Yandex is a search engine made in Russia and is one of Google’s main competitors. Currently, Yandex is the fourth largest and most popular search engine in the world after Google, Bing, and Yahoo!.
In 2023, Yandex has a market share of 0.85%. Even as of February 2023, the Yandex search engine receives 3.5 billion monthly visits! Most of its users are citizens of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Even so, Yandex is also starting to become popular with the people of Nigeria, you know. Because this search engine offers a variety of uniqueness that helps users with their search results.
Want to know more about what Yandex is? Let’s get to know more about the ins and outs!
What is Yandex?
Yandex is a Russian-made search engine that is more or less similar in function to Google. Yandex stands for “Yet Another iNDEXer”. Similar to Google, Yandex’s function is to display search results based on specific keywords on the internet.
Uniquely, Yandex has location-based search technology. This means that Yandex search engine users can narrow search results based on their country’s location. So even though the keywords are the same, the results may be different.
So, when searching for Yandex on the internet, you may come across words like “what Yandex means in slang”. Basically, the reference word Yandex is this search engine, which you can use to find various information or content blocked by Google.
That’s where the slang word Yandex comes from, which is usually used as a “code” for people who like to browse certain content. An example of usage could be something like, “I’m going to Yandex ah!”, which usually indicates the person is looking for content that Google doesn’t show.
So that’s about the meaning of Yandex from various points of view. However, before becoming as popular as it is now, Yandex had a long history. Let’s see!
History of Yandex
At first, Yandex was just a text search program. But now, Yandex has developed into a company that has a variety of products and services.
Starting in 1990, Arkady Volozh and Arkady Borkovsky founded a small company called “Arkadia. Intelligent Projects”. The company developed MS-DOS software to browse Bible texts and classify goods and patents.
In 1993, Arkadia joined Comptek International. In the same year, Arkadia launched a new search program.
Arkady Volozh and his friend, Ilya Sagalovich, also thought of the right name for this program. Then came the word “yet another indexer”, which, when shortened, became Yandex.
Only in September 1997, the program was launched under the domain www.yandex.ru. Since then, other Yandex services have been found. Starting from Yandex Browser, Yandex Disk, Yandex Mail, and many more.
Apart from the search engine, one of Yandex’s most popular services is the Yandex web browser app, which can be downloaded from your device’s app store.
We will describe some of Yandex’s products and services and their features in the next section.
Yandex Products and Services
Several Yandex products and services are widely available. You can access it online via a browser, and there’s even an app for mobile devices.
Here are some Yandex products and services that have been launched so far:
- Yandex Browser. Through this web browser, you can use various search engines on the internet, including Yandex Search. Its main features are SmartBox, a side panel for easy access to services, keyboard shortcuts, and much more.
- Yandex Images. You can find images of various sizes, orientations, colors, and different file formats.
- Yandex Videos. This feature allows you to easily search for various videos on the internet.
- Yandex Translate. The Translate feature is able to translate foreign languages into other languages.
- Yandex Disk. Much like Google Cloud, Yandex Disk functions as file storage on a cloud server.
- Yandex Mail. As the name implies, this is an email service feature that can be used free of charge.
- Yandex ads. This platform supports your online marketing through features like ad creation, monetization, analytics, etc.
Looking at Yandex’s products and services, you might think that Yandex is exactly like Google. Even so, Yandex and Google still have differences, you know, especially for their best-selling product, namely the search engine.
Let’s see how Google and Yandex differ in terms of search engines in the next section.
The difference between Google and Yandex
Although Google and Yandex are both popular search engines on the internet, their main features are different. Yandex places more emphasis on local SEO than Google. That is, Yandex displays results by a specific region.
That is why search results on Yandex may vary according to location. As an example, look at the results for the keyword “Local SEO” on Yandex Russia and Yandex Italy.
In addition, the appearance of content on Google and Yandex is also different. For example, the keyword ” Xanderblog“
As seen in the image, Google offers various snippet formats, aka varied content snippets. Like the rich answer, People Also Asked, to the right-sidebar featured snippet.
Although not as detailed as Google, Yandex displays content recommendations in various formats, including articles, videos, and images.
By now, you know that Google and Yandex search engines are quite different. Even so, each product definitely has its own advantages and disadvantages. If you are curious about the advantages and disadvantages of Yandex, let’s see below.
Advantages of Yandex
Popular among the people of Russia and many other countries, the advantages of the Yandex search engine are:
- Simple user interfaces display. For ordinary users or those who are used to using Google, using this search engine will be just as easy.
- Full feature availability. Through this search engine, users can search to access various formats of information easily. Starting from images, videos, and translating languages, to accessing other Yandex services such as Yandex Disk, Yandex Mail, and Yandex Ads.
- Displays search results according to location. Location-based search technology makes this search engine display relevant results according to your location.
- Better translation capabilities for Russian searches. Yandex is able to provide Russian language search results with more detail than Google or any other common search engine.
Disadvantages of Yandex
Despite its advantages, as a search engine, Yandex is not perfect either. Here are the disadvantages of Yandex:
- By default, Yandex navigation is in Russian. So for users who speak other languages, it is necessary to reset the language and region configuration as needed.
- The collection of information is not as complete and as detailed as Google’s.
- The web crawler algorithm is not yet sophisticated, so it still displays less relevant results.
- Waiting time for search results is still relatively slow.
Another Question About What is Yandex
Still, want to know more about this search engine made in Russia? Check out some of the following frequently asked questions about Yandex:
1. Does Yandex Include a Web Browser?
Yandex provides a wide range of products and services. One of them is Yandex Browser. This web browser application is used to search for various information or use other Yandex products.
2. Is Yandex Safe?
According to research by Trinity College Dublin in 2020, Yandex Browser is considered the most insecure web browser. Even so, Yandex is still updating its security system, really. Starting from scanning files for viruses, blocking infected websites, and eliminating fraudulent ads.
3. Does Yandex Have to Use a VPN?
Users do not have to activate VPN to use this search engine.
Are you interested in finding information with Yandex?
By now, you know what Yandex is, to the advantages and disadvantages of one of the largest search engines.
In short, Yandex is a search engine made in Russia. Its function is to search for various information through keywords entered by the user.
However, like any other search engine, Yandex also has strengths and limitations. Although Yandex is good for local SEO, its algorithm for determining site rankings is still not very accurate.
For website owners, this might be a challenge. Because you want your website to appear on the top page of any search engine.
