Why The New Microsoft Search Engine Will Succeed Search Theory

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Why The New Microsoft Search Engine Will Succeed

Posted by Clare Greenway on: Wednesday 2 February 2005

Search Theory

How can the new Microsoft MSN search engine possibly beat Google? If you were to believe some of the news reports you would think it was already a lost cause trying to battle against the mighty Googleplex. But as a recent study showed, people are very fickle when it comes to search engine loyalty.

Most will flick over to another engine if the results are good and although the new MSN is far from perfect, it's a big step-up from their old results which were frankly poor.

Plus is one important difference between MSN search, Yahoo and Google - The billions of dollars that Microsoft is willing to spend to take their engine to the top.

blong

Posted on: 2005-02-02 20:17:12

Your assessment of why MSN search will prevail seems shortsighted. If anything, Microsoft will integrate the MSN search technology into future versions of the operating system - removing the need to visit a 'search web site'.

Comment #1

clare greenway

Posted on: 2005-02-02 20:25:44

You're right and we have done stories on that too. With Longhorn on it's way I think MSN will command far more of the search engine market.

Hence why Google are developing their own webbrowser

Comment #2

Jonathan_Lapoff

Posted on: 2005-02-02 20:56:52

Blong, you have it right. The only way Microsoft could ever win the search war is to integrate the technology into Longhorn and other future Windows releases. The bottom line is, no matter how much money Microsoft has the ability to throw at it's new search, Google's search technology is superior in every way. Microsoft claims its ultimate goal is to make the web easier to use and search for the common user. In that sense, they are far behind. No one even comes close to matching Google's ability to bring the most relevant, quality search results. I don't think Microsoft could ever begin to win the Internet search war without bundling the technology into Windows - something I'm sure the EU will squawk at. Google has done a superb job of creating this new "Internet OS" which has everyone turning to Google for their internet, search, and related needs. With the addition of the GBroswer, which will be based on Firefox, Google stands to gain even more ground. Considering IE's security vulnerabilites and Firefox's advancements such as tabbed browsing, it will be a no-brainer for many Googlers.

Comment #3

chris_c854

Posted on: 2005-02-02 22:29:20

While I agree that Google is a lot faster and simpler (I use it as a homepage), I don't think they are the best and have the most relevant searches. They are biased with their results and choose to exclude sites completely at their discretion. I never paid any online engines to include my site in their results, just the free submit (which Yahoo! doesn't even offer anymore) and I am now listed on every search engine on the web except Google. Even Yahoo! automatically indexed my site as per their strategy that if a site is important enough to index with a lot of links to it, they do it free. Google ommitted me completey because of an issue I had with their AdWords progam pre-ipo and I didn't pay them because I felt ripped off. That's their perogative and I don't want to use their program anymore, but to omit my domain when someone does a search for the actual domain and no results is not smart. I feel my site is at least the quality to get listed somewhere in there, but the only people who come from google now are people who do a product search and find my brand name on affiliate websites. I'm the only one on the web with this name and hundreds of affiliate sites use it but no direct link to me. I love MSN because their new engine ranks me high on very specific phrase requests of 4-7 words. I like that better than just being high for a generic 1-2 keyword phrase because that's the kind of visitors I want. I'll pay for the keywords via Overture.

Comment #4

wtf

Posted on: 2005-02-03 21:42:47

Originally posted by chris_c854:

They are biased with their results and choose to exclude sites completely at their discretion.

That's quite an accusation. Google isn't going to list it simply because you want them to do so, and I highly doubt they resort to extortion. If your site is relevant, I'm sure it would be listed. What's your domain name so the rest of us can verify your claim?

And if you refuse to use their search, why is it set as your home page?

Comment #5