SEO For MSN by Archie Glikakis
Recently I wrote a short article on how to optimize your site for the Yahoo
spider. In all fairness it is time I do a similar article for MSN. There is
already one article on this site concerning this same subject but I felt like
more info was required and some info was corrected. So I wrote this article and
in many places I have quoted the previous article word for word. And where we
thought corrections were required we corrected it.
The big three search engines (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) all use different
algorithms that demand different things in terms of SEO. Google's algorithm
certainly leans towards inbound links. Yahoo adores keyword dense content
sites. MSN, whose primary consideration when determining their search results
seems to be heavily based on the site's internal linking structure and outbound
links. But these are far from the only SEO techniques you need to consider.
Meta Search Engines
MSN is a meta search engine. A meta search engine works a follows, you submit
keywords in its search box, and it transmits your search simultaneously to
several individual search engines and their databases of web pages. Within a
few seconds, you get back results from all the search engines queried.
Meta-search engines do not own databases of Web pages; they send your search
terms to the databases maintained by other search engine companies. Although
with the arrival of Windows Live things may change quickly.
Google openly ignores your meta tags, MSN blatantly uses them to index your
pages and discover your keywords. Therefore it is important to use "keywords",
"description", and "title" meta tags. Your main keywords should be included in
all of these with your primary keyword appearing first in the "keywords" meta
tag. All tags should include the keywords you consider the most important to
your site and placing them at the start of that tag helps a lot.
Also, because MSN uses meta tags, you should be careful not to overload them
with numerous instances of your keywords. This can be considered as spamming.
The use of incorrect or inaccurate keywords is a huge mistake. The MSN bot has
a way of detecting overloading and incorrect use of Keywords.
Page Layout And Coding
The coding of a page is always an issue with search engines and, therefore,
should be important to you as well. If a crawler can't crawl your site then you
are unlikely to be indexed and you certainly won't receive the high ranking you
want. Keep the amount of HTML or any other programming language on your page
down to an absolute minimum and ensure that page sizes are below 150KB at the
very most.
Some SEO Experts would have you beleive that MSN search does not like tables
and especially tables within tables within tables. We have no idea where they
come up with such nonsense. We have never ever seen a site banned because they
use tables to layout there site. As a matter of fact the MSN bot really likes
clean well coded sites.
Keyword Weight
Keyword density is an area of SEO that always causes arguments. No search
engine openly publishes their requirements in this area but it is widely
accepted that while Google has stringent rules in place that require minimal
use of keywords both Yahoo and MSN have a much greater tolerance for higher
levels. Google prefers only a 2% to 3% density while MSN and Yahoo allow 5% to
8%, possibly even a little higher.
Of course this raises the problem that optimizing for MSN may have you flagged
as spam with Google. Fortunately, MSN and Yahoo, both take keyword stemming and
keyword variants into account when doing their calculations. Use keyword
plurals and stems, and try to ensure that you don't go above the Google ideal
of 2% for each of these variants. Also, it is absolutely imperative that your
SEO writing does not prevent you from writing copy that is appealing to human
visitors.
Website Infrastructure
Your website infrastructure is important to MSN. Try to use the primary keyword
for a page as its title and ensure that you use this keyword in all of your
navigation bars on your site. This will have a very positive influence on the
MSNbot.
Also, as with all search engines, MSN wants to be able to reach every page of
your site quickly and easily. Text links are best for navigation and all pages
should be reached within three clicks from your home page. If you use graphical
navigation bars then you should consider either changing them to text links or
including a sitemap that is one click away from your homepage.
Inbound and Outbound Link Importance
It appears as if MSN search likes a high quantity of inbound links. We
personally don't think that they pay too much attention to that. Rather they
seem to like clean text links that point to your other pages or to pages with
similar content. It appears as if they reward sites with quality outbound links
That are keyword optimized. Naming the targeted page using one of your primary
keywords is a really good idea.
Conclusion
Microsoft, the owners of MSN, are unlikely to sit back and be happy with their
small share of the search market so you can expect them to get serious soon.
The Windows live search is, as industry insiders say, their first step.
Optimizing for MSN in order to ensure that you get beneficial results from
their search engine is a very good idea.
About the Author
Archie Glikakis is a search engine optimization consultant for
Position Front Page. His expertise in this field, has lead him
to write many articles and he is always in forefront when large clients come
along. He also does some freelance work for a division of that same company,
Position First Page.
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