Unfortunately there’s no one over at MSN Search who calls up weekly and informs what the specifics of their algorithm are. So we have to figure it out for ourselves with thorough research, reading and playing with test sites. From all of this there is only one conclusion can be made: the details matter. Onsite SEO factors for MSN mainly include:
- the content of the page including keyword density
- the internal linking structure of the site (how the pages of your site are linked together)
- the number of pages in your site and the relevancy of those pages to your main topic and phrases
- the use of titles, heading tags and special formats
- Page Content
The content of your page must be perfect, that is the content must appeal to both the search engines and the algorithms. In order to write properly for the visitors you must be able to write clearly and in language that is both appealing and understandable to your target market. There is much debate about whether the keyword density of your page is important or not with MSN. In any case, try to use relevant keywords, as algorithms are supposed to take into account the use of the keywords on your page. Unfortunately the optimal keyword density changes to some extent with each algorithm update and also by site type and field. For this reason it would be virtually impossible to tell a density that will work today and forevermore. For this reason you will need a keyword analysis tool which you will want to run on your own site as well as the sites in the top 10 to assess what the optimal density is at this time. You may notice a variation in the densities of the top 10. This is due to the other factors including offsite which may give extra weight to even a poorly optimized site. Get your site to a keyword density close to the higher-end of the top 10, but not excessive. Traditionally this percentage will fall somewhere near 3.5 to 4% for MSN.
- Internal Linking Structure:
The way your pages link together tells the search engines what the page is about and also allows them to easily (or not-so-easily) work their way to your internal pages. If your site has a script or image-based navigation it is important to also use text links either in your content, in a footer, or both. The text links are easy to follow for a spider and perhaps more importantly, the text links allow you the opportunity to tell the spiders what a specific page is about though the anchor text and, in the case of footers, allows you to add in more instances of the targeted phrases outside of your general content area.
Keep following our blog and very soon we will continue discussing the rest of onsite SEO factors for MSN.
[...] the use of titles, heading tags and special formats read more [...]
Keyword analysis is very important, good article.