The new MSN search engine may change, but here's what we know about it so far.

It does not use Meta tags.
For on-page optimisation the title tag seems to be a strong variable in their rankings. Possibly not as much as Google however.
Anchor text in links appear to be a very strong factor. This looks to have been given larger weight than in Google.
The written content on the page is still a factor in ranking. I can't comment on the weight at this time.

Has anyone else noticed other things that we should be aware of?

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I have pages that I haven't touched since writing them ranking #1 for ULTRA competitive terms using oldschool SEO

kw in title
kw in desc
kw in meta kw

H1 with keyword
first paragraph kw bolded and sprinkled throughout as whole and pieces if long.

H2 with kw
paragraph again contains kw

throughout the rest of the page let the kw occur naturally in your writing, dont overstuff

last P make sure it is as strong as the first for the kw phrase

Links to other pages on your site with kw as part of anchor

Tada!

Oh yeah and lots and lots of inbound links with kw as anchor text

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KW in URL seems to have a higher weight in MSN than G as well...noticed this during the earlier techpreview releases...thankfully it has lessened a bit, but still important.

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It simply a 10 month old Google copy with no filters....

they'd better do better than that - if they wanna be taken seriously....

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Agreed Clasione. I am not impressed yet. Where is the big innovation here? Mind you, it is still a beta. If they intend to release in the new year though and these are their offering, think they have the potential to be in a lot of trouble, as other competitors are on the ball. If they rease finally a big change and a very clever and effective one...good on them , lets see it

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Search Science

I hope that they do not create a replica of G. People need alternative results, what would the point in producing an identical search?

They will probably keep modifying the algo before it goes live. I see results changing on a daily basis.

Mike.

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I've seen similiar results, with the beta replicating placement almost exactly for any Google 'allinanchor' position.

It's all just a little too easy in my opinion.

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I think that we must wait some time... MSN new beta is changin algo all the time and I can see how my positions are dancin without any changes.

...the problem is that its not the algorithm changing, its the weights.

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Search Science

Xan is correct on this one; it is just the weighting of title, url, anchor text, density, etc that has been changing. The algo itself has been pretty stable for the last few weeks.

It isn't perfect, as I mentioned in my reply to the MSN beta blog posting for today, but it is good enough to at least replace the Yahoo results, which don't even seem to be based on logic anymore.

Cygnus

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