• Live Search Webmaster Central Blog , Monday, January 14, 2008 12:44 PM

MSN's Live Search has a reputation for driving traffic, with some of the highest conversion rates of all the engines--so if you're having trouble ranking for terms on Live, then you could be missing out on leads, sales and eyeballs.

There are a plethora of reasons for failing to gain good placement on Live, the first of which is lack of quality content. The Live Search Webmaster team suggests the usual content creation and optimization tips (keeping it unique, effective keyword research and correct use of tags and meta data) and provides links to examples of sites with high-quality content.

The Webmaster team also offers some tips on generating inbound links, including starting a blog, crafting press releases and talking to the media. They also advocate getting the word out offline--by being involved in community activities, joining a reputable trade organization, and talking directly to your suppliers and business partners about exchanging links.

Lastly, the team says to make sure that your site isn't too AJAX or Flash-heavy, and that you haven't been using any black-hat tactics to generate traffic. While MSN's traffic may seemingly be of more value than Google or Yahoo's, the fundamentals of drawing said traffic remain the same.

Read the whole story at Live Search Webmaster Central Blog »