If you haven’t heard already, Microsoft is out to buy Yahoo. And so here’s the low down. Microsoft Corp. has made a $44.6 billion bid to Yahoo.Inc. This is not the first time Microsoft has extended an offer, and it illustrates their resolve in having the two companies come together. What’s different this time, is that it looks like Yahoo is taking the bid into real consideration.

All I can say is that my head is reeling with all the possible implications. My main interest is with organic search and what impact on optimization efforts this merger will have.

On the one hand, it may make life a little easier. It’s one less search engine algorithm that you have optimize your site toward. This could allow you to streamline your SEO efforts. On the other hand, it could actually become more difficult to cover your bases among the search engines. Which in my opinion (and trust me it is just an opinion), seems to be the most likely. What happens many times is that your site will perform differently among the different engines. This is to be expected since they have different algorithms. But for the most part, since they have the biggest market share, many people focus most of their energy on optimizing for Google. If Microsoft and Yahoo combine, then there very well could be two major players with a more equal amount of market share – which will then beg the question: Who do you gear your SEO efforts toward?

There are many link strategies available that can help your site achieve the rankings you are looking for. You can submit your site to directories, write articles and push out press releases. One practice to watch out for is link farming. This black hat practice has been around for a long time and continues today. Be wary of link farm schemes and other tactics like this.

The idea behind link farming was to get as many links from websites as you could. It didn’t matter if the sites were relevant or not, as Search Engines would supposedly consider a site more “Popular” because it has so many links pointing to it. Most of the links in link farms have no relational subject matter to each other. They will most likely have a page on a site with a laundry list of hyperlinked keywords called Anchor text pointing to the various sites in the farm. When search engines see that a link farm has formed, they will penalize all involved, thus dropping ranks. Some have reported increased rankings at first, but soon after report a drop to lower than they were when they started.

Signs of a Link Farm

• Require reciprocal linking – this means that you have to put a link to their site, before you can have a link on their site. If you come across this don’t do it.
• Laundry list of sites on a Deep Level Page with no description about the site.
• Unsolicited emails telling you how great your site is and you should form a partnership with them.
• In some cases, there will be a page called “Link Partners” or “Links”.
• No discrimination for sites included.
• Ask for a link on your links page even if you don’t have one.

If you should run across sites that have one or many of the characteristics, do not participate. If you are still unsure, contact your Strategist at MoreVisibility and they will gladly assist you in determining the right link building strategy.