Although my website is currently no.8 in Msn for the keyword "computer troubleshooting". I don't think Msn is easy to crack especially if you're also targeting a competitive keyword.
MSN likes new sites that are very well optimized and really fresh content. If you update your index page once a week you will notice that MSN Live bot becomes very active. I have had brand new sites in very hyper competitive industries rank very well just due to site design with no backlinks. This is usually just temporary but it can help you get a fast foothold for traffic. Live Search also like keywords in the domain name more so than Google or Yahoo. Bonus if you can get them in the exact order of a keyword search phrase.
Msn is weird and terrible. In my field, the ranking change every week. I also own 500 sites, some times a site will be # 3 overall then # 30 then # 3 again. AND I DIDNT TOUCH ANYTHING. All the while on google is stays steady at # 4 overall. MSN has no rhyme or reason and I think they dont even know. Its suck a crap shoot. Thats why i have so many sites. I am eveywhere, but.....the hits are not even worth it. plus MSN people dont really even buy that much, comparied to G or AOL (the buy twice as often, btw) So with a 20% market share then even less buying....plus a system you cant put your finger on....frankly who cares. its a crap shoot and if anyone depends on MSN search results for a living. GOD BLESS YOU.
agreed. Alot of the time i actually use msn search when google is giving me a crap load of spam. As in if its a hard to find topic or say even a local band or something similar. Msn works heaps better for me i find. With large popular topics i use google. But for small topics i always use MSN. Never use Yahoo just for the sheer fact i have no need to.
Also I forgot to mention, that domain age is a big factor for Google. On MSN Live it doesn't even seem to be factored in at all (or it's not important), so new sites can rank high relatively quickly.
Exactly. However I beg to differ with Eido. The new MSN Live has bee much more accurate and less spam filled than Google. Justnaturally stated that the traffic also doesn't convert but I have to disagree with that as well. For my industry, it appears that people use Google for shopping much more than the other engines but the traffic I get from MSN converts to buyers much higher. About 80% of my income comes from MSN traffic and that is not a joke.
In my experience I have noticed that MSN puts more emphasis on things like H1, H2 and H3 tags and the page layout than Google
I too prefer MSN than Google, and yes in my view too MSN is easier to crack, just because it does not require too many links, simply on page optimization with original content.