SE optimisation is a hot topic in internet marketing, so we have written a series of primers on the important factors in getting high search engine rankings. Each search engine is different and different search marketing techniques need to be used to get good rankings on them all.

MSN is the easiest of the search engines to get a competitive listing on. The important factors that need to be considered for MSN are as follows.

On Page

MSN reads and uses meta tags when ranking sites, so proper keywords at an appropriate density should be included. Title and descriptions should also include the keywords prominently and in the exact phrase that you want to rank on.

MSN also looks for keywords in the text and measures the same factors of prominence, density and close to links that Yahoo does.

Off Page

MSN has a high tolerance for reciprocal links and does not seem to apply any ageing or stability criteria to them.

When Microsoft finally decide that they are in the search engine business, things may change. But for the moment the fact is that you can put together a new site, add a few low quality reciprocal links and get a high ranking on MSN relatively easily. That is not always a bad thing. In fact, it is healthy to give new site some traffic and some exposure, to avoid an internet where the rich get richer, in search engine terms.

However the pitfall that I have seen is where sites get a good MSN ranking and then feel that the good Yahoo and the good Google ranking are only a matter of time. Each search engine places importance on different criteria and it measures them in different ways. Some links that get picked up by MSN will never be added by Google. So, celebrate your MSN ranking, but persevere with the search for top quality backlinks. Remember, this is a long term program and it will produce results in the long term.