Allan Gardyne

Yahoo! has changed the way it displays search results - and we're celebrating!

If you're No.1 at Google, you're probably now No.1 at Yahoo! as well.

Yahoo! directory results and Google web pages are now combined to provide new "Web Matches".

Suddenly, getting a high ranking in Google is even more important than ever.v Danny Sullivan's article explains it all: http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/02/10-yahoo.html

It's terrible news for people who concentrate on tricks.

Many junky word-hyphen-word-hyphen-word.com sites that were created specifically to get a high ranking in Yahoo! have dropped like a stone - unless they also had a high ranking in Google.

Such sites will now have to try to improve their PageRank and the 100 other factors that Google says it takes into account when it ranks pages.

That's right - 100 factors. Source: The just updated "PageRank Uncovered" report - http://supportforums.org/pagerank - by Chris Ridings and Mike Shishigin. It's free.

The changes at Yahoo! are wonderful news for people like my assistant Rupert who use Site Build It! - http://AssociatePrograms.com/buildit - to create keyword-rich, genuinely useful, interesting web sites.

Rupert now has a whole bunch of new top 10 results in Yahoo!

However, the changes must be scary for some.

If you're using any search engine optimization tricks that Google doesn't like, such as cloaking (a Google spokesman interviewed in Mike Grehan's new book - http://AssociatePrograms.com/mike - makes that very clear) you now stand to lose even more traffic if you're caught.

If you're dropped from Google, you'll now lose traffic at Google, AOL and Yahoo!

Do these changes mean you should stop paying Yahoo! $299 a year?

No. It's still useful to be in the Yahoo! directory, and being in Yahoo! helps your ranking in Google, which boosts your ranking in Yahoo!

If your site has fallen badly at Yahoo! and you want to get really serious about search engine optimization, the must-have book is Stephen Maheney's "The UnFair Advantage Book on Winning The Search Engine Wars" - http://AssociatePrograms.com/planet . It's updated every month.

Subscribe now, and you'll also get a free six-month subscription to the top-notch "Search Engines News" newsletter.

When you dig into the online archives, you'll find Leslie Rohde's recent article on link reputation. It's fascinating, but don't forget those 100 other factors!