Why does Google love Yahoo answers so much?

1. 66

   tnvrstarposted 11 years ago

   Why does Google love Yahoo answers so much?
   
   It seems Google really love Yahoo answers although most of the comprehensive answers are copied from other websites. A simple question from Yahoo answer can rank above a high quality hub very easily. Can anyone explain the reason?

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2. 59

   Molly Christieposted 11 years ago

   I have noticed the ones which come up, have been really old. I think google at the moment is ranking "aged" material higher than new material.

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      wqaindiaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      After all Old is Gold and all that glitters is not Gold.

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3. 55

   mcxniftycallsposted 11 years ago

   Google like yahoo answers just because Yahoo don't allow spam, external links, affiliate links, The link or only allowed from the user who had built good reputation there. Google loves anything without spam.
   And Google shows Yahoo answers only for the searches that is not covered much as webpages.

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      technicheposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Exactly mcxniftycalls ... Yahoo does not like spam and so google ... This is the only reason because of which Google loves yahoo.

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4. 61

   affilicoreposted 11 years ago

   Google wants to provide answers instantly and quickly back to its users when it is doing a search... this is why Yahoo Answers is one of its main likings.

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5. 84

   brianrockposted 11 years ago

   I'd say it's a combination of a) strong domain authority, b) long tail keywords, and c) weak competition.
   
   First, Yahoo has strong domain authority. All Answers are hosted on the answers.yahoo.com domain, and there are a lot of links around the web to that domain. Compare that to HubPages, where we each have our own subdomain, or to a small website with its own domain. Neither of these is going to compete with the reputation and authority that the answers.yahoo.com domain has.
   
   Second, Yahoo questions usually come up for long tail keywords. If you type a long question into Google (and I see my students do this all the time), then sites like Yahoo Answers and WikiAnswers are more likely to include all the text of your query (including the actual question). An article that addresses the question (on a Hub or on another site) may be missing keywords that are in the query, and thus won't rank as highly for the search.
   
   Finally, there's usually relatively little competition in the SERPs. A website (or hub) that is optimized on page and off page for a specific keyword will usually outrank a Yahoo Answer. These answers usually have little backlinking done to them directly, so a properly optimized page with a few good links can push past that answer.

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6. 79

   Greekgeekposted 11 years ago

   1) Domain authority. Yahoo's fortunes have declined, but it was the first go-to place on the web, a directory of ALL the web (on e upon a time) and, later, a site for discussion groups, in-house content, and a lot more. So not only does Yahoo have a gazillion more backlinks pointing to it than younger websites, simply because it got started five to ten to fifteen years earlier than most websites, but also, people know Yahoo and go to it, link to it, use it. That means Yahoo answers has a LOT of people using it. Google sees and rewards that.
   
   2) Bulk. There's a LOT of info on it. a LOT of content.
   
   3) The "does it add value?" consideration when it comes to duplicate content. Even iF many answers are copied, the whole of each individual answer page is more unique content than not, which kicks the duplicate content penalty, and more importantly, the copied content generally answers the question -- which means it's useful to the user.
   
   4) Peer review. Unlike most of the web, Yahoo answers gets multiple answers to each query, then  lets people vote on the best answers. Whereas on the webpages the info came from, there's no "I call BS!" or "This is sound info" meter. Google likes to see that kind of rating / judgment system, because it gives users some idea whether info is trustworthy.
   
   5) Q&A is EXACTLY the kind of content that best matches Google search queries. When people Google search, very often, they want an ANSWER. They don't want a webpage that they have to hunt through to find the answer. So, when Google looks at Yahoo, chances are, there is one -- or maybe dozens -- of pages that are nothing more and nothing less than the very question the Google user just typed, followed by peer-reviewed, precise answers to that question.
   
   That's what the Google user wants: the answer. Yahoo answers, with its huge database of info, its active community, and its laser-tight focus on answering questions, is ideally suited to provide those answers. No wonder it ranks so well for question type queries on Google, and no wonder sites like HP have set up and tried to imitate Yahoo answers on a much smaller scale.

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7. 70

   waynetposted 11 years ago

   Yahoo Answers is a well established site....one of the few best web properties Yahoo has and they are considered the best answers site around...Nuff said!

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