No more TLD filtering on local MSN Search

.com, .net, etc. are not filtered out anymore

[Torben Lundsgaard]

I just found out that the local MSN search has dropped the Top-Level Domain filter. They used to filter out all TLDs but the specific country domain. This was especially a problem in Sweden because it's very hard to get a .se domain.

Now MSN is focusing entirely on the language of the content and with good results.

[Ove]

yes i have seen that here in Sweden .com urls in the top now that is very good.

/Ove

[Torben Lundsgaard]

This certainly makes Inktomi PFI a lot more interesting for European markets.

[Woz]

Same in Asia perhaps. I just checked Australia and Malaysia. The filtering is off but there is still a bias towards local domains.

Interesting.

Onya
Woz

[Rumbas]

Woz, this bias towards local domains, could it be simply because there are many more local language sites on local domains?
Eg. danish content on .dk etc. This would explain why there are still a lot of local domains in the SERPS.

Well, this basically means that you get local SE traffic (from MSN) without having a local domain. Nice.

[Tor]

It looks like the same thing applies to MSN Norway also. No domains are filtered out anymore.
When you look at the "Advanced Search Options" it seems like the filter still is on, but when we performed actual searches we discovered that this iis not the case.

[Woz]

>could it be simply because there are many more local language sites on local domains?

Me speakum "Strine" (Australian) - not too dissimilar to English, just sound funny...

Seriously, both the Aus & Malaysian MSN's are in English so local language does not come into play. Try searching for "Dictionary" on both of these and you will see the same .coms pop up but with local .com.au or .com.my filling the gaps respectivly.

Onya
Woz

PS Strine = Australian Slang. ;)