Just a bit about search engine optimization.

Microsoft and Yahoo finally signed an agreement to join forces. There was not a buyout or a merger, as some analysts thought there would be: that may come later. But, the current contract between the two corporate giants, if not blocked by the Justice Department, has big implications for search engine optimization companies and everyone with a website. Here are a few of them.

1. The merger of Bing and Yahoo is certain to reduce Google’s 85% share of online searches. The result; Bing and Yahoo’s importance can no longer be marginalized by SEO companies and website owners.

2. If you have better rankings on Yahoo than on Bing for keywords that produce significant traffic for your site(s), you will have to try to improve your Bing rankings before Bing takes over the Yahoo search or find a way to compensate for your loss of Yahoo- generated traffic.

3. Website owners whose sites are ranked higher on Bing than Yahoo can expect significant increases in traffic. For instance, one of my sites comes up on page four of Yahoo for “online degrees“, but comes up on page one of Bing for the same term. Since “online degrees” is searched approximately 500,000 times a month, my site will get a significant boost.

4. Because the Yahoo- Bing partnership will almost surely boost traffic on Yahoo, advertisers looking for high volume pay per click advertising campaigns will now find Yahoo- Bing a more attractive advertising option.

5. With the heightened increase in competition for advertising revenue, Google may have to lower prices and/or more vigorously combat click fraud. Because of that, the Justice Department should be reluctant to block the Yahoo- Bing partnership.

6. Some SEO companies will begin focusing on campaigns designed specifically to boost search engine rankings in Bing. My bet is that we will begin hearing from those folks very soon. Smart website owners will be cautious about all of the quick fixes SEO folks will claim to have.

My advice to you is that you do what I’m doing. It’s really just common sense.

1. See how your most important keywords rank in Yahoo and Bing. If your Bing rankings are lower for some keywords, try article marketing to give them a boost and create additional pages on your website which are optimized for them.

2. Do not waste money on Bing- focused SEO campaigns yet. Bing is a new search engine and its ranking algorithms are largely a mystery.

3. Never forget that the same 3 factors continue to be the key to good search engine rankings; content, site architecture, and inbound links. Put your time, energy, and marketing dollars into those three things and you’ll prevail in the end.

A few minutes of analysis followed by a few weeks of keyword- focused promotion can help you overcome any challenges the Yahoo- Bing merger may create for you. Best wishes.