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MSN Search - Will the world of SEO will change forever?
After months of speculation and two "preview" releases, Microsoft have finally taken the wraps off their New MSN Search Engine. Showing their true ambitions to beat Google in the world of the search.
The New MSN Search can be found at http://beta.search.msn.com. It is a completely new algorithmic based Search Engine built from the ground up by Microsoft developers. Although at the moment the Search Engine is only a beta it is expected to replace the results you now see at http://www.msn.com/ (which currently come from Yahoo!'s database) in early 2005.
With an impressive index of over 5 billion web pages, the New MSN Search Engine can be compared to Google and Yahoo! in both size and relevancy when it comes to searches.
The front end is very clean, and one cannot help but compare it to the look of Google. The Search Engine also offers the "cached copy this page" tool which some users of Google have come to know and love.
So what does this all mean in the world of SEO?
The new MSN Search Engine offers users some very new and interesting features we have not seen before, not least the new "Near Me" tool to search for sites near your current geographical location.
It is clear from the above that MSN have set their sights on Google's number 1 position in the market place and are not planning on stopping until they get there.
To the SEO industry this changes everything.
For the past few years, most professional SEO companies have focussed on Google results only, and why wouldn't they when Google is the most popular Search Engine on the planet with a massive 250,000,000 searches per day?
Now with all the anticipated marketing that will surround the upcoming launch of the New MSN Search, users will start to use it. Although not as much Google to begin with.
This means a whole new field for the world of SEO to play on. With a new algorithm, ranking factors and many millions of extra searches that will be run on the New MSN Search, the smart SEO cannot afford to ignore the new Search Engine from Microsoft.
Google Fights Back:
Upon the day of launch for the New MSN beta, Google announced a massive increase of their index from nearly 5 billion web pages to 8 billion web pages. It is very clear Google is taking the New MSN Search seriously and will not stand still and allow it to take away its current dominant position in the marketplace without a fight.
All this means throughout 2005 Google will too be making many changes to its algorithm and be aiming to please searchers even more on their quest to find the right web page first time.
And we can't see Yahoo! standing still either.
Over the coming year the world of SEO will change forever. Algorithms will change, getting ranked higher will prove to be more difficult, and designing your site for 3 Search Engines which employ very different ranking factors will certainly be a challenge.
This all said, for us as users of Search Engines and SEOs ourselves it is a very welcome change. Which will inevitably push the most relevant sites to the top of Search Engine rankings while promoting good site content, design and layout.
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