Algorithm anyone?

Her's your chance to comment on your analysis and prove your worth!

[twebdonny]

Anyone start analyzing the algorithm used for ranking as yet? It seems totally different than both Yahoo and Google once you get past the results for the big name companies. Backlinks? Keywords? Anchor Text? what makes this tick?

Come on Genuises, this is your chance to shine and prove your metal. hahaha

[Leosghost]

stuck are you? ;) ...No free lunches at this stage boyo

[phantombookman]

Before the even bother with an algo they should start indexing some sites and get some pages on. My sites only have a handful of pages listed unlike G and Y who have hundreds in the index.
Regards
Rod

[twebdonny]

>>>>start indexing some sites<<<<

msnbot has been hammering our site for months now, on a daily basis, I'm certain we are not special, so I assume they have quite a large index right now.

[isitreal]

Anyone start analyzing the algorithm used for ranking as yet

For a 'keyword1 keyword2' phrase, 1,000,000+ returns on google, one of my sites returns not 1, not 2, not 3, but 10 of the top 15 returns. Google successfully filterd out not only this site, but 7 others that use full duplicate content. They are spam sites basically, although the content is legitimate. This site was originally created to get google in its pre florida and on updates, and this stuff was working very well at that point.

MSN alpha Positions:1,2,6,7,8.... This is a small site, and msn alpha is returning different pages of that one site.

Whatever condition the msn algo is, it's not past alpha, though of course I'd love it if it was.

[rfgdxm1]

>Whatever condition the msn algo is, it's not past alpha, though of course I'd love it if it was.

Yep. These MSN preview SERPs at times are downright terrible. I won't waste my time trying to figure out an algo that just isn't ready for prime time at the moment. MSN has a while to go before they let this go live, unless they have a death wish.

[jmccormac]

Algorithmic search engine? Every search engine uses algorithms. Microsoft's algorithm does not appear to be link based or at least has a lower emphasis on link weighting. The algorithm itself seem to be heavily weighted on traditional Title/Meta/body text. Looks like a fairly elementary search engine. The fact that the results are not grouped by site would indicate that the index is patchy and this is either an attempt to present more results (never mind the quality - look at the quantity) to distract the user or sheer incompetence in the presentation of results.

This is very much an alpha test search engine. If these guys don't come up with something quickly, then Microsoft's search engine is just another damp squib. Less vapourware than a stinking puddle. However every initial Microsoft product has been a disaster and it is generally the second version that is more usable. The problem for Microsoft is that search engine operations is a highly contested area and merely throwing a hundred million Dollars and a few fields of PhD turnips at the problem is not enough. It has to give the users a compelling reason to switch search engines. Short of locking in the user via a desktop utility, that is going to be difficult.

Regards...jmcc

[twebdonny]

Has anyone heard of this search being implimented in SP2?

[rfgdxm1]

>The fact that the results are not grouped by site would indicate that the index is patchy and this is either an attempt to present more results (never mind the quality - look at the quantity) to distract the user or sheer incompetence in the presentation of results.

Worse yet. I just ran some test searches. One was for the brand name of a rather obscure pharmaceutical. Of the 15 listings on page 1 of the SERP, no less than *thirteen* were pages on the domain name of the manufacturer!? This search preview can be spammed without even trying.

[hutcheson]

I did a search for a subsite title -- it found it on every page (or at least, dozens of pages) of the subsite. Doorway Spammer Heaven! (and since MSN will be drawing most of its customers from the bottom of the gene pool) attracting frivolous impulse spending affiliate spammers.

This is probably good. It may take a lot of heat and deadweight off the real search engines.