MSN's Potential

MSN search engine captures only 11% of the US market at the present moment. Microsoft is going to release its new Windows Vista which will be particularly emphasizing that search engine. My questions is whether we should bet on that and begin SEO processes for MSN? What would be your ideas? Is Microsoft capable to restore its monopoly in the Internet?

I say why not better to be prepared then not. If you put the hard work in now it will help you down the road. One thing I know is never count a dog out and do your work before the other guys do. Me personally I do the best I can and let the serps do what they do and just pray

I've read in several places that people who are using MSN to search for something to buy are far more likely to actually purchase on MSN than on google/yahoo. The conversion rates are much higher.

In my experiance, this is absolutely true. I get half as many visitors from MSN as I do yahoo, but the conversion rates are twice as high. So for me, they are equally important.

Now does that mean that conversion rates will go down if people start switching. Who knows, but I wouldn't ignore MSN either way.

There is already a thread on this subject that has a lot of input to the subject: Vista Search Engine