Forum Moderators: mack
started typing a post around april fools day then thought...err....no-one will believe me ;o)
plus you would have to be in Portugal to see this unbelievable oversight.
basically this is how it goes:
1. goto msn.co.uk (from portugal)
2. do a search
3. get automatically redirected to Sapo.pt (geotargetting)
4. the search term passed to Sapo is "search msn" not whatever you are searching for.
5. Sapo.pt has used googles results for years!
MSN sort it out!
Google - Sapo.pt has removed the "powered by google" notice, but the results are still googles.
----------------------------
anyone in portugal - follow the steps above and enjoy!
anyone - check the SERPS at sapo.pt and confirm they are googles.
MSN - check where you are sending your users!
dazz
I get a 302 when I search on msn.co.uk but if I use a proxy I'm not redirected.
Is sapo.pt using it's dominant position as an ISP to redirect users to their search results?!
Anyone using another ISP to check if this still happens?
PS. About the "powered by google" on sapo.pt this probably happens because sapo is a premium publisher. In fact they still have google ads on their search results.
because sapo is a premium publisher
after i looked at the page more closely i spotted the ads
so are you getting the same results?
dazz
but I really don't know what to think of it...
IMHO it is msn's geotargetting
whatever it is, it is very odd ;o)
although sapo.pt is owned by PT (who own the infrastructure) they wouldn't attempt something like this, IMO it has to be from MSN's end.
dazz
This must be some issue with the ISP.
This must be some issue with the ISP.
then why not target google, yahoo, etc
the processing involved to parse every outgoing packet for MSN.co.uk searches from their networks would bring the servers to their knees
the servers are bad enough as it is ;o)
sapo used to use msn's results, i just think they forgot to tell MSN to turn off their redirect :o)
dazz
dazz
