SEL: Microsoft Launches New MSN Search Today

check out the Digging into Search swicki at eurekster.com

Search marketing in the new media era.

July 01, 2004

Microsoft Launches New MSN Search Today

After many rumors, Microsoft has today launched a new look MSN Search. Not only has MSN been given a very "Google-looking" start page, but the search results now show paid ads as "Sponsored Ads" in a format similar to Yahoo and Google. Microsoft says they have already injected $100 million into the new MSN Search.

"With this significant upgrade to MSN Search, we are delighted to now offer what we believe is the best search service available for the 350 million MSN customers. Among the many improvements, we're particularly excited to increase the relevancy of many search query results by up to 45 percent," said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of MSN

The biggest news is that Microsoft is testing its own algorithm, starting with the removal of all Yahoo Site Match (paid inclusion) results.

David Vise of The Washington Post reports:

Analysts said Microsoft's move increases pressure on Yahoo to consider changing its practice of accepting payments from Web sites that wish to be included in searches. But Yahoo officials said yesterday that they have no intention of dropping the practice, which they said helps to ensure that relevant Web sites do not get overlooked.

This is going to be the start of the next phase in the history of the search engines...

"This is a huge announcement for the search engine industry as a whole," said Andy Beal, vice president of WebSourced Inc.'s KeywordRanking.com, a search engine marketing firm. "Microsoft finally getting involved with search is going to send shock waves through the entire industry. Google has already seen the competition Yahoo is putting up. With Microsoft and their billions of dollars entering the arena, Google is going to be fighting attacks from two sides."

Andy Beal | permalink | +marktd |

...the search industry queries new media