Many local results within MSN searches?

[MtraX]

Just wanted to know whether everyone else also get allot of local results within their searches. I see sites (without mentioning examples) which can't possibly be in the top 10 (according to say Google), rank well. Plus they are local websites.

Haven't scanned this section, maybe anyone can shed some light on the subject?

Cheers
MtraX

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by MtraX

Just wanted to know whether everyone else also get allot of local results within their searches. I see sites (without mentioning examples) which can't possibly be in the top 10 (according to say Google), rank well. Plus they are local websites.

Haven't scanned this section, maybe anyone can shed some light on the subject?

Cheers
MtraX

Well first off, MSN is not Google, so I would try to compare the two sets of results and ask "Why?". However MSN seems to be giving more credit to on page optimization factors than Google. This seems to be clear.

Can you give some examples off of your subject of interest so we can better understanding of what you mean? Are your search queries locally oriented?

[freehits]

On page and <a> text play a huge role.

Amen...go pistons. You see wallace swat Odom?

[incrediblehelp]

Wallace is a man amoung boys sometimes. When he gets going, look out. They are also getting no respect this year after beating the Lackers. I look to see them having a strong push again in the playoffs this year!

[deltatrend]

Yes, MtraX, MSN Search is definitely weighting toward "local" sites. If I do a search on Portugal, I see quite a few .be domains in the results. This means what you see and what a person from somewhere else sees is different.

From an SEO standpoint, it's horrific. There are no objective results.

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by deltatrend

Yes, MtraX, MSN Search is definitely weighting toward "local" sites. If I do a search on Portugal, I see quite a few .be domains in the results. This means what you see and what a person from somewhere else sees is different.

From an SEO standpoint, it's horrific. There are no objective results.

I think it is great if it is limited to countries. Why not do this? One of the pains of Google.co.uk is when you search you get results of US websites that do not care to ship to the UK. Their is a button to show only UK oriented search results, but I am not sure why Google doesn't just use UK only results as the default.

Now if MSN weights results in the US to the state or region level, that would SUCK!

[deltatrend]

Jaan,
I think it is fine as an option. But, who's to say that a .co.uk solution offers a better solution than one at a .com? TLDs are pretty poor indicators of locality, and I can restrict my search on Goolge that way, too.

I think making it the basis of default results is putting a lot of confidence in a pretty weak mechanism. A company serving multiple areas should then host multiple sites, with nearly identical content - another no no. I guess since most of my work is international, "local" search doesnt't seem to bring much value.

[Jason Tor]

I think local search should be an option. I don't know how many times I've tried to find something local and had a really tough time finding exactly what I wanted - on any search engine.

I have a local Arizona search PPC and it's great, I pull most natural listings from MSN but It's coded to add Arizona to the search, ok so it's still a work in progress but I wouldn't mind the option on all the major engines.

Jason Tor