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. Contact me for more information: Zane Durant (808) 214-2032
