Google, bing, Yahoo!, Yandex & Baidu – major differences and ranking factors. NO IMPACT » MAJOR IMPACT 1 2 3 4 TECHNICAL Domains & URLs - Use main pinyin keyword in domain - Main keyword in the domain - Main keyword in the domain - Main keyword in the domain - Easy to remember Keyword Domain 1 - As short as possible 2 - As short as possible 2 - As short as possible 11 - As short as possible - Use main pinyin keyword in URL - Main keyword as early as possible - Main keyword as early as possible - Main keyword as early as possible - Easy to remember Keyword in URL Path 3 - One specific keyword 3 - One specific keyword 3 - One specific keyword 11 - As short as possible - As short as possible - As short as possible - As short as possible - No filling words - No filling words - As short as possible Length of URL 2 2 2 22 - URL directory depth as brief as possible - No repeat of terms - No repeat of terms - Complete website secured with SSL -No ranking boost from HTTPS - No active SSL promotion - Complete website secured with SSL HTTPS 3 - No mix of HTTP and HTTPS 2 -Complete website secured with SSL 1 - Mostly recommended for authentication 22 - HTTPS is easier to be indexed than HTTP Country & Language - ccTLD or gTLD with country and language directories - ccTLD or gTLD with country and language directories - Better ranking with ccTLD (.cn or .com.cn) - Slightly better rankings in Russia with ccTLD .ru Local Top-Level Domain 3 - No regional domains, e.g. domain.eu, domain.asia 3 - No regional domains, e.g. domain.eu, domain.asia 2 22 - But: gTLD .com is the first choice - Local language - Local language - Local language - Transliteration of Non-Latin characters - Transliteration of Non-Latin characters - Usage of English or Pinyin is better Language in URL 4 3 3 - Transliteration of Non-Latin characters 22 - Encoding or substitution of special characters - Encoding or substitution of special characters - Local IPs - Local IPs - Local IPs - Use Local IP Hosting 2 - Worldwide Content Delivery Network 2 - Worldwide Content Delivery Network 1 - Worldwide Content Delivery Network 44 - Correct usage of country and language codes in ISO format - Correct usage of country and language codes in ISO format - Does not recognize this format - Does not recognize this format - Only connect corresponding pages individually - Only connect corresponding pages individually Hreflang 4 1 - Requires a meta language tag in header or body of the page 2 11 - Requires a meta language tag in header or body of the page - Provide x-default page - Provide x-default page Crawling & Indexation - For all non-existing resources - For all non-existing resources - For all non-existing resources - Correct 4xx status code Error Pages 3 - Correct 4xx status code 3 - Correct 4xx status code 2 33 - Correct 4xx status code - Active regulation of crawler behaviour - Active regulation of crawler behaviour - Active regulation of crawler behaviour - Allow and disallow directives have to absolute and begin with - Disallow crawling of search-engine-irrelevant paths - Disallow crawling of search-engine-irrelevant paths - Disallow crawling of search-engine-irrelevant paths a slash („/“) robots.txt 2 2 - No guarantee for deindexation 3 - No guarantee for deindexation 22 - No guarantee for deindexation - Individual file per domain - Individual file per domain - Main site mirror assignment - Definition of one unique URL version - Definition of one unique URL version - Definition of one unique URL version - Definition of one unique URL version Canonical 3 - Only to avoid Duplicate Content 3 - Only to avoid Duplicate Content 3 - Only to avoid Duplicate Content 22 - Only to avoid Duplicate Content - Crawler regulation on page level - Crawler regulation on page level - Not common on Russian sites - Crawler regulation on page level Meta & X-Robots 4 - Relevant attributes: NoIndex, Nofollow 4 - Relevant attributes: NoIndex, Nofollow 2 - Best practise is robots.txt for all indexation directives 44 - Relevant attributes: NoIndex, Nofollow - Gather all search-engine-relevant canolicalized URLs - Gather all search-engine-relevant canolicalized URLs - Gather all search-engine-relevant canolicalized URLs - Gather all search-engine-relevant canolicalized URLs - Placed in the root - Placed in the root - Placed in the root - Placed in the root sitemap.xml 2 2 - Only URL location needed 2 22 - Upload to Google Search Console - Upload to Google Search Console - Upload to Baidu Webmaster Tools - Upload to Bing Webmaster Console Performance - Reduce number of requests - Reduce number of requests - Reduce number of requests - Minimize file sizes - Minimize file sizes - Minimize file sizes - Minimize file sizes Loading Time 4 4 3 - Optimize server setup 44 - Optimize server setup - Optimize server setup - Optimize server setup - Avoid server downtime - Avoid server downtime - Avoid server downtime - Avoid server downtime Server downtime 3 - Use status code 503 for maintenance 31 - Use status code 503 for maintenance 3 - Use status code 503 for maintenance 33 - Use status code 503 for maintenance Mobile - Use mobile settings in Baidu Webmaster Tools - Provide mobile-friendly usability and use app indexing - Provide mobile-friendly usability - Mobile-friendly recommended in general - Use text instead of flash, images, Javascript for important - Consider all user-relevant devices - Consider all user-relevant devices - Mobile doctype for mobile subdomain pages Mobile-Friendly 4 4 3 44 content or links. - Responsive design recommended - Responsive design recommended - Crosslink between mobile and desktop version - Independent mobile site recommended CONTENT Title & Meta Tags - Unique, short, descriptive - Unique, short, descriptive - Unique, short, descriptive - Unique, short, descriptive - Main keyword at the beginning; brand at the end - Main keyword at the beginning; brand at the end - Keyword should match exactly Title Tags 4 4 4 - Main keyword at the beginning; brand at the end 44 - No keyword stuffing - No keyword stuffing - Main keyword at the beginning; brand at the end - unique, short, descriptive, full sentenced - unique, short, descriptive, full sentenced - unique, short, descriptive, full sentenced - unique, short, descriptive, full sentenced Meta Description 3 - Include main keyword and semantic environment 3 - Include main keyword and semantic environment 2 - Include main keyword and semantic environment 33 - Include main keyword and semantic environment - Call-to-Action - Call-to-Action - Call-to-Action - Less than 80 simplified Chinese Characters - Relevant keywords - Not relevant at all - Not relevant at all - Not relevant at all - No keyword stuffing Meta Keyword Tags 1 - Usage not recommended 1 - Usage not recommended 1 - Usage not recommended 21 - Add 3-5 keywords per page Body Content - Unique; no (near) Duplicate Content - Unique; no (near) Duplicate Content - Unique; no (near) Duplicate Content - Unique, relevant; no (near) Duplicate Content Unique Content 4 - Topic relevant 4 - Topic relevant 4 - Topic relevant 44 - Local language - Local language - Local language - Local language - Avoid large amount of ad pop-ups - Enough to be relevant - Enough to be relevant - Enough to be relevant - Enough to be relevant - No glibberish content to increase word count Word Count 2 - No glibberish content to increase word count 2 - No gibberish content to increase word count 3 - No glibberish content to increase word count 22 - Include keywords naturally in each paragraph - User focus - User focus - User focus - Define and include relevant terms in content - Define and include relevant terms in content - Define and include relevant terms in content Relevant Terms 4 4 - Define and include relevant terms in content 3 - Include semantic environment 22 - Include semantic environment - Include semantic environment - No intentional increase of keyword density - Keyword density - No intentional increase of keyword density - No intentional increase of keyword density Keyword Density 1 - Natural usage of keywords 2 - Natural usage of keywords 2 - Natural usage of keywords 22 - Natural usage of keywords - Use HTML elements for structuring and emphasizing - Use HTML elements for structuring and emphasizing - Use HTML elements for structuring and emphasizing - Use HTML elements for structuring and emphasizing Text Structure and Formatting 2 - Provide device-optimized structure 2 - Provide device-optimized structure 2 - No over-usage 22 - Provide device-optimized structure - User focus - User focus - User focus - User focus - Only for structuring and subdividing of main content - Only for structuring and subdividing of main content - Only for structuring and subdividing of main content - Only for structuring and subdividing of main content H-Tags 3 - Follow h-tag hierarchy 2 - Follow h-tag hierarchy 3 - Follow h-tag hierarchy 33 - Follow h-tag hierarchy - One h1 per page including main keyword - One h1 per page including main keyword - One h1 per page including main keyword - One h1 per page including main keyword - Place important content at the beginning - Place important content at the beginning - Place important content at the beginning of the source code - Place important content at the beginning Content Positioning in Source Code 1 - Load content synchron; avoid AJAX requests and other 1 - Load content synchron; avoid AJAX requests and other 2 - Load content synchron; avoid AJAX requests and other 11 - Load content synchron; avoid AJAX requests and other DOM-changing events DOM-changing events