HI, Just a quick question we've been battling our brains about-- if anyone has time to help. I was wondering why our 7 year old website has no good SERPS at ALL on MSN but it does great on Google and Yahoo? site: www.whispy.com. Just wondering how we can fix that, if possible or what it is might be wrong .... Thanks Lilly
Seems weird , usually msn is the first to index new sites, but I wouldnt worry much about msn ..If ur site is doing well in google and yahoo, more than enough .Just check if your site gets listed for ur keywords in msn P.S : Intresting site ..
yea i have to agree with fadetoblack, MSn acts strangely sometimes, on of my 5 year old sites is doing great in google/yahoo but barely brings anything in from MSN
Thanks for your comments! In fact NO -- I am not in SERPS nor traffic for my keywords (and back link anchor texts). Not even for my deeplinking links. But have been #1 on goolge for almost 6 years now. I'm just trying to figure out why and what the difference is--if there even is one. Perhaps they don't like our meta tags, as opposed to Google and Yahoo? Thanks again for your reply, it is very much appreciated! Lilly
Is there anything that can be done? OR does MSN really matter that much? We have a very active web directory with backlinks to many categories, including different anchor text for deep linking--for some. We're surely not going to remove the entire directory just for MSN. What would that do to my Google and yahoo SERPS and traffic? About 80% of our backlinks have the proper anchor text for whispy.com ( which is online psychic readings) but we also offer other anchor text options you can see here: http://www.whispy.com/how_to_add_your_url_free_listing_.htm What do I do to fix this situation? I've NEVER been banned from a SE before :/
Well, I emailed them very nicely, but I doubt I'll hear back. I still don't understand it. I don't cheat, link to bad neighborhoods, but 1 way links, or use any 'black hat" SEO. Why would I be VERY OK on Google and Yahoo for going on 7 years? Unless there is someone on MSN that doesn't want us there .... it's a crappy deal
You should check out this thread: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=79415 and there are others that deal with this issue. MSN is banning a lot of sites lately for very minor things. It's quite annoying the way it's so black and white and most of the people I've heard aren't using black-hat techniques. Make sure you remove irrelevant or excessive reciprocal linking or links to irrelevant or spammy sites and other potential spam (keyword stuffing, over-optimization). Did you email ?
Thanks for the thread link and the email address, I will check out both and let anyone know if I hear back from MSN. I have an idea it's (our website) a bit of over optimization. It's been that way for many years now and I'm afraid if I change it (take away things) that it will effect my SERPS on Google and Yahoo. Do you think chances are it won't? I was always told "if it's not broke don't fix it." And I'm definitely not a fan of change if the rest seems to be going well. On the other hand, perhaps it would improve my SERPS on Yahoo & Google. It's just so confusing. Thanks so much for your help and ideas! Lilly
Unfortunately the saying, "if it's not broke, don't fix it" doesn't apply to search engine optimization since the search engine algorithms are always changing and we need to heed their warnings and advice. I don't think removing the over-optimization will have a detrimental effect in Google and Yahoo if it is really overdone. In fact, Google has new algorithms to crack down on over-optimization so you may save future troubles with other search engines by de-optimizing a bit.
As BrianR2 said, anytime you make changes, you run the risk of affecting one or more of the big 3. MSN has the worst algorithm and also the least amount of traffic. I think MSN's inability to ignore what it doesn't want leads to them banning even quality sites. Google simply ignores those links. IMO, they could be helping you in Yahoo at the particular time. For a long time, MSN was the easiest SE to manipulate and they have now overreacted. Unless the majority of your traffic was coming from MSN prior to the ban, I would worry about Yahoo and Google before conforming to what MSN wants at this time. There is no guarantee that MSN would add you back and getting an answer from MSN is virtually impossible.
has anyone who has been banned by MSN got back in by adding MSN's search box on their banned site? BTW if you rank for a decent keyword MSN traffic can be worth the time. The keyword I was ranking for before I got the boot was brining in over 3000 visits per month.
I don't know if your site has been banned or not but I did notice that you have almost as many backlinks from Yahoo and MSN. One of the things that has not been brought up is that MSN does place more importance on keywords in the domain name than Google and Yahoo do. Your site domain has 0 relevance to the topic and that can be a factor on MSN. Not always the only factor but a factor none the less
I don't think it is a matter of time, it's a matter of risking Google or Yahoo rankings. The only people who I've heard get back in were some people who contacted an MSN rep on WMW that told them what the problem was. I would certainly remove a few links if they told me what it was they didn't like, but I don't think anyone has gotten a response from contacting MSN directly, and the guy on WMW supposedly isn't even reading his mail anymore. I have over sixty sites and about ten were hit by MSN. I've gone over all the sites and tried to figure out what could possibly trigger a ban - and there is absolutely no pattern. It's not domain or site age, DMOZ, Wikipedia, advertising, some, but not all, had link exchanges done a couple of years ago. There is also supposedly an MSN exploit where a competitor can get your site banned. MSN accounts for about 15% traffic - and of course it's better than nothing - but I think MSN is broke and not going to risk the 85% in hopes to pick up the 15%. JMO
So far that's very true. I've sent two polite email inquiries with not a peep out of MSN. (just a quick update). Thanks, though--- you've all given me much to consider/reconsider regarding MSN and making changes to the website. Lilly
it took msn around 6-7 weeks to reply to me and i've heard that they have responded to other people as well.