Timing of MSN Indexing and Ranking

**HHI Golf Guy** · 03-09-2005, 09:21 PM

I thought that I would share some information on the time it takes to index and rank a new domain on the new and improved MSN.

Back on the last few days of January I opened http://www.hiltonheadfsbo.net up to search engine spiders. Within a few days, MSN had indexed 17 out of 150+ pages. Within 2 weeks, the site was ranked in the top 25 for our primary keyphrase, Hilton Head real estate.

During the next 2 weeks MSN indexed about 30 more pages, and the site moved up to #14 for the primary phrase.

Due to a busy schedule, I had not checked the site during the past week until tonight. (Note: Although the site is open for viewing, I have not done anything to recruit listings. Our listings pages clearly indicate that we are not yet "open for business"). As of tonight, MSN has indexed 70 pages and our ranking for the primary KW phrase is up to #4. I have not checked for any other phrases at this time.

BTW, if you're wondering why the site is up and running and we are not yet open for business, my goal is to have good rankings and traffic before I start charging people money. If I'm not driving traffic to the site, then I'm not offering a good value to customers. I want my customers to be confident that they will receive results.

**HHI Golf Guy** · 03-09-2005, 09:29 PM

I just checked our other primary phrases on MSN:

Hilton Head Island SC real estate #9
Hilton Head South SC real estate #13
Hilton Head homes #3
Hilton Head real estate agent #3

Why not Hilton Head MLS? Simple - we are not putting the MLS on this site due to cost constraints. It will be on another site that will be released later this month or early next month.

**judyo** · 03-09-2005, 09:43 PM

When I changed my domain name my site dropped from #1 position to nowhere to be found. I think it took about 2 weeks & it was #1 again. In fact, 2 different pages from my site are indexed at #1 & #2 positions.

I'm still waiting for my 2nd site to be cached by MSN, though (it's already been cached by Google but not MSN).

From these forums I also have been "opening up" incomplete websites since I've learned how long it can take to get indexed on different SE's & I have no idea when Google will update their PR & I don't want to miss it. I have a 3rd brand new site that I've created pages for but haven't finished the content just to get the pages cached.

I was always under the rule that I would never put up an imcomplete page but now I try to get as many up as possible & then go back & start adding to them.

**HHI Golf Guy** · 03-10-2005, 04:04 AM

Originally Posted by judyo

From these forums I also have been "opening up" incomplete websites since I've learned how long it can take to get indexed on different SE's

If you let SE's spider an incomplete site, make sure that all of the links that are on the pages are good links and that you have no broken links. If a SE determines that a link is broken, it may not try to revisit that link for quite some time.

**judyo** · 03-10-2005, 12:54 PM

Yes, that makes sense. I guess a question I have is do I have to have some kind of content, besides a title, on these pages? I try to put something on every page I've created but do I have to worry if one day I only have enough time to create blank linked pages (in case that's the day the site gets spidered)?

IOW, should I wait until I have time to add some content to each new page before creating them?

**HHI Golf Guy** · 03-10-2005, 03:05 PM

What I do is build the core of my web sites (items off of my main menu and my site map) with complete content. As I build my sub pages, I will add the links to those pages on my core pages. Relevant sub pages will also be added to my site map.

Frankly, you can do it any way you wish. So, why do I do it this way?

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Once you add a link to your site, open it up to search engines, or include your web address on print media materials, a potential customer or client will no doubt find your site. Now, what impression do you want them to have of you (remember, your web site is a representation of you!)? Even if your site is only half-finished, do you want it to look that way? Besides that, how many times have you seen parts of someone else's web site "under construction" for month after month.

IMHO, it's better that it looks like a small site rather than an unfinished site. You can always add an "In the News" sidebar or page that discusses the upcoming plans and highlights of your web site.

Here's a better analogy: Did your physical real estate office (location) open to the public when it was 80% complete? Probably not. Your web site is just another "branch office" of your business.

**judyo** · 03-10-2005, 07:31 PM

I always hate the "under construction" signs on websites. However, my new sites are not being marketed nor is the domain name given out & my newest site hasn't been indexed by Google yet. I don't have any blank pages or any "under construction" pages, just not 100% fully finished pages (for example, my reciprocal links pages which I do have some content on already but I'm waiting for them to be cached before requesting link exchanges).

**HHI Golf Guy** · 03-11-2005, 03:08 AM

Another thing that I do when first working on the site is to set the robots.txt file to disallow all spiders. If I do that and I don't have any links pointing to the site, then I won't have any unwanted visitors while I'm setting things up.

Once the core of the site is done, I edit my robots.txt and begin my link building.

Once again, this is all subjective. Some people don't even load their sites on the server until it is 100% complete, other may work live online. If a client tells me they want something different, then I usually defer to the client.