SEO for Microsoft Live Search (MSN) - Microsoft Strategy Aspects
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Let’s keep in mind that Microsoft receives ~$40 billion per quarter (just three months) with ~$15 billion of pure profit. They have enough cash that they can afford, short-term, to lose money in search, until they develop useful search technology or gain market share.
I think the problem is that Microsoft looks at search as purely another medium to consolidate, monopolize and milk for money. Even in CEO speeches to employees, Microsoft is clear on their strategy, which is “to win advertisers.” Google, on the other hand, has the goal of “organizing world’s information” (and make money while at it). In their presentations “user comes first.” Compare that to “win advertisers” and you’ll start to see why Google is killing Microsoft in search.
Microsoft has tried to bribe users with “Cash Back,” but so far failed miserably. About a year ago (or so) they struck deals with corporations to make Live search a default home page. Microsoft is trying to buy its way into the game. Instead of focusing of users and spoiling them like Google and Yahoo, Microsoft seems to care more about the strategic aspects of the game. What they fail to see is that spoiling users with perks, free useful stuff and a seamless experience is at the core of their rival’s strategy (just browse through Google’s free toolset offers, and research their testing discipline).
Microsoft could accomplish much more if instead of “forcing” and “bribing” users, they hired an additional 200 engineers to develop better search technology.
Microsoft is not going away. Their OS cash reserves allow them to be unprofitable until they achieve a better market share or a better understanding of the web. As time goes on, we will have either:
Microsoft Tools
Demographic Prediction – predicts age and gender for keywords based on their internal customer data,
Commercial Intent – predicts commercial intent of website/keyword.
Keyword Research Platform – very detailed keyword research platform for AdCenter advertisers. Must have an AdCenter login to participate.
Keyword Forecast - forecasts the impression count and predicts demographic distributions of keywords.
Keyword Mutation – searches for misspelled keywords
Cross-Language Keyword Suggestion – suggests keywords in different languages.
You can find more tools at Ad Center Labs. Check all of them, as they will give you a peek at what Microsoft has under the hood when it comes to search technology.
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