Whilst there a number of similarities between Yandex and Google, in that you must create honest content and good experiences for users – but Yandex does have it’s own set of algorithms, rules, and methods of judging websites.
In this post, I’m going to cover some of those methods, and ways you should adapt your Yandex SEO strategies for the coming year (and maybe even beyond).
Links Are Still Important, Especially On Newer Websites
Yandex treats all websites equally when it comes to backlinks and trust, so it’s important for newer domains and brands to build up their backlink profiles and brand alongside publishing great user content that is unique.
Emphasis here needs to be place on link quality, and not quantity, and that in competitive niches producing better content with differing perspectives helps Yandex rank your site as it adds to the diversification of results, and isn’t just another website offering the same messaging and user experience.
Don’t Just Focus On Yandex Organic Search
Search is just one product that Yandex offers, and much like Google and Baidu is only one potential component of a Yandex search results page.
As well as optimizing for organic search placements, you should also be cultivating and optimizing your Yandex.Zen channel, be active on Yandex.Q, Maps etc
Pay Attention To Yandex Webmaster, And Page Quality
Pages that haven’t been indexed, and there’s no technical reason as to why, are often omitted due to quality issues.
These can include:
- Lightweight card pages on ecommerce websites
- Duplicate pages, or pages with a high % of cross site duplication
- Pages with copyright issues
- Pages with banners/ads that cover the main page content
From experience, most websites see quality issues with thin pages created to rank for a subset of low search frequency keywords, or crappy doorway pages.
Yandex Webmaster is very good at giving you weekly updates as to index changes on your website, and these alerts (as well as the data within Webmaster Tools itself) shouldn’t be ignored.
