MSN Search Engine Beta

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Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)

11th November

MSN Search Beta.

In July 2004, the previous update of MSN Search, was Microsoft's initial step towards providing clearer and easier search results. They removed the paid inclusion advertising, and made a clearer definition between algorithmic "generic" and advertising results.

MSN has invested heavily in creating its own algorithmic engine. This coupled with a direct answers service using Encarta, try asking for "speed of light".

Another key feature of the new MSN Search is its refining tools in "+Search Builder". The system is supposed to give the user the option of a normal, broad search which relies primarily on relevancy and ranking to provide the most suitable results of searches can be refined by a number of variables. Quoting from MSN Search they describe the features as follows;

Search terms – Choose to perform the query based on All words, Any of the Words or the Exact Phrase of the wording in the search terms input box.

Site/Domain – Provides for the specification of either including search results from only a specific domain or the exclusion of a specific search domain from results. To include only a specific domain a customer would enter www.msn.com and select the “Find only web pages in this domain” option for example.

Link to – Enables the search query to include only pages in the results that link to a specific web domain. This feature is useful if a customer is looking for information related to a specific organisation or company. An example would include performing a query for third party sites that have support or knowledge base information related to a specific company.

Country/Region – Provides a way of specifying to return only web page results from a certain country. Available as a selection of drop down, pre-defined countries or the customer may also enter a country name in a free form entry box.

Language – Includes only web pages written in a specific language in the search results presented. Options are provided through a pre-populated drop down list or also through free form input.

Results ranking – The equalising tuners provided in the Results ranking section empower customers manually tune the settings of the algorithmic results they receive from their queries. While the categories of adjustable settings may change over time, the following are those that are currently available:

Revised Date – An adjustment to this slider provides query results that are either more recent in their revision or more static in nature. Perhaps a customer is interested in finding a feature overview of a specific product. By moving the slider to a more ‘static’ setting they would be more likely to find documents that have been unmodified for a longer period than those that are updated frequently, such as price modifications.
Popularity – The popularity slider would provide the option to find query results that have proven more or less popular with the web community.
Best match – Adjustments to this slider determine whether query results will be more exacting to the search terms entered or if they will provide more loosely coupled results. If customers are certain of phrasing and word conjunction in their search terms they will receive more specific and less random results by adjusting this setting closer to “Exact match”. However if they are uncertain if they’re looking for the right terms a setting of “Approximate match” is more likely to include the results they’re looking for.

Saved query criteria – Because Search Builder includes all the search parameters of the query in the URL string, it’s easy for customers to save the intricate search definitions that they have created so that they can easily use them again in the future or use them as a base to define other queries. They can drag the URL to their desktop to create a shortcut, save it in their browser favourites or easily send the string to someone else in e-mail or via instant messaging.

The full list of beta sites are as follows;

M.P

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