Sometimes back in march, MSN/Live took their link: operator offline? Well MSN is now planning to open up that information once more with the new name “Webmaster Portal”. In fact, just some days after when the “link:” operator offline was closed, a small team was formed in Redmond. The team's main focus was to work on the next-generation set of tools, content and resources for SEO professionals and webmasters. Webmaster Portal is a single, friendly place to look for all tools and information relating to Live Search SEO. According to the official release, initially it will support the following categories:

• Troubleshooting tools to ensure MSNBot is effectively crawling and indexing your site
• Sitemap creation, submission and ping tools
• Statistics about your website
• Consolidation of content submission resources
• New content and community resources

As the tools need some more polishing, the service will be made available publicly by late Fall. But you don't have to wait for that long, as MSN has created a private beta program to let users get their hands on the tools sooner. They are looking forward to the valuable feedbacks by users. Email lswmp@microsoft.com if you’re interested in providing feedback on Microsoft’s answer to Webmaster Central and Site Explorer!

The new private beta of the Webmaster Portal is a promising sign that MSN/Live is taking search very seriously and moving in the right direction.

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