On Friday November 18, 2011 Yahoo posted the following, brief statement: “With the completion of algorithmic transition to Bing, Yahoo! Search has merged Site Explorer into Bing Webmaster Tools. Webmasters should now be using the Bing Webmaster Tools to ensure that their websites continue to get high quality organic search traffic from Bing and Yahoo!. Site Explorer services will not be available from November 21, 2011.”
We knew this day would come, in July Yahoo! officially announced that they expected this transition to happen later in the year, we simply did not know the exact date. Even before that we knew that having two platforms feeding data for a single source of organic rankings was not efficient. It took months to make the switch because they had not transitioned to the Microsoft search platform in many areas of the world. They wanted to be sure that it was a smooth transition on one date, worldwide.
Many SEO evangelists and webmasters are sad to see this tool go as they actively use the competitive link data provided by Yahoo Site Explorer. Bing Webmaster Tools simply does not provide the same insight and therefore many are turning to SEOmoz, Majestic SEO, Open Site Explorer, and free web-based tools such as our own SEOAudit Tool, in an attempt to gather the same insights. For most, Bing Webmaster Tools platform will be sufficient and users will no longer have to submit their sitemaps and updates to both locations.
Do you have thoughts or suggestions on other webmaster tools that would help fill the void once Yahoo Webmaster Tools is officially gone? Let us know!
