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The new MSN search engine
Five days ago, Microsoft launched a beta version of their
long awaited new
search engine. The new MSN Search doesn't rely on Inktomi
technology anymore. It's a new search engine that has been
built from ground up.
What's special about the new MSN Search?
The beta version has an index of over 5 billion documents
and it lets you narrow and customize your queries in a variety
of ways. A very interesting feature of the new search engine
is the "Search Builder" feature.
It allows you to create custom searches by changing the importance
of various search criteria. For example, you can specify domains
or countries to be searched and you can quickly construct
more complex queries.
Another interesting feature is the "Near
me" button next to the normal find button in the
search box. The "Near me" button should help you
to find local information because it delivers results based
on your geographic location. MSN Search also offers special
commands that allow you to quickly find facts, look up
words, calculate and convert.
Will the new MSN Search be a Google killer?
The new MSN Search offers a variety of interesting features
that might be copied by other search engines soon. Although
the overall results were quite good, some features such as
the "Find near me" feature didn't work very well
in our tests.
In general, the MSN Search results seem to be nearly as good
as Google or Yahoo results. Whether the new MSN Search has
the potential to challenge Google and Yahoo has yet to be
proved.
How can I get my web site in the new MSN Search index?
You can use IBP's semi automatic search
engine submission feature to submit your web site to the
new MSN Search. The MSN Search beta is also supported by IBP's
Top
10 Optimizer and IBP's Search
Engine Ranking Checker.
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