Extra Links: Google v. Yahoo

Matt Cutts posted the other day his video on the anatomy of a search snippet, where a snippet is one search result section. Most of it I found mildly interesting but what I became most intrigued by was his discussion of site links - those extra links that sometimes show up on search returns. He starts talking about it at the end of the video.

In many ways it is analagous to the Quick Links found on Yahoo search result pages. Here’s some pictures that display not only the features in question but also my awesome photochopping skillz. That’s right I went with Helvetica Neue. And I pronounced it NOY-a in my head. Haaardcore.

Google:

Yahoo:

There’s obvious differences, Google shows more links much more prominently. This significantly increases the size of the result (making it stand out more). Yahoo’s are much more buried and fit the style of search result much more closely. However both of them provide the end user with the same thing - deeper links into the same site that hopefully help them get what they’re looking for faster.

The big difference between them that I think is quite definitive of the difference between Google and Yahoo is how they go about finding those links. Matt Cutts takes a minute or two to talk about them and Google Webmaster Help has a little section on them. Neither provide very much information. That is, they both say essentially they aren’t paid for and they are completely algorithmic. We learn about the structure of your site and if your site has a clear enough structure we may add them in. No details on what they’re looking for when they say structure nor any hints on what you can do to try to help them understand your structure. This is par for their course providing little to no transparency on what they’re doing or why. I can understand why they think it’s necessary for such secrecy, I simply find it very frustrating. To Google the world is the algorithm, what you do as a content publisher is irrelevant - they will be able to discern your intentions without your help.

Yahoo, on the other hand, goes the other way. Yahoo provides a much more human face to their products actively seeking partnerships with content providers. One facet of that is that they are finding quick links algorithimically - the wikipedia image above is an example of a non-paid quick link section. However, if you are a member of their Search Submit Pro program you can tell them, more or less, what links you would like to show up in your search results. For one client, I worked on the feed you provide yahoo - you can learn more about the program here. Strangely, Yahoo makes no mention of this on their site at all, but my client and various searching around the web confirm that you can pay for your quick links.

Although some find it questionable, I don’t think it is even remotely in the same category as paying for higher ranking. Your ranking remains the same, you just get one additional little row of text - barely noticeable. It isn’t any worse than paying for those paid ads that come up above the search results that both Yahoo and Google do.

I think it’s an illustrative example of differences between Yahoo and Google. I am certainly not saying one is better than the other - Google’s algorithms certainly do an amazing job of distilling down the internet. I personally find their search results noticeably better than their competitors. But a corollary to that is that they could barely care less about what the content producers want and feel no need to keep those producers in the loop. Sometimes capriciously punishing them without recourse. Yahoo, on the other hand is a media company, they actively reach out and nurture their relationships with the content producers. They try to work with them to get the best results they can. So far Google’s winning the game but who knows what can happen. Who’s approach do you prefer? Who’s results?

UPDATE: To put it another way, Google looks at searchers as their clients and the web as their product. Yahoo sees both searches and content producers as their clients. Their behaviours are all built on that notion.

Nov 30th, 2007 · Comments RSS · · · · · Tags: google · seo · yahoo