MSN Search - Approaching D-Day

Is Feb 1st the official date?

[Imaster]

As we know, some sources say Feb 1st is the official date for MSN Search launch. If so, can we expect a complete index anytime soon?

[xcomm]

I must really say they are going better now. Just checked it on 30th for some pop culture related theme they were really bad when begun this BETA. This really has changed last day. Missed authority sites now poping up in the top SERPs - good job! I can not say to much about spammy high money keywords - maybe they are to spammed yet there?
The only big thing I see is this 2nd place pages for a domain are still right before the 1st related pages for this domain. But SERPs really looking better in my area now!

[brixton]

"I must really say they are going better now"
in the fantasy land maybe.....

[yaelede]

I also think that there are still a lot to do for M$.

Though I'm ranked very well for a simple two-word-quiery like "mycity widgets"...top ten, when I insert a third word, e.g. "mycity cheap widgets", then the SERPs become quite irrelevant.
MSN seems to weigh "cheap", just like the other two words, and I can see anycity-widgets-sites all over, apart from a few really relevant sites.

However I wouldn't care if they will launch it asap..:)

[helohelo]

To stick to the topic of this thread:
my resources in the Netherlands tell me that its going out of beta on feb 1 too.
Its going to be in the Dutch newspapers I know for sure.

[GerBot]

Being announced at:
05:01 GMT, Tuesday 01 February 2005 (21:01 PST)

I have the press release in my hot little hand

[RobinK]

Care to share that with the rest of us?

[GerBot]

I'm scanning the PR now for any secret code which will identify my contact first :)

[GerBot]

[microsoft.com...]

[inbound]

I hope they fix the search box on the new MSN.co.uk homepage, it doesn't search for UK results as standard!

[Imaster]

GerBot, If thats for real, then God bless you :)

[Imaster]

A little off-topic, but I also see a huge change in Google serps and the index looks much bigger with less number of url-only type of pages. Perhaps the time has come to abandon the sandbox and let the sandboxed sites loose :)

[skipfactor]

>> I hope they fix the search box on the new MSN.co.uk homepage

Speaking of search boxes, does anyone else find the character width (20 characters) of the search textfield on search.msn.com annoyingly short?

I guess it's set up for PDAs or something, but I always hit the search button with an empty textfield to get to the 45 character width SERP textfield.

or change my MSN search bookmark to: search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=&FORM=QBHP

[RobinK]

GerBot,

Thanks for sharing!

[Imaster]

Another - [webmasterworld.com...]

[TheGuyAboveYou]

I guess this means today! Looks like the
new results are up.

[news.moneycentral.msn.com...]

Official Press Release:
[microsoft.com...]

[Namaste]

It's live. And BG's picture is on their homepage. The egoist!

[Hugene]

HEHE, the picture is too funny

I am happy cause MSN finally puts me 1st and 2nd on my two main keywords. G and Y have me first on both though.

Havent had time to look at the msn serps though, so I wont comment.

The new MSN.com is a bit better, mostly because it is less crammed. Still, it looks too much like a spam page. Yahoo is doing a much cleaner job. The column on the left on msn is just wrong, screams spam right away. An the empty white spot at the bottom of the page is useless.

Cant believe that with the amount of $ they have, they cant make a nice clean home page. Still smelss affiliate links all over the place.

Second thing, here in Canada, I get the folwing url when searching : beta.search.sympatico.msn.ca Is it cause they havent switched the servers yet or is it still beta?

[travelin cat]

We too are very highly ranked for our keywords and phrases, sometimes even higher then Google, however the traffic is no where nearly as great as Google about 1/10 as much....

[herewego]

Generally I like MSN's new search, but in our niche the #1 site is a directory/affiliate with no real content just one product as an affiliate, I've never even heard of this site before (we're a small industry). What's that about then, Bill?
BTW, I'm no defender of Google either :-) their serps are quite a broad focus these days. I actually prefer the rest of MSN's results for various things I've tried (not my industry), but there is the occassional wierd one thrown in there...

[cyberfyber]

'just love that floating ButterFly on their HomePage. Nice touch!

[moltar]

Did you notice that in their Press Release [microsoft.com] they mentioned Webmaster World? This is awesome!

[Imaster]

Microsoft has declared war on Google, Yahoo and other search engines with MSN Search, which is being officially launched tonight at midnight, Feb. 1.

After a development period of just 21 months, MSN Search — in Canada at search.sympatico.msn.ca — Microsoft took the final wraps off its newest product, which it promises will offer a "more personalized search experience."

[globetechnology.com...]

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

The launch date is confusing me. The Globe and Mail is a Canadian site, five hours behind me, and the date there is showing as 1 Feb 2004. Its now 21:04 here in the UK is the launch tonight at midnight or tomorrow night at midnight?

Thinks ... perhaps they have outsourced their site to somewhere in Asia :)

[Tigrou]

Actually it can be explained more simply...look at the date on that page. "Wednesday, Feb 1, 2006"

I know I am having difficulty remembering that year, but I think that is just a little ahead.

As with most press releases, probably has a flag not to show if date >Feb 1 2005.

My countrymen are damn fools.

[contentsiteguy]

It's interesting how Microsoft sees it as a "war" and Google always talks about how competition is good for the industry. I for one don't believe the search engines should be a "last man standing wins" kind of thing. Microsoft needs to get out of the monopoly mindset. Search engine users and advertisers want options. It's the way of the internet.

[lgn1]

I think Microsoft 'war on google' article would be more credible if the story date was 'April 1' ;)

[SeventiesMartin]

Is Midnight Feb 1, midnight as in when it ticks over from 31st January to Geb 1st, or midnight when it ticks from from 1st Feb to 2nd Feb.

Which day does midnight belong to.

And midnight in which time zone.

[skymanhonor]

And where in the world do they count midnite? Obviously not west coast USA because they are live now wihtout the beta and it is only 4:30 pm here.

[steveb]

Have to feel sorry for the msn search guys. Worst search product launch probably ever. The bean counters must have won, figuring having their own product now will lead to greater revenue. If they don't dramatically improve it soon, I doubt anyone will even care about this forum by the end of the year since all it is now is the butt of water cooler jokes: "Look at this msn result!".

They at least should have waited for no follow to have effected their results since they are the center of the blog comment universe.

<and for those who only judge things based on their own results, I'm getting 20% more from msn now than previously>