The new MSN search engine

RS Marifer · **The new MSN search engine -** 11-30-2004

I found this great article from my Arelis subscription:

On November 10th, Microsoft launched a beta version of their long awaited new search engine. The new MSN Search doesn't rely on Inktomi technology anymore. It's a new search engine that has been built from ground up.

What's special about the new MSN Search?
The beta version has an index of over 5 billion documents and it lets you narrow and customize your queries in a variety of ways. A very interesting feature of the new search engine is the "Search Builder" feature.

It allows you to create custom searches by changing the importance of various search criteria. For example, you can specify domains or countries to be searched and you can quickly construct more complex queries.

Another interesting feature is the "Near me" button next to the normal find button in the search box. The "Near me" button should help you to find local information because it delivers results based on your geographic location. MSN Search also offers special commands that allow you to quickly find facts, look up words, calculate and convert.

Will the new MSN Search be a Google killer?

The new MSN Search offers a variety of interesting features that might be copied by other search engines soon. Although the overall results were quite good, some features such as the "Find near me" feature didn't work very well in our tests.

In general, the MSN Search results seem to be nearly as good as Google or Yahoo results. Whether the new MSN Search has the potential to challenge Google and Yahoo has yet to be proved.

How can I get my web site in the new MSN Search index?

You can use IBP's semi automatic search engine submission feature to submit your web site to the new MSN Search. The MSN Search beta is also supported by IBP's Top 10 Optimizer and IBP's Search Engine Ranking Checker.