Its become apparent that changes to site structure are more important than ever when it comes to dealing with MSN Search.
Problems I have identified with MSN during this time (11th Nov 2004)
1) MSN Search does not crawl as deep as Google. Use the "site:
www.domain.com to find out how much less pages MSN has than Google.
Solution: Shallow structure or Sitemap
2) Inclusion of URL’s with Query String parameter. MSN claim to allow up to 5 parameters. Most people using Query strings will have no more than one or two. But the real problem I find is that if the Query String URL page is not linked from a NON-Query-String page (sometimes called static page) then there seems to be a high chance of not getting indexed for that page!
Again you may want to compare G with MSN by using site: but apply a filter "
site:www.domain.co.uk basepage.asp"
Solution: Site map on a static page
3) Query String URL’s are ranked less well. This is just a theory based on my observations. It’s a real mistake by Microsoft especially because ASP does not have a reliable URL mod rewrite and plays into the hands of PHP.
Solution: I would recommend NOT using URL mod rewrite unless your site is new otherwise you will loose a lot inbound link PR. I would wait and see.
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