Discuss MSN Ranking Factors List in the BING Search Optimization forum on SEO Chat. MSN Ranking Factors List BING Search Optimization forum discussing the Microsoft search engine for BING, MSN, and Live.com. Find tips to help you get high rankings in Microsoft's search. Discuss what factors are most important to its algorithm.
BuySellLinks.com is a new Text Link Advertising Brokerage by the founder of LinkAdage that offers high-end text links and a premier membership base. We screen all advertisers and publishers and their web pages to make sure we are offering a service that works for everyone. Our plug-in is super easy to install but if you are hands off, w e offer free installation.
Tired of dealing with shady text link buyers and/or sellers? Try BuySellLinks.
Receive the tools necessary to be the rock star of your field. Our 12-month program teaches you the evolving world of multi-channel marketing as well as the complex issues and opportunities found in the industry.
Posts: 356
Time spent in forums: 1 Day 5 h 31 m 27 sec
Reputation Power: 8
MSN Ranking Factors List
I've been scrutinizing MSN beta to determine why irrelevent PR1 pages are so easily beating much much more relevent PR5 pages (with great inbound anchor text). I am not impressed with their results yet, especially for more complex searches.
Nevertheless, I've distilled some key recurring ranking factors listed in order of importance (I didn't include cloaking which is extremely powerful):
1) Title (obviously) and keywords in url- this hurts relevence, IMO.
2) Keywords in bold. This alone can make the irrelevent PR1 pages beat more relevent PR5 pages. I can't stress enough the importance of bold font in MSN Beta.
3) Important keywords in center table layout. This relates to MSN's algorithm of Block Level Analysis. Basically keywords (and links) in the center block are weighed more than keywords on the side or bottom. Read about it here: www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/10/rnb_100604.asp
4) H1, H2 and H3 headers. These have a fairly large weight.
5) Keywords in italics (even better when bold as well)
6) Links. I've found links to have surprisingly little weight in the MSN beta. Much of the algo is on page.
Of course these factors are 1999 SEO 101, but they are sooo effective in MSN to the detriment of relevence.
What isn't important in MSN Beta:
1) Being listed in DMOZ (I know because it hasn't done cr*p for me)
2) Being listed in the Yahoo directory (I know because it hasn't done cr*p for me)
3) Inbound anchor text is weighted very little.
4) Meta tags don't seem to count (good thing)
***Caveat***
Make SURE you do not have H1 or H2 headers and bold them at the same time. I did this, and my page fell 10 serp pages. I removed this and I recovered.
This is some sort of overoptimization filter.
So, give me some feedback as I am trying to crack this algo some more!!!!
Posts: 25
Time spent in forums: < 1 sec
Reputation Power: 0
i've found the opposite in regards to inbound anchor text. the key though in the linking is internal linking. the use of doorways is very successful. cloaking as you've pointed out is also very successful.
i've found very spammy sites be very successful by taking a list of keywords, making the doorway pages with keyword-phrase.html, keyword.html, keyword-phrase-2.html..etc. having menu's with links to all the doorway pages with the keyword phrases as the anchor tags. i've also found a nifty old school trick involving frames that works quite well.
Posts: 170
Time spent in forums: 6 Days 7 h 6 m 6 sec
Reputation Power: 8
I would put Keywords in URL at 4.5. Any weight given to URL can be easily overcome with onsight optimization.
3.5) On-site anchor text. A trailer link on a large site with good anchor will pop a homepage to top ten from oblivion. 5.5) Alt image tags also carry good weight.
Posts: 2,064
Time spent in forums: 1 Month 2 Days 16 h 49 m 57 sec
Reputation Power: 230
Bod H1 is Not a Big Deal...
Quote:
Originally Posted by rick74
To much alt text can hurt your serps, and keywords in h1, h2, in combination with the same keyword in bold
can get you banned for over optimalisation.
My site has a bold H1, at the very top of the site. I am at #3 or #4 in the existing MSN. In beta I got shoved down to 11 to 12 and stayed there for a while. Some 2 weeks ago started moving up a position every 5 to 7 days or so and am 6th now... The bold H1 is still there. I have been adding content at the rate of about 200 to 300 words a week.
raz
Posts: 134
Time spent in forums: 10 h 30 m 10 sec
Reputation Power: 8
Thanks for your analysis, this seems to be the first really decent job at uncovering the msn mystery. i agree with most, but i havent yet seen the effects of bold. h tags seem to make a bit of a difference on my pages.
Last edited by Jasontnyc : January 28th, 2005 at 07:58 AM.
Posts: 46
Time spent in forums: 5 h 10 m 40 sec
Reputation Power: 8
One thing I disagree with is the comparison of results using Google PageRank. Google has its own way of doing things. A site with little PR may simply be newer. You got to remember, MSN is starting fresh. We don't have a Sandbox, we don't have many of the irrelevant filters working against us, and my tests have for the most part returned relevant information.
To me the most important item that dictates a search engines success is relevance in the content that is being returned for my searches. Google PR is simply not the relevance metric it used to be.
On that note, I think you make many good points, I think once it goes live many others will start to try to interpret what’s going on.
Posts: 154
Time spent in forums: 2 Days 13 m 41 sec
Reputation Power: 8
It seems to produce basic, logical results for some queries, but for some keywords it really seems to be producing very unrelevant results. It almost seems as if they are relying too much on AI to figure out which site is the best.
Last edited by Sharp23 : January 18th, 2005 at 09:02 AM.
Posts: 2,064
Time spent in forums: 1 Month 2 Days 16 h 49 m 57 sec
Reputation Power: 230
Quote:
Originally Posted by raz
My site has a bold H1, at the very top of the site. I am at #3 or #4 in the existing MSN. In beta I got shoved down to 11 to 12 and stayed there for a while. Some 2 weeks ago started moving up a position every 5 to 7 days or so and am 6th now... The bold H1 is still there. I have been adding content at the rate of about 200 to 300 words a week.
raz
Now, I have to take everything I said back! This is exactly what happened 6 weeks or so ago. As soon as I posted here my SERP in MSNBetta went down... Last night as I was posting I was at 6, This morning at 15th.... ouch...
raz
Posts: 134
Time spent in forums: 10 h 30 m 10 sec
Reputation Power: 8
Quote:
Originally Posted by gchaney
Personally, I think it's someone who put together a list to see what everyone else is doing to rank well in MSN/Beta
I believe if I wanted to know what to do to get top positions in a search engine I was unfamiliar with and not succeeding in, I might do the same thing....
Here is what you do to rank well....blah blah.... then sit back and wait...put together a list of what actually hurts and works...based upon the responses.
Smart...lol
Cheers
thats pretty interesting, i guess he could have been doing just that, but ill give him the benefit of the doubt.
Posts: 356
Time spent in forums: 1 Day 5 h 31 m 27 sec
Reputation Power: 8
GChaney,
You can remove your tin foil hat- this is not a conspiracy!
Forgive me for trying to share my observed results gained from spending my Saturday analysing MSN beta serps. I'm just hoping to get a discussion going. Oh and aren't we all interested in learning how the MSN algo works?
Next time I just won't post, just so that no one is offended and thinks I have ulterior motives. I'll just keep my observations to myself.
Posts: 446
Time spent in forums: 2 Days 3 h 16 m 2 sec
Reputation Power: 8
Good job on the article. I think you have a very valid observation in the state of MSN. I have too also agree that keywords in the URL is around #4 in importance.
Del.icio.us
Digg
Google
Spurl
Blink
Furl
Simpy
Y! MyWeb
Linear Mode
