Last Thursday, MSN announced the official beta launch of their search engine. Although a preview had been available on their sandbox site, the launch marked the official unveiling of the company’s proprietary search technology to the general public.
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What are your feelings about MSN’s new search engine? Are you impressed, or disappointed?
From major publications like The New York Times, NPR, and thousands of blogs, it seemed everyone had a comment concerning MSN Search’s launch. As with most releases of this size and coverage, responses varied. However, a quick browse of some of the SEO forums finds the opinion on MSN Search generally positive.
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The search engine audience’s response to MSN Search was also quick. On WebProWorld, a thread discussing the launch was filled with positives. Long time poster Greeneagle said, “I am impressed! - They seem to have worked out some serious bugs (referring to the sandbox version)!??? while BStone shared this experience, “They are very responsive to feedback. I sent feedback about my site not being listed and a few hours later the bot deep scanned my site and it was listed the next day. Very impressive.”
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On the WebmasterWorld forum, their MSN Search thread was spilt in two with 29 pages of responses. These reactions slid up and down the barometer with comments like “MSN’s results are junk” to others defending the relevancy of MSN Search’s results. One such defence came from a poster name Dvduval, who said, “I am very pleased with the results on the new search engine. One nice thing I have observed is there is a good assortment of both newer sites and older sites in the SERPS, while Google seems to be too weighted toward older sites.”
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However, as observed by Ownerrim there may be a potential issue with some aspects of MSN: “The Microsoft SE is not particularly adept at excluding link schemes. In one niche area, I saw one fellow’s sites, on the same subject matter; appear on the first four pages of the SERPs. And the content on nearly every one of these sites is nearly identical. If this is the best that MS can do, Google doesn’t have to worry. MS can run as many butterfly commercials as they want–hype doesn’t replace results.”
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Owner’s comment about the repetitive site’s content may have been explained by Nacho Hernandez on the SearchEngineWatch forum’s thread concerning MSN’s launch. In responding to a post made about content being king in MSN’s eyes, Nacho said, “Words of wisdom. It seems that MSN Search (beta) is exactly what it loves the most, because the pages you pointed out (along with other examples I have tested) demonstrate that.
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One of the more humorous “reactions” actually came from chief MSN competitor Google. On the day of MSN Search’s launch, Google announced the newly increased size of their search index. Google’s boast of over 8 billion pages eclipsed MSN’s expected 5 billion strong index.
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One area of concern among some users was the appearance of MSN’s search results page. To some, the ads were a bit distracting. This was noticeable in Pleeker’s post at WMW, who commented on differentiating between results and ads, “Note to MSN Search Team: those are not “web results,” and they’re not the first listings your algorithm found in the index. Those are paid ads. The opaque “SPONSORED SITES” off to the far right isn’t noticeable enough, and it’s disingenuous to list those under the “Web Results” heading.” While poster Skipfactor is a little more direct; “…ditch the Yahoo ad scheme of ads nauseam: top, right, and bottom is just too cluttered. Do what the leader does when you’re behind in the race.” This is referring to the method in which Google displays their ads.
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A great deal of reaction in all forums had to do with where a person was ranked compared to their ranking on another search engines; those that had high rankings generally like MSN’s results, while those that did not rank well didn’t seem too impressed. However, most seem to welcome another, highly visible, search engine, if only because it will increase competition.

Chris Richardson

Inevitably, with the launch of a new search engine, especially one the size of MSN Search, there is an outcry of people wanting to know how to improve their result position. Questions like “How do I optimize my site to rank well?” and “Does this engine base more relevance on in-bound links or on-page content?” are quite common.

What steps are necessary to optimize your site for MSN Search? Do they favor on-page content or off-page links? Discuss at WebProWorld.? Anticipating this reaction, MSN Search did what most major search engines do: feature a number of help pages designed to assist site owners in these matters. MSN’s Site Owner Help pages have also stimulated an interesting conversation on WebProWorld. The point of contention was whether or not MSN Search encouraged W3C validation.?

Although their help pages did say validated HTML was required, they did say “Use only well-formed HTML code in your pages. Ensure that all tags are closed, and that all links function properly. If your site contains broken links, MSNBot may not be able to index your site effectively, and people may not be able to reach all of your pages.” Therefore, validated HTML will not hurt, and may actually help your ranking in MSN Search. This is also true with most, if not all, search engines.? However, many still wonder what factors does MSN Search consider to determine relevance. Some think MSN gives weight to on-page content, which seems to be true. The MSN Search blog says another factor they consider is “the text of links that point to a page.” This supports a theory that Hardwood Guy had on WebmasterWorld: “Internal link text seems to be a key ingredient by the looks of the new MSN search.”?

This point is expanded even further by another blog entry made by MSN Search Program Manager, Eytan Seidman. Concerning link structure, Eytan offers these thoughts: “URL’s with many (definitely more than 5) query parameters have a very low chance of ever being crawled. Another thing to consider is whether we can find your page. If we need to traverse through eight pages on your site before finding leaf pages that nobody but yourself points to, MSNBot might choose not to go that far. This is why many people recommend creating a site map and we would as well.”? SEOChat moderator Dazzlindonna had this logical approach to optimizing for MSN, “No, its not about Meta tags (I have some sites that have no Meta tags and rank well in it). No, it’s not just about content. No, it’s not just about links. Like all major search engines, its about a number of factors, with varying weight amongst those factors.”?

