Microsoft starts using the MSN search engine

And then they were three -- again. Today the MSN abandons the Yahoo! search engine technology for good and starts using its own search engine.

This means that both searchers and search engine marketers now have three major search engine alternatives to consider -- Google, Yahoo! and MSN -- as well as a few additional search engines, Ask Jeeves/Teoma and Gigablast included.

MSN -- the latecomer

Microsoft and MSN entered the search engine race at a very late stage. The company clearly did not understand the importance of search as a generator of web traffic and brand building, or if it did, it apparently believed it could make use of services delivered by others, in particular Inktomi.

However, Inktomi was bought up by Yahoo!, one of MSN's most important competitors in the search engine arena. Yahoo! also bought AltaVista and AlltheWeb, two alternative candidates, and MSN decided it was time to develop its own search engine technology.

Microsoft being Microsoft decided to throw some serious money at the project. The company knew that it would not succeed if it could not deliver search engine results of the same quality and relevance as Google's.

Out of beta

Last year the company started an extensive test program, which finally led to a public beta site where all searchers could test the new search engine. Lately MSN has also delivered results from the new search engine to some of the searchers using the MSN portal.

From today on, MSN will make use of its own search engine technology. You will no longer see listings from the Yahoo! database in MSN search engine results.

Moreover, the beta word is gone. Microsoft now believes that the search engine is good enough to challenge Google face to face.

New features

Among the interesting features included in the new search engine is:

Answers from the MSN Encarta encyclopaedia, adding information about geographical locations, historical figures and everyday facts. MSN has added some 40,000 Encarta encyclopedia articles to the search results for free, which according to the MSN blog translates to more than 1.5 million answers.

The answers will top the search engine results list, clearly marked as -- well. yes -- "Answer".

MSN is not only fighting Google. There is also Apple (which now apparently has a brand that is even more influential than Google's).

If you search for a music artist, MSN will provide information and sample song clips at the top of your search results, courtesy of MSN music, MSN's answer to Apple's iTunes and Music Store.

Then there is, of course, separate news search and image search.

Advanced searching

It was not long ago search engines seem to abandon the needs of the professional searcher, like researchers and librarians. However, lately they have all come to realize that such power users help them build their brand.

MSN is now working hard to improve advanced search functions, but also at making them more accessible to the everyday user.

Under the regular search field found at search.msn.com or at any search result page, you will find a link called "Searchbuilder". Click on this link, and you will get a more extensive menu that lets you modify your search query.

You may add more search terms to your list of keywords and decide whether you would like to search for all of these terms (Boolean AND), any of them (Boolean OR), the exact phrase (Boolean " ")or none of them (meaning that you subtract any pages that includes these additional keywords from the search results (Boolean NOT).

Furthermore, you may use this search form to restrict your search to specific sites or domains, pages that link to a specific site or domain, countries or regions and languages.

You may even change the search engine algorithm by giving more (or less) weight to pages that have been updated recently or that are more popular (meaning, presumably, that they have more inbound links from authoritative sites). You may also decide to get a more exact match.

And yes, you do not have to use this special search form to build complex queries. MSN Search does accept regular Boolean expressions (AND, NOT, OR) as well as "simplified Boolean (+, "phrase", (), -, |). See the Keyword and symbol reference for more details.

The Pandia Goalgetter tutorial has more about Boolean searching.

Local search

A separate "Near Me" button restricts your search to your local area. MSN determines your location based on the IP number of your computer or connection or your MSN country/region setting.

Desktop and email search

If you are using Microsoft's desktop search toolbar suite, you may use the separate "Desktop" link and get results from your own computer.

If you are using Outlook or Outlook Express, you can also search your mailboxes, provided that you download a special plug in. However, you cannot search your online Hotmail account.

Future innovations

MSN has also redesigned the MSN.com homepage. The page has been simplified, it loads much faster and gives search a more prominent place.

MSN will not rest on its laurels. They are working on a web log search engine and will probably also develop its own pay-per-click search engine to replace the text ads provided by Overture now. Why? Well, it is all about independence. Overture is owned by Yahoo!

MSN and Yahoo! make some changes to their search engine sites (Pandia July 2004)
MSN is preparing a new search engine (Pandia June 2004)
MSN has launched its new toolbar suite (Pandia December 2004)
MSN Search Officially Switches To Its Own Technology (Danny Sullivan at SEW)
Introducing the new more precise, more powerful MSN Search (MSN info)
MSN web search help
Microsoft launches into search (Silicon.com)

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