Yahoo Answers can be an integral part of your SEO strategy – you just need to know how to use it.
Using Yahoo Answers has two guaranteed benefits: it will help you establish authority in your niche and give you highly targeted traffic – in other words, people willing to pay for your product or service. Another benefit? If you provide high-quality, authoritative answers, these answers may appear at the top of the SERPs.
How Yahoo Answers Works
The Yahoo Answers system is easy to use. People ask questions and you answer them. It’s that simple. A link to your website appears at the end of your answer. Yahoo Answers users who find your answers helpful are likely to click on your link to see what your website offers.
You must have a Yahoo account to make use of this forum. Once you have created an account, go to Yahoo Answers and search for questions that pertain to your niche. The search function uses keywords just like a search engine, so try looking for the keywords you target on your website. You can also search by category, but finding relevant questions using this method can be tedious.
Using the advanced search allows you to choose only ‘open’ questions. ‘Closed’ questions are those that have already been voted on, therefore, even if you did answer, your response could not be rated. You can also use advanced search to look for questions by date. If it’s a recent question, you can be the first to answer it.
Once you find questions in your niche, read them carefully. Put thought into your answers. Make sure your responses are well-written and professional to ensure the questioner will choose your answer as the most helpful. Good answers will also receive thumbs ups, Facebook likes and comments.
Getting To Level 2
When you first start using Yahoo Answers, you can’t leave a clickable link. You can submit your URL in text format, but don’t expect anyone to use it. If it’s not easily clickable, people will move onto something else.
To leave a clickable link, you must have progressed to Level 2. The only way to get to Level 2 is to answer at least 250 questions. Yes, it sounds like a hassle, but it’s not hard and will be worth it in the long run.
You can elevate your answer quotient by answering questions in any category – they don’t all have to be relevant to your niche and they don’t have to be voted the best to get to Level 2.
If answering random questions does not appeal to you, hire someone from Fiverr.com – a global marketplace offering tasks and services online – to answer questions for you. It is important to ensure the person you hire, doesn’t leave any obnoxious, spammy or worthless answers, however, because he or she will be using your account.
How To Level-Up Even More
What if you don’t find enough questions in your niche? What if you have answered them all? Simply create several accounts and ask questions in your niche. Then, log in as yourself and answer them. If you are not cautious, however, your account could be suspended for misuse. Outsourcing would be wise, as those you hire will have different IP addresses than yours.
You can use content from your website to come up with questions for posting. Simply look at your articles, blog posts, etc., and take any statement to turn into a question.
Tips On Using Yahoo Answers
* Once you are at Level 2, don’t go all over the map answering questions. Stick to your niche. The point is to build authority in your topic.
* If you are going to answer in multiple niches, create multiple profiles.
* Use keyword research to find or create questions. Look for low competition keywords because Yahoo Answers questions show up in the SERPs.
* Don’t stop with Yahoo Answers; check out Answer.com, AOL Answers, and Amazon’s Askville as well.
Toby Russell, Internet Marketer, Publisher & Property Investor offers tried and tested methods to help you succeed on line. “Top Internet Marketer Reveals His Secrets” – FREE MP3 Download plus my popular Free step-by-step 94 page Special Report. Available at => http://www.startinternetmarketingonline.com
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I was going to share this article, which is actually pretty good, until you threw the “cheat the system” switch toward the end. This content does not belong on a serious SEO website.
Steven what world do you live in, the world where people rank at the top because they find the best way to do things, or because they do what everyone else does, without going outside the box. Do you actually believe that websites rank because they are simply the best websites with the best content? Until that day comes…. until that day…..
Josh… what world do YOU live in? One where punctuation is a foreign concept? lol. But seriously, I tend to agree with Stephen regarding the gray-hat (or black-hat?) technique of creating multiple accounts to ask questions. Gaming the system is okay, of course (let’s be honest — the very concept of making your site “SEO” is just an acceptable form of gaming the system), but going so far as to cheat it is always bad advice. The real question you should be asking yourself is “by asking these questions, am I creating content that is ultimately valuable to users? Or am I JUST asking questions to improve the rank of my website?” If your answer is the former, then I would say that the “cheating” described in this article is a relatively innocuous form of “gaming.” However, if your answer is the latter, then I’d say you’re cheating the system. And eventually, you’ll experience negative consequences if you make a habit of cheating the system rather than gaming it.