New home for MSN search watch.

Instead of keeping the MSN Search Watch as a blog of it's own, I've decided to incorporate MSN search news into my regular search news blog. It makes sense as it's becoming a larger look at all the search engines as we see how MSN fits in. Frankly, I'm not too happy with what MSN has put out and so I don't feel it deserves special attention anymore. So after today, there won't be anymore postings on this blog, it's all a part of our much larger search engine news blog.

You can read my search engine news blog here. It's updated daily and offers not only search news but some candid opinions on the world of search.

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MSN beta search function improving slightly.

It seems as though the MSN search beta is now beginning to function like a normal search engine should. I'm sure they heard a lot about the blank pages people were getting. Way to get it in gear MSN! The searches are returning full results pages and are loading quickly.

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Stick a fork in it MSN.

As I've been trying to test the new MSN search beta, I'm becoming more disappointed. I'm not miffed at the results which seem to be relevant, but it's the functioning of the search itself. I'm getting messages, that it can't retrieve results right now, try later or I get broken links on the images.

This surely is a poor way to make an entry into the market. If it was anybody but Microsoft, they would have been laughed off the search pages by now. Was it just me or did I expect too much from Microsoft? You would think that the world's largest software company, with all the technology at it's disposal could have launched a new search engine without all these inconveniences. It's at this point that I would like to say that it's two horse race between Google and Yahoo now, forget about MSN. It's going to be a distant third or maybe even lower if some engines like AskJeeves or A9 really take advantage of this opportunity.

Being real for marketing online, RealWebMarketing.com

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The general picture of MSN search.

I found an article from ITBusiness.ca that talks about some of the problems that Microsoft is facing and where their search is at right now. I've been talking about mindshare when it comes to search and this guy speaks to what an average user might be thinking right now.

If your read the article, you will get the feel of a general lack of excitement when it comes to MSN search. This is exactly what shouldn't have happened. People should have been looking at it as a great new tool, not a third rate search engine, which is clearly what it is right now. This wasn't the kind of splash to make, mediocre. Remember that you only have one chance to make a first impression. It looks like they've spoiled their chance to make a big splash in the marketplace. Too bad, because Microsoft makes good product probably even better that Google or Yahoo, but who will be paying attention in the future when the official rollout happens?

Keeping track of MSN changes, RealWebMarketing.com

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MSN search beta, a rocky start.

There has been many reports as well as my own regarding problems that the MSN search beta had on the first day. I guess that's why they call it a beta, but stops in the searches or can't find anything is more of an alpha problem, isn't it Microsoft? I like the results that it gets when it's been working and maybe they didn't have enough resources for the rollout, but I can't imagine that.

It's a typical Microsoft rollout, the buggie beginning, followed by endless versions and maybe in about 6 months they may have something that might be equal to Google or Yahoo. Not a very good way to make a splash in the market and try to take over search. It shows how far behind in this they really were, I expected more on the first day than this.

I like many Microsoft products, but was search one of those areas where they extend beyond a passion to create software, to something they don't know intimately? Only a company with a driving passion for something like search will create the tools necessary to win the game. Is that true with you Microsoft or was it just a way to maintain dominance and make money?

Being real in web marketing, RealWebMarketing.com

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The new MSN search beta, a closer look.

Checking out the new search beta from MSN and I'm seeing some good things, but should this have been released? I like the way it looks that they're not trying to copy Google's frontpage. But I'm getting all sorts of temporarily unavailable pages when I search, more than half. Sometimes when I search I'm getting a quick result and others there is a problem. I imagine the first day rollout will have some problems, but I would think that this wouldn't be one of them. Here's what I'm seeing quite a bit this morning:



When I do get results, I'm generally pleased with what I'm seeing. The results are different than Google or Yahoo and that's a good thing.

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How the new MSN search works.

From the MSN search beta website, they have posted a page on how the new search engine operates. There are a few slight differences from the way others do it, but it's very similar.

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Launch of new MSN search as beta.

Microsoft has launched it's new search alogrithm as a beta test at beta.search.msn.com and the regular MSN site will continue to use Yahoo results for now. Here's an article from the Seattle Times that explains it in some more detail. From the article:

Microsoft's delay in entering the market is not much of a setback, Wilcox said. Google may have an enormous share of the business, but Microsoft controls Windows, the world's largest software distribution platform, he said.

Google is also back with the I'm bigger aspect of this whole search battle.

Google also said yesterday it had nearly doubled the number of Web pages culled by its search engine to 8 billion from 4.2 billion, immediately dashing Microsoft's claim yesterday that its index of 5 billion Web documents was the largest of any Web index in existence.

Even though MSN is coming later to the search party, the other competition is concerned. This beta release is worth taking a look at and seeing what is different from Yahoo or Google for websites that you might be concerned about.

It's really real marketing help, RealWebMarketing.com

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MSN search launching Thursday.

Thursday, November 11 will be the official launch of the new MSN search. Here's the article.

The new search will not include desktop search which will be added later this year.

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MSN still pulling results from Yahoo as of this writing.

I just wanted to check to see if new search results were being picked up from the new MSN search preview and they're not. The search results are still coming from Yahoo as of this writing. One thing that was odd was when I did some searches on the techpreview search, I got several "no results" pages no matter what I searched for. It was taking a long time and then would give a blank page. I would guess that it will be shut down very soon as the new search engine comes out.

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New MSN search launching tomorrow?

There is some buzz that Microsoft may be releasing it's new search technology tomorrow as they have scheduled some press events. According to the Seattle Times, Microsoft is making an announcement at 9PM tonight Novermber 10th. From the article:

It is unclear whether MSN also plans to release its desktop-search software tomorrow along with its new Internet search engine. The company said yesterday it would not comment on its plans until today.

This might be the big announcement that we've all been wondering about. It looks like a loy of fanfare coming up today and they don't do that unless the news is really big.

Here's another article on the release later this week.

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