Nielsen NetRatings recently released their periodic search engine report and, according to their analysis, MSN currently commands a 13.6% share of the search market. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Especially when compared with Google's 47.3% share. So why should savvy online marketers be looking to get a head start on ranking their site highly in MSN Search? One word, two syllables:

Longhorn

Of course, that's Microsoft's yet-to-be-released operating system slated to debut in 2006 and widely expected to be tightly integrated with MSN Search. As a prelude of things to come, we've already seen MSN Search incorporated into Internet Explorer. For instance, type the phrase planet ocean into your IE browser's address bar. You'll find yourself whisked away to a page of search results that are, um ...conveniently brought to you by (none other than) MSN Search.

Now, clearly, when a search engine happens to be the default setting for both the world's most widely used browser and the world's most widely used operating system, you know the handwriting is on the wall—time to sit up and take notes.

So, what's the key to high rankings in MSN Search?