Google - MSN - Yahoo. What's the Difference?

[Gamermk]

Okay, we all know that Google, MSN, and Yahoo do not use the same algorithm and they certainly don't update their search results with the same frequency as each other. So I'd like us to pick each other's collective brains in hopes of some form of a conclusion on what works for these search engines. (I doubt it'll happen, but a man can dream )

1. Rank G, M, & Y in terms of which one pays attention to off page factors the most.

2. Rank G, M, & Y in terms of which one pays attention to on page factors the most.

3. Rank G, M, & Y in terms of which one updates their search results most frequently.

4. Rank G, M, & Y in terms of which one adds a website to its index the fastest.

5. Are there any practices that you find that are very effective for ranking well in one of the search engines while having minimal impact for another?

In my experience, Yahoo seems to rely on onpage factors the most and Google on offpage factors the most with Google also adding websites to its index the fastest. In terms of which ones search results are updated the most frequently, I'd say its Google as well, but I do notice MSN's get updated quite quickly as well.

Overall, I kinda feel like Yahoo is lagging behind the other two.

Anyway if you guys have anything else to share on the relationship between these three search engines other than my ranking questions, feel free to throw it up for everyone to discuss.

[bigalreturns]

Personally speaking I'd say..
off-page factors G>Y>M
on page factors M>Y>G
indexing speed M>Y>G but can vary
search result update frequency i'd struggle to say

[cheesedude]

Originally Posted by bigalreturns

Personally speaking I'd say..
off-page factors G>Y>M
on page factors M>Y>G
indexing speed M>Y>G but can vary
search result update frequency i'd struggle to say

I agree with the above except for the indexing speed.

If you submit a URL to Yahoo using it's url updating API (link below) my experience has been that Yahoo will crawl it within 36 hours and will have the page in its index within 4 - 5 days.

http://developer.yahoo.com/search/si...ification.html

When I launched a new site recently MSNbot crawled the main page only about 45 minutes after I submitted the URL. The main page was in the index in a couple of days.

As for my older site (13 months old): Yahoo has crawled about 4,600 pages since the first of this year, Google about 350, and MSN about 400.

One thing for sure is that Google weighs incoming links much more heavily than the other two search engines. I'm sure they use them, but you aren't going to spam your way to the top in Yahoo the way you can in Google.

[bigalreturns]

Originally Posted by cheesedude

I agree with the above except for the indexing speed.

If you submit a URL to Yahoo using it's url updating API (link below) my experience has been that Yahoo will crawl it within 36 hours and will have the page in its index within 4 - 5 days.

http://developer.yahoo.com/search/si...ification.html

Never used or even heard of that tool so I'll have to have a looksy.

[WinKing]

Originally Posted by bigalreturns

Personally speaking I'd say..
off-page factors G>Y>M
on page factors M>Y>G
indexing speed M>Y>G but can vary
search result update frequency i'd struggle to say

I think the third one is quite debatable between M and Y over here. As there are many factors onpage and offpage depends how deep your site will get crawled or indexed. But as per the observation G will be the last one, no doubt.

Although after indexing G is fast to get updated about your site, I think less than a week is the time period to get updated/crawled by G.

[azutrum]

Off page factors- G/Y/M
On page factors- Y/M/G
Search results- G/Y/M
Indexing- Y/M/G
This is just what I personally think.
The best part about Google is that they are not biased in their search results and that is what makes G the #1 SE at present.

[infonote]

I just transferred to a new domain http://www.kaizenlog.com in the beginning of Febuary. Using the site: operator here are the results.

Here are the results:

Google 287
MSN Search 2
Yahoo! 2,462
AlltheWeb 1,180
AltaVista 2,500
Total 6431

I have submitted and verified site in Google Sitemaps and Yahoo Site explorer.

Yahoo seems to have indexed a completely new domain faster in first 23 days of experience. Launch date 1st feb.

Used http://www.selfseo.com to check indexed pages.

[cheesedude]

Originally Posted by infonote

Yahoo seems to have indexed a completely new domain faster in first 23 days of experience. Launch date 1st feb.

It varies. In the case of my new site (launched January 2007), Google indexed it faster than Yahoo did. Google currently has about 1,000 pages indexed. Google even indexed the parking page. Which is odd, because I had no links and had just registered the domain name about 2 weeks prior.

In Google, my site is subject to a Google sub-10 penalty or sub-20 penalty. For example, when I check the logs to my site with referrers from Google, my site lists in position #11 or #21--without fail. So, obviously, Google is manipulating its position in the SERPs instead of ranking it naturally (which could result in higher or, I suppose, lower ranks).

The real question, however, is whether or not my new site will STAY in the Google index. I've read plenty about people ranking high for a few weeks then ending up in the Google sandbox for no reason at all (azutrum's idea of good search results).

Originally Posted by mpls-web-design

I find Google is rather stable. MSN seems to change the least.

It seems our experiences really vary. You can read tons of threads about people disappearing from Google for no reason. Not what I'd call "stable".

With me, Yahoo has been the most stable. MSN has dropped pages of my old site from its index, ranks me lower than it did a few months ago, and crawls me far less than it did a few months ago.

What is really nice about Yahoo is that you don't have to wait months for Yahoo to crawl your new pages. Just submit it via the update notification and it will be slurped quickly. In December I added around 2,000 pages to my old site in a single day, submitted the top-most URLS and Yahoo crawled them all quickly. Not every page was added to the index, but I was getting traffic to the 1,000+ pages Yahoo did add to the index in about 4 days.

Originally Posted by bigalreturns

Never used or even heard of that tool so I'll have to have a looksy.

It's nice. I submitted some URLs to Yahoo less than 24 hours ago and Yahoo is crawling them as I write this. You can write a script to send the update notifications.

I fully expect the pages to be in the SERPS in a few days and unlike with Google, people will be able to find my pages.

Best of all, with Yahoo there is no Supplemental wasteland. People can actually find your content!

[mpls-web-design]

On-page content: MSN >> Yahoo > Google

Off-page optimization Google >> Yahoo > MSN

Yahoo seems to be changing its alorigm rather drastically lately. I have seen one of my sites going through some big changes.

I find Google is rather stable. MSN seems to change the least.