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5-25 MSN Search Update Continued

         

msndude

8:49 pm on Jun 2, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Continued from [webmasterworld.com...]

At the expense of repeating myself, I'm going to repeat myself. :-) Here are the guidelines I'm trying to follow when I post here:

I won't discuss the problems of particular sites in any public forum. As long as I can handle the volume, I'm happy to get "sticky" messages, though.

I also won't discuss competitors here -- they have their own forums, and I figure they already have enough people talking about them. :-)

I will not preannounce anything specific here; I might say "we're working extra hard over the summer to fight Spam," but I'm not going to post something like "look for a giant spam-killer release on April first!" After a release goes out and someone notices it, THEN I'll comment on it. If no one notices it, it probably wasn't worth talking about anyway.

Finally, I'm not going to reveal any secret Intellectual Property that would help someone build their own search engine or hack ours. Most of it's hard to explain anyway. :-)

[edited by: engine at 1:54 pm (utc) on June 5, 2006]

CainIV

5:53 pm on Jun 8, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Seems to me as thought some slow progress is being made on some searches, while others remain untouched since the debacle.

For one website I have, my index page was removed twice, and I had to contact msn search twice to have i reinstated. Noth times they mentioned the page was accidentally removed by their se because the bot thought it was spam. Not very encouraging, as the site is nbot spammy in the least.

One website I have which is a community portal and does use adsense, was dropped for its major keywords right off the map. In the meantime, google and yahoo have it listed as #2 and 3 respectively for the same terms.

Much work needed here...

Martin40

3:52 pm on Jun 9, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



To me this "update" looks a lot like Google's efforts to push spamsites down during the xmas sales. Perhaps Google have found that they can't dramatically decrease spam in their index without compromising it's quality, so they undo the update in Januari/Februari.

If SEs would work together to fight spam then that would help everybody (except spammers).

One of the problems with the present MSN is that it has traded spamsites for affilliate sites. Hardly an improvement for the end user.

The present "update" is a brave effort, but if G
oogle can't achieve the result MSN seems to be aiming at, then neither can MSN.

Tomseys

5:27 pm on Jun 9, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



has msn stopped updating sites?

Nabeel

8:49 am on Jun 10, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



[quote=martin40]One of the problems with the present MSN is that it has traded spamsites for affilliate sites. Hardly an improvement for the end user.[/quote]

Are you comparing spam sites with Affiliate sites? Affiliate sites can't be compared to spam sites. Affiliate sites provide information about specific product and Spam sites only redirects to paid search results.
I'm am an Affiliate and operate many Affiliate sites. I have written hundreds of quality reviews on specific products.
>>Hardly an improvement for the end user.>>>
Do you really know what an end user want? They want information , more and more information on what they are purchasing.
I affiliate sites do very well on Google, Yahoo and MSN. And yes my sites deserve it.
MSN new update is much more cleaner. Spam sites have been killed. I'm impressed.

Martin40

3:10 pm on Jun 10, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I'm sorry if I'm doing injustice to your particular case, but many affilate sites don't offer original content, just links to the "parent site" (how do you call that?).
Previously the Google guidelines said: "Don't link to affiliate sites", now it says:

If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.

Maybe your site has unique and relevant content, but most affiliate sites don't.

Garya

7:10 pm on Jun 10, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



MSN to be called the MOM and POP search engine.
A lot of mom and pop shop are now found in the results. Less authority sites more spam and less know sites.
Looks like MSN wants the big sites to pay up for advertising?
I think we need a new search engine called JustGoodResults.com

zafile

7:50 am on Jun 11, 2006 (gmt 0)



I like the update because one of my main Web sites kept its position.

In regard to the lack of "authority sites", it's always good to have an alternative to results a la Google.

I see better control over spammy sites.

This update is a good step towards a better net.

toothake

9:31 am on Jun 11, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



"In the meantime, google and yahoo have it listed as #2 and 3 respectively for the same terms.

Much work needed here... "
It makes somoeone LOL when reading comments as the above ie: my page does'nt rank at this SE so the SE needs work to be done...or in other wordswhen my page will rank accordingly ,then the particular SE will be just Great:-)

chrisv1963

10:26 am on Jun 11, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



"This update is a good step towards a better net."

Treating non-spam sites as being spam sites and removing them from the index is not exactly what I would call a better net.
It's a good thing that MSN is fighting spam, but they still have a long way to go before we can use the term "better net".

Garya

5:18 am on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



MS Dude

I have a real estate website
When I search state real estate my site come up like 300.
When I search real estate state my site comes up #1
Does that make any sense?
On Yahoo and Google I am #1 both ways.
Hope they fix it

zafile

6:01 am on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)



I like the MSN results when I search 'country widgets' or 'widgets country'.

It's pretty nice to have an alternative to results a la Google or a la Yahoo.

