Guide to new MSN Optimization.

Because they have been in enough trouble over the years in regards to a monopoly, and if something like that came out to be true, they may have other lawsuits and bad Public relations on their hand.

That is of course simply my opinion, I don't have any evidence to back up that statement, all I know is what my rankings are and what I run on. But to me, it seems like it would be quite a foolish move for them to do.

 

not to mention ... they stand to make a lot of money by makign their search as best as it can be ... legions of IIS based web sties don't necassarily make for quality results.

maybe if/when they have majority market share ... then they can afford to pull stuff like that ... even then ... it's a different to bundle an OS with a browser than it is to say your site isn't worthy because it's not running on IIS.

the MS is evil #$&# is just that ... #$&#. what's the saying ... "don't hate me just because i'm beautiful" ?

ps - did i mention i run on a LAMP?

 

It'd be too easy for really determined webmasters to just fake the server anyway... just configure apache on linux to send IIS as the server software in the HTTP header. I haven't looked into it but I'm 99% sure it wouldn't be too hard to do.

 

Tin foil hats abound ;-)
But yes, I can see MSN giving special "credits" in the SEO world to those using its products. It would match it's modusoperandi thus far.

 

my website is on apache server and seems to be doing very well

 

Changing or removing your server's signature takes about a minute and a half. Although if they did do something like that, it would skew any market-share rankings that Apache has accumulated.

 

I don't buy the IIS vs Apache argument. I've not seen any evidence of it.

As for links.. the following runs contrary to popular opinion and may be worth further thought..

One of my sites started falling a few days ago after about a month at top spot (MSN). A few days ago it fell to 3rd, then 5th, then 4th. I've seen it bounce between one and two a few times, but it only ever lasted a day or so.

Currently, this is how things sit..

#1: 5,328 BL's
#2: 408 BL's
#3: 110 BL's
#4: 10,665 BL's (mine)
#5: 142 BL's

I haven't changed anything on the site, and the number of IBL's to my site have, if anything, increased.

The very fact that the site above me has just 110 BL's while I have 10K+ indicates to me that links may get you there, but they won't keep you there.

Perhaps new content is needed - something I'll get to soon enough, but for the time being, back links don't count for ZIP !

Anyone else notice this with their sites after enjoying top spot for a while ?


Cheers,

JL

 

Yes. New content seems to be a big part of MS's algorithm. I was experiencing good placement for a very competitive keyword, and suddenly it dropped out of site. I did something to update the content(should have been automated, but I haven't gotten around to automating it yet), and I came back within a couple days. Not quite to the same levels, but getting there... Now just to remember to keep it fresh...


--
Derek

 

Thx Dkalweit,

I suspected as much. And much to my surprise, it's jumped back to #2 anyway. I'll definitely look at adding some automated content.

If you're after automated content, consider using amazons API, and retrieving (by keyword) book editorials and reviews. It's content rich, has all the variations you could want (vectors/clustering/semantics etc) and does the trick nicely.


Cheers,

JL

 

Yeah, I'm not so sure about the IIS thing either. I am currently #1 for a weight loss product. The results are 1.7 million roughly and I'm at position 1 hosted on a Linux server running apache.

Do you have a link or an example for good standards in creating your meta code? I've copied how I used it for my site at position 1 for some of my other sites, but they're not doing as well (still working on back links).

Also, I've noticed a BIG difference with keyword specific domain names. If it's more than one word, make sure to seperate with a dash -

Uban

 

To go back to the geo-location of your servers, I wonder if this could be the case and that, although the new search has been officially rolled out in the US (.com), it certainly hasn't here (Japan), since the co.jp page is still showing the old results with new search Beta as an option.

I have a .com URL on Japan-based servers and have almost nothing from MSN. It has been officially open for a couple of months and was up in Beta form before that too. It has over 500 IBLs accordking to MSN's own link: search, but almost no listings apart from when searching for the domain name itself.

Now, I have seen posts about my site on Japanese sites picked up by the new MSN search on msn.com. So my (tentative) theory is that MS has said that it has done a full roll-out, but actually it is not yet completely indexing new sites in geopgraphical areas where its new search tool has not, in fact, been made standard.

I hope that they get around to full indexing for all sites soon, because the reason why many people go for a .com domain is that they believe that it has universal appeal. It should not matter where the servers are located.

 

I am new around here, anyone have any good links they can share about MSN optimization?

From what is sounds like MSN is taking back a chunk of the SE market and I want to make sure my sites are in on it.

cheers

 

The issue with having more backlinks than the guy above you -- I'm pretty sure MSN has its own "pagerank-esque" system, that it just calls "popularity". In which case, the number of backlinks isn't the only thing that matters, but also the P. of the sites linking to you; perhaps the guy with 110 BL's has them all from high P. "authority" sites.

Also regarding good meta-tag usage - I'd say follow the same rules for the rest of the site; keep it relevant and non-spammy and most search engines should be happy

I find a lot of website design SEO is really straightforward common sense, with a few tricks thrown in here and there. If you have decent non-spammy content, the SE's will love ya. If you're all style, no substance, you won't fair so well.

 

davedx just spilled the beans.. Once people begin to realize SEO ain't magic, consulting fees will drop

 

Unless its google, then you'll be stuck in 100th position for years

 

MSN is too easy.

 

Maybe for you knowledgable people

But really where are you guys getting all this info on MSN search optimization. From reading through these forums I seems to be that back links can really make or break you but I know there is more to it than that.

Any links/tuts/guides you guys have?

Thanks

 

For what it's worth:

Awhile back I had a vbulletin thread about car insurance rank really well in MSN (it hit 3rd). So I figured I'd make a blog of sorts and devote some more to that topic (see my blog listed here). I did a 301 redirect of that thread to a sub-folder within my site. Well, now I'm not even listed in MSN anymore (been awhile now). I've got over 16,000 links pointed to the site (do a search for link:http://www.clantt.com/carinsurance/ on MSN).

 

Shhhh.. trade secrets

 

MSN is very easy and has been moving faster and faster. I used to get 20-30 hits per day with MSN now its growing alot. This ad-campaign of theirs is great.

I like my field as well, my competition seems not to care about rankings