Before Optimizing Your Website for Yahoo or Windows Live, Think Google

SEL - Is it smart to work on getting your site ranked on MSN, Yahoo and Ask.com ? Sure, absolutely. But never at the expense of your Google rankings. Never. While different algorithms are employed, they all tend to run off the same basic premise: a good site will rank well, regardless of the algorithm used to evaluate it.

Now, you should be concerned about making sure each engine finds your web site and that it is relevant for your key search phrases. But don’t make drastic changes to your pages because Ask or Microsoft has you at page 2 while Google has you at the top of page 1. Not unless you absolutely know those changes won’t cause a drop in your Google rankings. If you’re uncertain, or if you make those changes and see Ask move up and Google move down, by all means change it back. It’s just not worth it. Link.