Viva MSN!

twebdonny

6:13 am on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)



MSN to be called the MOM and POP search engine.
A lot of mom and pop shop are now found in the results. Less authority sites more spam and less know sites.
Looks like MSN wants the big sites to pay up for advertising?
I think we need a new search engine called JustGoodResults.com

JGR.com...Sounds like a great idea...sign me up Serg

seriously

Garya

9:16 am on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Made some changes to one of my sites last week, tonight it's #1 on msn.
I guess you need two sites now 1 for yahoo and google and the other for MSN.

c_zvezda

11:46 am on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Can you share with us, what one has to do to improve his msn rankings?

toothake

1:01 pm on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



"I have a real estate website
When I search state real estate my site come up like 300.
When I search real estate state my site comes up #1
Does that make any sense?
On Yahoo and Google I am #1 both ways.
Hope they fix it "
Uhhh.....
The best Joke until now.

F_Rose

1:11 pm on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member




Made some changes to one of my sites last week, tonight it's #1 on msn.

What changes have you made?

zeus

1:21 pm on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Hmm now I like the singapore results

asiaseo

3:37 pm on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



For our region the Msn Singapore results are great, so too are ninemsn ( Australia ) and also Yahoo 7 ( Australia ) gives us some great results and we are not swamped out of results. Unfortunately most people searching for our region are searching from their 'own' region and hence get results that are very different.

Garya

4:43 pm on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Its very obvious, Just look at the top two sites for your keywords or phrases. I am sure you can figure it out its very easy to see what msn is doing.
I will give you 1 hint.
1. Look at you keyword or key phrases on your home page and see how many times it appears on the page in text and links.

andheresjohnny

8:15 pm on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)



Well I just don't see it.

I checked the new top 2 sites for my keyphrase, and I find ...

1st site:
Keyprase used exactly once, as a navigation link.
It does not appear in any title, meta, h1, alt, bold, underline, etc.

2nd site:
Keyphrase used exactly twice, once in title and once on-page. It's one of those clickbank type pages with 100% advertising. This site appears 5 times within the first 50 matches too.

I don't think there's much I can learn from this.

Garya

8:35 pm on Jun 12, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member




Msn is ranking sites base on a few details.

1. backlinks
2. keyword density
3. domain name

1. The more backlinks help but not exact matches.
2. keywords in title and once on the page, no alt tags
3. domain name helps.

So basicly reduce your keywords on your page and any other spammy internal links. Kept it simple no H1 tags.
You will need the backlinks there already, I had 6000.
Its easy to try it out and I know it works, I have 50 websites and have tried it on some and they all moved up.

zafile

6:35 am on Jun 13, 2006 (gmt 0)



Brett Tabke's classic "Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone" found at
[webmasterworld.com...] helped me maintain my main positions in MSN before and after the May 25 update.

The update made some of the inner pages of my site perform better.

So I fully recommend Tabke's recommendations to get pretty good rankings in MSN.

Viva MSN Search!

zeus

10:57 am on Jun 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



search.msn.co.za look very fine now, but it is a little wierd with all those different results from each country, ok a few lokal site comes up, but still I see international quality sites rank better on as now msn.co.za

asiaseo

12:01 pm on Jun 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Garya, you say no H1 tags, I was under the impression that H1/2/3/4 were like one of the most important things for "all" search engines?
I am new to so much of this, if we try and do the things right for G or Y it seems they are different from MSN.

Any tips appreciated.

angiolo

12:28 pm on Jun 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



There will be a switch to search.msn.com?

dauction

3:50 pm on Jun 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I looked at the cached verison on MSN of my domain.. anyone now what?q=Degrees means?

http:/domain.extension/?q=Degrees

dauction

3:58 pm on Jun 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Type in "?q=Degrees" on MSN .. 39,000 results ..all have?q=Degress trailing ..

anyone clue me in on what that means?

dauction

4:02 pm on Jun 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



OK ..so far I am seeing nearly all flash sites ..on index page AND Parked domains..

My site has neither ..but those 2 issues clearly stand out on the first 2 pages of results ..so it does appear to mean some sort of penalty applied ..or am i stretching?

Garya

8:25 pm on Jun 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Ask.com will become the #3 search engine gaining on MSN. To Bad
MSN can't do anything right. Ask has much better results.
MSN is seems to from worse to worse every day. Maybe they are doing a 1 step forward and 10 back. i guess its just like there software?

CainIV

8:44 pm on Jun 15, 2006 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I wouldnt read anythig into not including H1 tags.

H1 and H2 tags are proper html and are part of good site development and hierarchy. Removing them because a search engine can't get em right is going backwards in terms of proper site development.

The results at msn.com are really not even worth discussing at this point. What was horribly bad has somehow taken another step backwards, and I can't even begin to comment on the new series of results which are plaguing MSN.com at this time.

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