When Google came on to the scene one aspect of their algorithm that set them apart was PageRank. PageRank (PR) was calculated on a scale of 0 to 10 and based heavily on the number and quality of links to your site. Of course over time link farms & paid links were devised to beat the system, increase search engine results and therefore gain more traffic.
The link below is an interview that webproworld conducted with Microsoft - a search engine that is getting a lot better and not as temperamental as Google!! The video talks about MSN’s stance on paid links from sites such as Text Link Ads. Google flat out bans paid links and your site will be penalized if you use them. MSN takes a softer approach and won’t ban you for using paid links but they certainly don’t recommend them.
One more thing!
I think MSN has come along significantly in their search capabilities and seem to do a better job indexing sites based on search engine optimization (SEO) practices. As mentioned above Google is very temperamental and bans sites at will - it’s becoming quite annoying and I think opening the door for a better (and new) search engine. Unfortunately MSN is not used nearly as often as Google so even if you place prominently on their site you still won’t get a lot of significant traffic. In the search business neither Yahoo or MSN will knock off Google mainly because they are old/established names that everyone already has preconceptions about. It will take a new smart startup to set Google straight.
Filed under: search engine optimization, seo | Tagged: google, MSN Live, search engine optimization, Search Engines, seo, WebProWorld, yahoo
