I do website design and my website draydesign.com ranks # 1 in Google for "web design cobourg". Cobourg is the Ontario town I live and work in, so this search ranking isn't a particularly spectacular achievement.
But compare this to my ranking in live.com search. About a year ago, my website came in at #4 or #5 on Live Search for those terms. A couple of months ago, it dropped to the high 20s. Today it turns up at #88.
So the question is this - does the drop in my ranking reflect an improvement in the Live Search Algorithms?
Whatever changes have occurred in the algorithms have moved the following ahead of my website in the search results:
2 hockey clubs
4 heritage/museums
3 motels
2 inns
3 churches
3 municipal website pages
2 library website pages
4 realty companies
1 wedding photographer
1 landscaping firm
1 antique shop
1 printing company (that does not do website design)
1 interior design firm
1 record company
and (my personal favorites)
1 chimney cleaning business
1 hot tub outlet
1 carpet and duct cleaning business
Also ahead of my website in the rankings were 2 web design companies that used hidden text that included "cobourg", a doorway page that channelled visitors to another website, and web design firms as far away as Tampa, Florida. (I reported one of the hidden text websites to both Live and Google a while back. Google sent me a thank you note and removed the offending website from its results page. Nothing from Live Search.)
Reference to my website showed up in two forum notes and two directories that were listed ahead of my website.
Does someone at Live Search think that these changes over the past year have done their customers a service? Do they think that this sort of change is going to bring more people to Live Search?
There is clearly nothing that I can do to further "optimize" my website for Live Search. Live Search needs to improve. Having hundreds of pages in the Live Search index does little good if the algorithms place irrelevant websites above mine in search results.
Yes, I know, I'm letting off steam. But I've presented rational evidence that something needs fixing. The question is, is anyone at Live Search listening?
... Duane
