Google is not the only Search Engine updating its’ algorithm currently. Yandex, Russia’s biggest Search Engine with 64% market share, has also recently been revisiting indexation protocol.
Key implications of this can be summarised:-
– Better rankings for strong brands. The evidence suggests that Yandex is going the same way as Google on favouring well-established brands on organic search. This shift is likely to drive more small to mid-sized companies to advertise on Yandex.Direct ads.
– Increased focus on user-generated content. Again, following the Google path, it appears that blogs, user-generated content is having increased traction on Yandex.
– Importance of Yandex Market. Yandex Market is a version of Google Shopping. Customer reviews from Yandex Market are ranking higher than ever on Yandex, meaning that more e-com sites are likely to be actively using Yandex Market.
– Yandex SERPs have become more social – Yandex (like Baidu recently) are now showing links to social media profiles in page snippets principally to Facebook, vKontakte, Twitter and LiveJournal. In order to get these links in your snippet, the social profiles need to be linked from your website.
Currently snippets with social medial links are only available for certain verticals (gifts and travel amongst others), although this is likely to apply to a broader range of verticals later this year.