Thursday, January 04, 2007
Swings and Roundabouts
MSN's search engine has always been a friend of mine. Whilst Google was a tough nut to crack, MSN was easier to optimise for I found. The traffic was lower than an equivalent position in Google, but it was enough to make it a worthwhile strategy.
So I loved MSN and accepted that Google wasn't being kind to me. But so far in 2007, things have changed around in dramatic fashion.
I noticed a few months ago that I had lost some good positions on MSN for sites I had about bikes and toys, which was particularly disappointing with Xmas approaching. I've looked into a bit further and found that at least 3 of my sites have now vanished from the MSN index altogether. I'll follow their advice for getting sites reincluded, but it seems my luck with MSN came to an abrupt halt.
But as one door closes, another one opens. I noticed the other day that one of my sites was now #1 for a generic technology search term I had been chasing for quite a while. I just noticed today that another site of mine has managed exactly the same thing and is now also enjoying top status in the UK results for an excellent search term. It actually feels great to have seen these sites gradually move up the rankings to where they are rather than have some overnight success which might have felt more precarious.
I always knew me and Google were destined for a beautiful friendship - it just took the big G a bit longer to realise than I had hoped!
I actually have a theory that once you get to the top spot, it's easier to stay there too, for this reason: Have you ever had to quickly compile a list of links related to a subject? It might be a subject you don't know much about so you may not have any knowledge of specific sites to recommend. And being in a hurry and maybe a tad lazy, you just search for that subject and figure that the top sites must be there for a reason and just use them for your links. So I'm thinking that you can expect new incoming links just by virtue of already being #1, and those new incoming links could help cement your position there.
So I loved MSN and accepted that Google wasn't being kind to me. But so far in 2007, things have changed around in dramatic fashion.
I noticed a few months ago that I had lost some good positions on MSN for sites I had about bikes and toys, which was particularly disappointing with Xmas approaching. I've looked into a bit further and found that at least 3 of my sites have now vanished from the MSN index altogether. I'll follow their advice for getting sites reincluded, but it seems my luck with MSN came to an abrupt halt.
But as one door closes, another one opens. I noticed the other day that one of my sites was now #1 for a generic technology search term I had been chasing for quite a while. I just noticed today that another site of mine has managed exactly the same thing and is now also enjoying top status in the UK results for an excellent search term. It actually feels great to have seen these sites gradually move up the rankings to where they are rather than have some overnight success which might have felt more precarious.
I always knew me and Google were destined for a beautiful friendship - it just took the big G a bit longer to realise than I had hoped!
I actually have a theory that once you get to the top spot, it's easier to stay there too, for this reason: Have you ever had to quickly compile a list of links related to a subject? It might be a subject you don't know much about so you may not have any knowledge of specific sites to recommend. And being in a hurry and maybe a tad lazy, you just search for that subject and figure that the top sites must be there for a reason and just use them for your links. So I'm thinking that you can expect new incoming links just by virtue of already being #1, and those new incoming links could help cement your position there.
Labels: affiliate marketing, google, msn, search engines, seo, serps
Permalink // posted by Rob @ 11:43 PM 
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