Pages dropping from index...

I launched a new site about a month ago containing only 12 pages. This site quickly became #1 for its keyword (low comp) without ANY spam or spam-like techniques used.

The 12 pages were fully indexed in MSN, however in the past 2 weeks, I've seen the pages indexed in MSN go from 12, to 8, to 6, and now to 5 today. Why would this happen? Is something wrong or is this normal fluctuation that will get back to normal at some point.

Thanks for your input... I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Take care.

Hmmm. That sounds familiar. This has popped up on several different threads over the past month - so it seems to be something that MSN just does.

I have had the same issue. New sites are index with MSN immediately and propelled to a top 1-3 page ranking for primary keywords. They seem to stay firm for about a week then either backslide and then disappear or just completely disappear. After waiting about a 1-2 weeks the pages start to reappear holding close to the original ranking.

Also, when this happens MSN has index many pages from the entire site initially. When the high ranking page disappears it is usually the index page but the number other pages indexed within the site either does not change or the number just drops alittle. But, the index page is completely gone from the index. Then in a few days the index page is listed again but, is not returned on any searches except when querying the domain itself. With some more time passing the index seem to be added back to the search pool and everything is back to where it was originally.

WackJob

I would lso suggest to check to make sure that your code is in accordance to W3. MSN really dislike sloppy code and often de index such pages soon after indexing them.

Hey G Gekko,

Good tip, but my code is immaculate... I know how picky MSN can be with validation. I'm 100% v'd up.

Wackjob,

Thanks for the input on this matter. Hopefully you are right. It's good to know someone has seen this happen before.