MSN Launches Live Search Webmaster Center

MSN launched their reply to Google Webmaster Central recently. It's called Live Search Webmaster Center, and can be found at: http://webmaster.live.com/

To log in, We'll need a Windows Live ID. An MSN Hotmail, MSN Messenger, or Passport account will also work.

The interface is still simple and somewhat limited as compared to Google, but it does provide some useful data. It's also still in beta release and should continue to add features as development progresses. Here's a screenshot of the current interface.

Similar to its Google counterpart, Windows Webmaster Center allows us to submit and manage our XML sitemap, as well as we can test robots.txt file, analyze our top inbound and outbound links, and view our rankings in Windows Live Search etc.

For security reasons, we must prove that we own your site by either adding a special Meta tag to our homepage or by uploading a XML file to our site’s root directory. MSN walks you through the easy steps of completing this task.

Currently, the quality of our keyword rankings and inbound and outbound links are displayed by a set of green boxes under the column Rank. So far, we have seen a single page or keyword rank varies in 5 boxes.

Google Sitelinks:

On a Google search for the keyword "Cardsshoppe" instead the main search result; we see links to various pages of the Cardsshoppe web site. This can help a searcher in two ways: they can get a better understanding of what the website is about before they visit, and they can find a link from Google to the topic that interests them. Only the best websites seem to get Sitelinks. Webmasters thinks that Sitelinks enhance a web site's visibility and reputation.

Here's an example of a Sitelinks listing:

Cardsshoppe

Baby shower invitations & Birthday Invitations: Cardsshoppe specializes in Baby shower invitations, birthday invitations, party Invitations, birthday party ...
www.cardsshoppe.com/ - 54k - Cached - Similar pages

Child Birthday Invitations Announcements, Personalized Baby Card Search Cards Selection	Birth Baby Announcements Bridal Shower Invitations Cards, Birthday Party Invitations Moving Announcements Cards
More results from cardsshoppe.com »

The workings of many Google algorithms, including Sitelinks, are kept secret to discourage people from manipulating the rankings, but we can still look at examples and try to understand where Sitelinks come from. Some of the factors that may be the reason of sitelinks:

Site ranks first for the keyword(s) that generate the Sitelinks listing

Easily crowlable, structured site navigation

High organic search traffic

High click through rates from the SERPs

Useful out going links

Inbound links from high quality sites

Site age is several years or older