Russian SEO: Do you know some good sources with tips and news about Yandex?

[jorgediaz]

We are launching our site in Russia - and basically I have no experience in Russian SEO! Could you please recommend me some good English sources with news, tips and hints about Yandex? Basically I am looking the Russian SEOmoz

Thanks!

[MaratM]

I doubt you will ever find any decent resource in English about doing SEO in Russia. At least I've never seen one. Normally, a big part of the content on such a resource is user-contributed (like here on SEOMoz), and there's no reason for Russian users and seo-marketers to use English when they can write in their native language.

Paid links are very popular in Russia. Buying and selling goes through www.sape.ru. This is a link exchange which is far more superior than its analogues in the English-speaking world.

I've never done SEO in Russia (being a native Russian) but I know for sure that without paid links you will hardly get into the top-10 in Yandex. Especially if you sell on a competitive market.

Disclaimer: I'm not a big fan of paid linking. Just reporting the things how they are in Russia. There are fiercely competitive markets, such as travelling, where you can consider yourself lucky if your travel agency gets into the third page of SERP even if you buy links on SAPE