Optimizing your site for search engine placement is one thing and optimizing it for a specific search engine is some thing else. As we all know each of the search engine uses its own specific algorithm, and therefore, a particular act would help differently in ranking of the site in different search engines. Optimizing a site for search engine is neither too difficult nor a matter of luck as some might feel and I might add further that it is not an overnight phenomenon either.
Some search engines get the desired results from databases of multiple search engines rather than maintaining one of its own. As per the latest estimates more than 87% of the users rely on Google, MSN and Yahoo engines and rest of the market share is used by all other search engines. While you would see tons of material available on how to optimize site for Google, not much is written on optimizing the 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.