FORM= in the natural search logs

What the heck do they mean?

[Drew]

I see strange FORM= in the natural search logs. I can assume that MSNH could stand for the MSN Home page but what the heck are DWRE, QBRE, MSNHBT, MSNH, BWIR, MSN6B? It would be good to know if traffic is entering from a particular site to expand marketing efforts.

[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]
[search.msn.com...]

I saw this post but it was a couple years old and had no resolution.
[webmasterworld.com...]

[Receptional Andy]

It appears to be an identifier so that MS can identify which internal search property (and on each property other factors) was responsible for the search. Here's what I get testing a few sites:

live.com: LIVSOP
msn.com MSNH: ( = MSN Home?)
news.msn.com: AE

For MSN.com, QBRE appears (and seems to stick) after an initial search has been completed.

QBNR shows up if you use a news search, QBNR3 if you use the search at the footer of results as opposed to the top.

So, explaining them all would be a lengthy undertaking, as they appear to be trying to monitor a large number of different aspects of user's search activity.

[Drew]

Thanks Andy. I wish there was a key to those codes so I could see where that traffic was originating. Maybe Omniture has something in their help files. I if I find anything I will post it.