Disparity between search engines

[the goat]

I was wondering what the biggest difference in rankings on the different search engines is with other peoples sites.

I have a site that ranks 9th and 16th for it's two best keywords in Yahoo and is non-existent in google. I use the firefox rank checker and I'm not 100% sure how far it searches, but I believe it goes well over a hundred.

Has anyone else seen such a big difference with the same site in two major search engines like that?

[vangogh]

I've had pages rank #1 for a particular phrase on one engine and not rank at all on another. I think rank checker goes back 1000 results which is all the engines show.

[nealrm]

That is common. The search engine rank by different criteria. So what is important for Yahoo is not necessary important for Google.

[billbenson]

Just checked. I'm number 2 under the manufacturer for Y and G, but way down in the mud in MSN.

[Marcomguy]

I've also noticed huge disparities between Google, Yahoo and Live (MSN). It's like they're all searching through Internets on different planets.

[Business Attorney]

All of which goes to show that when you are looking for something in depth, it really pays to look at more than one search engine. I imagine many of us use the same search engine nearly 100% of the time.

[Harold Mansfield]

Google is obviously shows the most relevant results. The best way to insure you are seeing them correctly is too make sure you log out of Google and search, or you will get tailored results based on your search habits.

The only way that I have ever been number one on Yahoo, or MSN, is to have the exact search term as the domain, and that doesn't always work either. I admit, I have no idea what MSN uses for an algorithm....at times it seems to take forever just to be indexed.

[KristineS]

I've had this happen. The search engines seem to rank based on different things. Eborg9 is right though, Google is the one that really matters. A large percentage of searches will always come from there.

[royhunters]

I submitted a sitemap to Bing when it was launched and we really place well on it, top 10-15 for our keywords, Yahoo.. we rank the worst because I refuse to pay them for anything, Google.. within the top 4 pages across the board but our site is fairly new so I don't sweat it.

Bing for us is the fastest to get pages indexed on. Usually just a simple sitemap and you're there.

[vangogh]

Lucky for you then that Yahoo search is going away and in all likelihood since you do well with Bing you'll eventually see more visits from a search on a Yahoo property.

I think with Bing it's simply that it's still easier to game. More of the old tricks that would no longer work on Google will still work with Bing.