEO and Yahoo/Bing SEO?

[WilliamKammer]

I have a client who is very focused on getting ranks in Yahoo! Convincing him that focusing on Google is much more important isn't going to happen. He uses Yahoo! He ranks very well in Google, and his site is relatively well-made with no glaring on-page issues. His backlink profile is also not an issue.

I'm trying to find ways to rank specifically for Yahoo! since we're ranking well in Google and the client cares a ton about Yahoo! I know Yahoo! uses Bing's algorithm, but results aren't identical in the two engines.

Does anyone know of big, glaring difference in the two algorithms that would result in great Google ranks, but almost non-existent Yahoo! ranks?

I have him in Bing webmasters, his local SEO and citations are good, his backlink profile is good, and his on-page is decent.

[MoosaHemani]

Ok, so this sounds funny to me because all giant search engines are a little different from each other but do not intersect each other which mean if you are optimizing correctly, you probably should get better rankings in all the 3 search engines that are Google, Bing and Yahoo!

If I would be at your place I would have convinced client to understand why Google is more important than Yahoo and at the same time I will do the competitor analysis of the websites who are above me and would have figured why they are outranking me on Yahoo!

Hope this helps!

[paints-n-design]

If you do SEO for germany and want to rank in bing - buy an EMD thats enaugh. Sound scarry but it works. But in germany you can earn 2 clicks in a month on search querries wich are searched in Google thousendtimes a day.

if we take a search query, than we say: google something - noone googles something on bing. to google is now a german word for "search in the internet" and has his place in our dictonary.

But I think the differnce normal couldn't be so big. MoosaHemani must be right - I truly hope bing delivers better SERPs in countries where webmasters and searchers use bing.

[WilliamKammer]

Thanks for the input. This is client that cannot be convinced to change his focus from Yahoo! and his ranks are great on Google.

Everything I research, and my other clients' performances, suggest good SEO isn't search engine specific, but it appears to be in his case.

[WilliamKammer]

EMDs do seem to have more significance in Bing, but that doesn't help me optimize his existing site.

Thanks for the input.

[katemorris]

I do not know of major differences, but it might be worth taking the time to research what is ranking in Bing/Yahoo over your client and compare. Back in the day (2 years ago) I heard rumor that some of the old things still applied: H1, H2, H3 tags, keyword density, etc. That and there was a bigger focus on just number of links. But none of this should change what you are doing. There should be a focus on good site structure, on page tagging, and page/domain authority through links.

The only other thing is to remember that Bing has a relationship with Facebook and can use Facebook social data directly. Not to say that it's the major factor here, but it is something Google does not have.

Just a thought.

[WilliamKammer]

Thanks Kate!

I didn't know that about the Facebook relationship. I'm seeing some improvement, and it looks like it's due to changes like the ones you're mentioning. It's like Bing/Yahoo are just a couple years behind and are still using factors Google has moved past or doesn't pay as much attention to.