SEO and MSN Search

[george]

As you all know, Microsoft has unveiled the new MSN Search, to compete with Google. And the search engine looks really good (and has the power of Microsoft behind it). So the question is, are people now going to use MSN more than Google? If that is true, it is time to concentrate on SEO for MSN, instead of Google. Here is an interesting forum discussion about it, and surprisingly lots of people are switching to MSN:

http://forums.seochat.com/t22256/s.html

What do you guys think? This looks like a good opportunity for us indies...

[Tertsi]

In theory, I'd say that no matter how much better the search engine is, Google will be the dominant for at least one more year. MSN's slice of the search engine traffic is surely increasing though and it would be great to know any additional SEO tricks to it. :)

[george]

look how quick google became the most popular search engine... i think there is a good chance the same thing will happen to msn real soon. i believe this because:

1) microsoft is behind it. i have even seen tv commercials about the new msn search.

2) the search engine works great. try it out, www.msn.com - you will get really great results.

3) google search engine results are degrading in quality from my experience

4) a lot of seo and webmasters have animosity towards google

5) and there's probably more...

[Andy]

>the search engine works great

I dunno George.

Engine finds the site with our games before our own. The site has 4th rank at Google and zero rating in Alexa... :rolleyes:

[Air]

As of the announcement of MSN's new search, search keyphrase hits to my mom's retail website have quadrupled. I checked the logs and sure enough I'm getting a lot of hits from people finding her site through MSN search. For some reason our site ranks pretty high on MSN... likely temporary, but quite nice none-the-less.

But it's still a good indication that plenty of users are trying their hand at MSN search. My thinking is that some of you guys who have established retail web stores for your games might be able to take early advantage of MSN's own version of AdWords: I noticed that several of my searches only yielded a couple MSN Sponsored Links, while similar searches on Google yield a dozen or so. That's good news while it lasts since it means being able to get high placement for cheap PPC costs.

Sure there'll be way fewer views, but I'll bet having that lack of placement competition more than makes up for it. Plus PPC payment systems means there aren't any real financial drawbacks to jumping in early. A short-term solution but hey every bit helps, right? :)

- Air

[papillon]

ISTR when I first tried out the MSN search the day they launched it, it kept trying to 'target' for me by giving me useless personal sites on top, just because they were located in the UK. Being local doesn't really make the equivalent of a geocities poetry page more relevant to me than a store selling the product I asked for, thanks... But trying a few random searches now it seems that they've toned that down, or else I just can't remember what I searched for before.

[SunAndGames]

At the very least, the competition will be good for the consumer. Whether your just a searcher, an AdSense user, or an AdWord user. Perhaps Google won't be quite so draconian in their policies when it comes to penalizing sites. Not that it's happened to me, but it always seems to be such a fear when trying to optimize a site. I agree, that it will take a while, but between MSN going live, and Yahoo no longer using Google for search results, there may once again be balance in the Force. Monopolies really suck. Unless of course, it's my monoply :D

[Fry Crayola]

I typed "complete football" (but without the quotes) into the MSN search bar. My game's antiquated website is the first result found. I like that.

On google... nope, I still can't see it after five pages of searching and giving up.

Me likey...

[Greg Squire]

A lot of people have MSN set as their homepage so it will be easier for them to use MSN search (as it's right there), but then again a lot of people have the Google toolbar installed too. Also most Firefox users are probably using the Firefox start page (which uses Google search). It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out.

Also I typed "monkeytime" in MSN and my site (still under construction) came up first in the list. In Google I couldn't find it after seven pages (then gave up). I'm not a pro-microsoft guy, but I'm liking the ranking thus far. :D

[mkovacic]

At the very least, the competition will be good for the consumer. Whether your just a searcher, an AdSense user, or an AdWord user. Perhaps Google won't be quite so draconian in their policies when it comes to penalizing sites.
Yeah, that would be a major upside. Google dislikes our site for some reason, our positions for "free game downloads" are 90-something on Yahoo, 50-something on MSN, but we're nowhere to be found on Google (yes, I searched through all the results).

[Nexic]

Here's something nice about msn:

On google searching for 'galaga' will find Xeno 2 on the 42nd page of results.
On msn searching for 'galaga' will find Xeno 2 half way up the 1st page of results :)

[svero]

I alternate between number 1 and 2 positions for "game downloads" on msn search. Hasn't made any difference in sales since it was rolled out that I can tell.

[arcadetown]

Our referrals from msn search about same levels since new search rollout while our new sister site heavygames.com got a really nice msn boost.

[SunAndGames]

There seems to be a number of people suggesting that their sites are ranking better in MSN than in Google. I've noticed that as well, but am a little unsure as to why that would be. Perhaps because MSN's database is not that big yet, and there's less competition. My site is pretty new, and there's not a lot of traffic, so it's probably too small a sample size to say anything definitive.

I have a hunch, that it seems to be the smaller, less established sites that are faring better in MSN. I noticed Servo say that MSN's launch hasn't really had much effect on his sales.

[arcadetown]

I have a hunch, that it seems to be the smaller, less established sites that are faring better in MSN.
That's my guess to. Google & Yahoo have been so inundated with new seo spammer technique type sites that they frown on new sites while msn doesn't yet (but expect them to relatively quickly).

[george]

actually, i think msn's database is just as/almost as big as google's

[z3lda]

I been getting some new hits from the MSN search. I looked at my stats and noticed i'm ranked 2 and 3 for "fun free games" and fun free games.

I'm already liking MSN! :).