YandexBot: Everything you need to know about the Yandex crawler

Through our SEO Agency Optimize 360

Le YandexBot is an engine for exploring Russian society Yandexwhich analyses and indexes web pages in order to display them in the search engine results. Yandex.

Understanding how it works and its evaluation criteria can be essential in ensuring that websites are highly visible to Russian internet users and to those who use this popular search engine.

The role of web crawling for search engines

To deliver relevant results to their users, search engines use computer programmes called robots or crawlers, which analyse the various web pages available on the Internet.

The work of these robots is essential, as they enable the search engine to build up and keep its database up to date by regularly indexing sites, newsletters and other content. blogs or forums.

These robots include the YandexBot, which is responsible for exploring and indexing content on behalf of the Russian search engine Yandex.

Presentation of the Yandex search engine

Yandex was founded in 1997 and quickly became one of the major players in the Russian search engine market, where it now has the largest share, estimated at around 60% of the national market.

Although primarily aimed at Russian-speaking users, Yandex now offers its services in several languages, including English and French.

In addition to its main search engine, Yandex offers a wide range of online services, such as e-mail (Yandex.Mail), maps (Yandex.Maps) and social networking (Yandex.Connect).

Like Google, Yandex uses a complex algorithm to analyse and rank search results to make them ever more relevant to its users.

How YandexBot works

Like other crawlers on the market, the YandexBot has an exploration protocol based on an in-depth exploration of the hypertext links that connect pages together. When it encounters a web page for the first time, the robot explores and analyses its content and associated metadata, such as title tags, meta descriptions and alt attributes for images. It also detects links on the page and adds them to its list of sites to explore.

The YandexBot then carries out a series of evaluations on each page using various criteria to determine their relevance to the keywords searched for. These criteria include :

• The quality of the content (originality, semantic richness, etc.)
• The presence and proper use of on-page SEO elements
• Popularity and authority signals (backlinkssharing on social networks, etc.).

Finally, once the analysis is complete, the YandexBot submits the data collected to its search engine so that it can be indexed and appear in the search results of Internet users using Yandex.

The different versions of YandexBot

Yandex uses several types of crawler depending on the objectives sought or the type of content to be explored. The most common crawlers include :

• • YandexBot/3.0 : This is Yandex's main crawler, which analyses all kinds of web pages to feed its database.
  • YandexImages : This crawler is dedicated to indexing and analysing images on websites.
  • YandexVideo : As its name suggests, this Yandex robot is devoted exclusively to video content.
  • YandexDirect : The purpose of this crawler is to analyse online advertisements and their targeting in order to improve their relevance and profitability within the Yandex advertising network.

How can I optimise my website for the YandexBot?

Although Yandex's algorithm differs in some respects from that of Google or BingMost SEO best practices also apply to guaranteeing the visibility of a website. website among users of this Russian search engine. Here are a few key points to bear in mind:

• Adapting the structure of your site : Make sure you follow the Yandex recommendations Webmaster Guidelines for creating a well-structured site tailored to the needs of Russian web users.
  
  
• Limit loading time : The YandexBot takes into account the speed at which pages are displayed when assessing their relevance, so it is important to optimise the loading speed of its site.
  
  
• Optimising content : The texts on your site should be carefully crafted and offer interesting and complete information for your visitors. Don't hesitate to add relevant images with keyword-rich alt tags to encourage Yandex to index your content.
  
  
• Use the robots.txt file: You can guide the YandexBot in its exploration of your site using the robots.txt file, which allows you to authorise or block its access to certain parts of your site.

By optimising your website according to YandexBot's requirements, you will maximise your chances of appearing in the top search results for Russian-speaking users and Internet users who use the Yandex engine for their online searches.