Donna’s all-in theory is probably a logical approach to MSN or any search engine. MSN supports her approach, saying, “The MSN Search ranking algorithm analyzes factors such as page contents, the number and quality of sites that link to your pages, and the relevance of your site’s content to keywords.” This method of ranking is not unique to MSN either. They deal with relevancy the way the majority of the search engines do: by weighing a number of contributing factors.? Armed with this knowledge, there are some questions that still linger about MSN Search and what they value. Some believe that MSN gives more weight to on-page content, much like Yahoo. This differs from the method that Google favors, which seems to give credence based on the amount of relevant links that point to a site.?

Randfish supports this point on SEOChat by saying, “My recent research into MSN suggests that much like Yahoo!, on-page content is ’slightly’ more important than it is to Google. However, this may also be caused by the fact that Google’s index is (larger than) MSN’s, so they have fewer links to rely on in general.”? If, in fact, MSN Search does favor on-page content, then ensuring your web text is keyword rich would only help. Of course, looking at past discussions concerning keywords, having them populate your text isn’t going to damage your ranking in any site, unless of course you overdo it. Pages that are seen as keyword-stuffed or existing only to promote certain keywords are considered spam and are punished appropriately.?

MSN also spells out what it considers to be unscrupulous SEO practices. To get yourself banned from their index, just perform any of these techniques:?

• Loading pages with irrelevant words in an attempt to increase a page’s keyword density. This includes stuffing ALT tags that users are unlikely to view.?

• Using hidden text or links. You should use only text and links that are visible to users.?

• Using techniques to artificially increase the number of links to your page, such as link farms.?

Again, these “rules” are in-line with the rest of the search engine industry. If you stick to guidelines mentioned throughout the article and don’t violate any of the practices listed above, your site should enjoy success within MSN’s index.

By Chris Richardson

Microsoft Gets Out of Vapourwear Business and Shows Up in Search
Microsoft has finally released the beta version of its own proprietary search engine. For over a year, webmasters and SEOs have seen evidence of “MSNBot” spidering their sites as MSN Search gathered information and compiled its database. Microsoft’s full entry to the world of search engines will have fairly significant effects on the industry. Up to this point, MSN displayed results from the Yahoo/Overture database. A preview shows highly relevant results under a variety of keyword phrases. Relevant results, coupled with the search engine’s clean design and piggybacking on the MS Windows operating system, could make MSN Search a serious challenge to Google’s current dominance of the organic search market.
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Bill Gates has long expressed his dismay that Google and Yahoo were able to bypass Microsoft’s near monopoly to capture dominance of search. At last February’s World Economic Forum, Gates publicly remarked “Google kicked our butts”. While MSN has been working on a search tool for at least two years, this statement was both a warning to competitors Google and Yahoo, and a rally-cry for Microsoft’s search-unit.
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The beta search engine is currently live and can be seen at http://beta.search.msn.com. Results displayed on the beta engine are very different from results displayed on their main MSN site which continues to show Yahoo generated listings. A desktop search application is expected to be released before the new year.
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MSN has published a list of guidelines for webmasters and SEOs on their site. While they read as simple SEO common sense, they also give a small window into how MSNBot views websites.
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Proprietary
The following is copied directly from MSN’s guidelines with short comments for SEOs in italics.
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Technical Recommendations for Your Web Site
All Sites Should Be W3c Validated.
Use only well-formed HTML code in your pages. Ensure that all tags are closed, and that all links are functioning properly. If your site contains broken links, MSNBot may not be able to index your site effectively, and users may not be able to reach all of your pages. For more information about correct HTML syntax, see the HTML 4.01 Specification.
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Moving Hosts And Urls Shouldn’t Damage Rankings.
If you move your page, use the appropriate HTTP redirection code to indicate whether the move is permanent or temporary.
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MSNBot Follows Common Exclude Tags.
Make sure MSNBot is allowed to crawl your site, and is not on your list of Web crawlers prohibited from indexing your site. Use a robots.txt file or Robots Meta tags to control how MSNBot and other Web crawlers index your site. Using a robots.txt file will tell Web crawlers which files and folders on your site it is not allowed to crawl. For more information, see the MSNBot FAQ.
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Url Syntax Carries Some Weight.
Whenever possible, use URLs that are simple and easy to read.
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Content Guidelines for Your Web Site
Page Size Matters. Keep It Simple, One Topic Per Page.
Limit all pages to a reasonable size. An HTML page with no pictures should be under 150 KB. MSN Search recommends discussing one topic per page. Use links to take users to related topics.
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Links Matter And Msnbot Relies Heavily On Continuity With Url Paths.
To ensure your pages are easy to link to from other sites, keep your URLs simple and static. Complicated URLs, or URLs that change often, are difficult to use as link destinations. A persistent URL is easier for users to find and remember, and makes it a more likely link destination from other sites.
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Items and Techniques Discouraged By MSN Search
MSNBot recognizes the following items and techniques as sp@m, an inappropriate use of the index. Use of these items and techniques may affect how your site is ranked within MSN Search, and may result in the removal of your page or site from the MSN Search index.
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Content Matters, As Does Keyword Density. Sp@m Will Be Noted And Dealt With; Otherwise They Would Be Less Likely To Make The Implied Threat.
Loading pages with irrelevant words in an attempt to increase a page’s keyword density. This includes stuffing alt tags that users are unlikely to view.
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Easy Enough To Understand.
Using hidden text or links. You should use only text and links that are visible to users.
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Links Matter. As an Algorithmic Spider, Msnbot Has Taken A Lesson From Pagerank. Following Links Leads To Considering The Number Of Links Followed As A Factor In Rankings.
Using techniques to artificially increase the number of links to your page, such as link farms.

By Jim Hedger