Reno - 1:10 am on May 22, 2008 (gmt 0)

Unfortunately, it won't replace accurate and trustworthy SERP's

From a news story today:

"Microsoft said that 700 merchants offering more than 10 million products have agreed to participate in the program..."

My question is what effect will it have on their SERP's in general? In other words, is MS going to adjust it's algo so the companies that participate in this program will get better position? If any of us are selling products that are also being offered by the initial 700, will we drop in the MSN/LIVE search results as the partner company rises?

Historically there is one thing MS does well -- they make money. So there must be an income generating plan behind this latest scheme, and that's the overriding priority. This does not sound like a company that is willing to do what it takes to develop a world class search service, rather, it sounds like a company that has reached the point where it will try anything to compete against a competitor that DOES have a world class search engine, and is beating them senseless.

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