Optimize your site for MSN

Generally it would be easier to attain rankings on MSN and it is naturally the most preferred search engine for a new site which is yet to develop links for getting traffic. Like most other search engines, MSN too uses mathematical algorithms and uses spiders to find the information followed by fixed sets of rules to determine the relevancy of the web site. This is unlike directories as Yahoo, which for the initial content depends upon human feedback about a site.
Best part of getting listed on MSN is that listing results can be quicker. In MSN the registering of content updating is fast and quicker. This leads to quick re-indexing of the site and incoming links get picked up fast. ComScore media Survey reports suggest that users through MSN are more serious in approach and are 48% more likely to purchase a product when compared with other online users. So, no serious online store can afford to ignore MSN.

For best results on MSN Rankings, I would like to suggest working on two factors; Onsite factors and off site factors.
Onsite Factors
Search engines continually keep on changing their strategies regarding listing. While one factor is considered good at a time, the same factor over the time may start proving counterproductive. See, at one time, even reciprocal linking was a rage, but now search engines seem to view them negatively. Therefore, best way to work on SEO on MSN is to work on few factors.
Important Factors while working on Optimization at MSN
While no search engine worth the salt would let its policies get public to avoid spamming of its search results. So as SEO one has to figure out of its experience, research, related study and periodical company announcements. From all the above study, following factors seem to be playing more prominent role in deciding the placement in results.
1. Key word density in the page content;
2. How well the internal pages are linked to each other in the site;
3. The number of pages in the site and there relevance to main theme of the site;
4. The optimum use of header tags, titles and site formatting.
Besides, the above, there are number of other factors that affect the placement in the results.
1. Site content:
For any meaningful results and traffic, the content has to be unique, keyword rich and periodically updated. It has to have what is being looked for by search engines and their algorithms. Avoid use of technical jargon and complicated sentence structure. To the extent possible, keep sentences short and clear. While the opinion may vary about correct keyword density, by far the ratio of 6% to % is considered as perfect. This is assuming that the search engine algorithm would account of keyword density ratio, which most believe it does. It would not be a bad idea to run keyword density tool for your content to be published. Offsite and on site keyword density checking results vary. This happens as while online, some other factors too add to keyword density check. I would tend to suggest keyword density ratios of not more than 9-7% for the site.
Internal linking of Pages:
Search engines spiders are well developed to track internal linking of various pages and better the internal linking; the higher the placement on results is expected. For image intensive sites, it would be advisable to use text links on the site content, alt-tags and description of picture in the footer area or anchor text. This whole can be supplemented by good description on the page.
The number of pages in the site and their relevance:
Any search engine would like to deliver most relevant results. Its total survival would depend on how relevant the results are. The more unified the content in the site, the higher the chances it would be ranked better by search engine and things are no different at MSN.
While designing the site, you would do well to study the sites of your competition and manage your content. May be it is at the cost of repetition but do spend your quality time and efforts to monitor the quality and relevance of content on your site. You can also think of making a forum or blog on your site, but developing a forum or a blog is a long drawn task.
Title and Header Tags
Titles hold high weight in algorithm of any search engine. Because of this reason, it occupies single most important position in the code of your site. Another reason being that in search engine results, the titles are most likely to show in the results. At that time, it would be single most important factor to influence the visitor to click on your site.
Header tags describe the particular page of your site. Header tags are also given a good weight in determining the placement of site in the results. These should not be user used and header tags should be used short.
A good spider sees the site almost as human would see it. Special format and special text characters differentiate the different sections of the site and the article. These also include font and color combination in different sets. The use of special characters also carries weight in search engine algorithm.
Offsite Factors
Best part about MSN algorithm is that it gives you full credit for the link the moment it is picked up and this is what differentiates it with Google or yahoo. Major factors for this are:
1. Keep site content relevant to the theme of the site.
2. Concentrate on quality rather than quantity. Though while discussing listing on MSN, page rank may not be important, a user is more likely to rely on site with a better page rank. Needless to say, page rank too, is factor of good content. Spending extra time on quality would be a wise investment.
3. Concentrate on getting maximum links for your site, preferably from relevant content sites and avoid reciprocal links.