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Is MSN Optimization Worthwhile

"Just Google it."
This is the most common response when people are asked how to find information on the Internet. Not surprisingly, the percentage of those who use Yahoo or MSN for information is considerably lower. Google is the premier search engine on the market, leaving little room for others. Little, but enough, some would say. Among the search engines, MSN ranks third, after Google and Yahoo.

In a perfect world, optimization for the web would satisfy all major search engines. The reality is that each and every one of them has its own likes and dislikes. Most SEO is done for Google, because their focus is on quality, relevance and low spam content. Considering the strength of Google's brand, is MSN SEO worth the effort? Opinions vary.

Consider how difficult it is to get your site ranked high in the Google search results. Most of the search engine optimization techniques used today are meant to be relevant exclusively for Google. Webmasters are concerned with code structure, sitemaps, keyword density, anchor texts, links and so on. Google is rather hard to please, especially when it comes to newly created sites. The much-feared "sandbox" is a side-product of Google, where new pages end up until Google considers them mature enough to be ranked in the search results. A drawback, to be certain, and there's not much anybody can do about it, considering that Google also values the age of a web page.

What about MSN? In this case, things tend to be a little smoother. MSN really likes new pages, and it has no discernible sandbox. It doesn't use an age-filter and classifies sites faster. It is highly probable that the number of results received for a search in MSN to be significantly higher than those obtained from Google. It also appears that the search speed is higher with MSN than with Google, though this may be due to their index being considerably smaller than Google's.

Reports show that Google is already a saturated search engine. Users see so many websites that they don't have the patience to spend much time on any given site, yet they still want to visit other sites as quickly as possible. However, it appears that MSN users are more likely to produce conversions. This probability is 48% higher for users of MSN than any other search engine. This could be a deciding factor in the adoption of some MSN marketing strategies. The conversion ratio is vital for any commercial site, and such indicators could lead to actions meant to improve the MSN ranking for this type of site.

MSN Optimization...How?

It's almost impossible to get it right from the start. There are no precise criteria for each search engine. What is good for one is likely to be good (or better, or even worse) for the other. Experts state that, in order to get as much traffic as possible, it's enough to follow the basic guidelines. MSN is dedicated to satisfying visitors. Therefore, MSN wants to make sure they offer web surfers a high probability of finding what they want on your site. A well-developed site with many pages and redundant content will rank much better than a smaller site with poorly organized content. Creating an effective, easy-to-navigate sitemap will not only help the engine's spiders crawl your site, it will add to your visitors experience.

MSN has a great response to an increased keyword density. This orientation towards quantity rather than quality makes MSN more spam oriented. The MSN/Google criteria for choosing keywords remain the same. The more back-links you have, the better. The quality of the links is a plus, as well as their relevance to the website. This helps spiders to completely index the website, therefore leading to an improved visibility among search results.

The logical approach is to focus on building quality links towards the site, which will also help you rank well in other search engines. MSN gives credit to new content and inbound links quite quickly. Clean code is also vital. MSN, while not as demanding as Google, will not look favorably upon sites with badly written code. The TITLE tags are still among the most important code elements that you can rely on if you want to improve your MSN traffic. Consider it your trophy room. When somebody is looking at search results, the first thing they see is the title of your page. In order to encourage user to click on it, it must be as descriptive and appealing as possible.

One of MSN's drawbacks is its robots, used for indexing, so keep them in mind. They have issues indexing pages that contain frames, pictures, flash elements, Java script or dynamic URLs. Text links are easier to follow and, more importantly, they give you the opportunity to link to your home page thanks to the anchor texts.

To make a long story short, MSN is more forgiving than Google. MSN does what Google avoids, and likes what Google frowns upon or regards with suspicion. Lastly, there's Microsoft's potential marketing power that they could bring to the search engine business. So, MSN's value shouldn't be underestimated. It's a feeble match for Google right now, but this situation could change dramatically. Bottom line, if you're optimizing for Google, why not do some MSN optimization as well?

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Jerry West is the Director of Internet Marketing for WebMarketingNow. He has been consulting on the web since 1996 and has assisted hundreds of companies gain an upper-hand over their competition. Visit Web Marketing Now for the latest in marketing tips that are tested and proven.

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