Microsoft finally releases the beta version of its proprietary search engine

Whats the difference?

Following are the some of the features of new MSN Search

For over a year, webmasters and SEOs have seen evidence of MSNbot spidering their sites as MSN-Search gathered information and compiled its database. Microsoft's full entry to the world of search engines will have fairly significant effects on the industry. Up to this point, MSN displayed results from the Yahoo/Overture database. A preview shows highly relevant results under a variety of keyword phrases. Relevant results, coupled with the search engine's clean design and piggybacking on the MS Windows operating system, MSN Search could provide a serious challenge to Google's current dominance of the organic search market.

New MSN Search Beta Gets Local, Personalized

Microsoft is expected today to take the wraps off the beta of its new search engine, which incorporates natural language, local and personalized search features. The service is available at beta.search.msn.com.

The most interesting aspects of the launch are the search refinement tools, which have local and personalization elements. Search Near Me lets users tailor searches to a geographic location, which they specify in their settings. If the searcher doesn't indicate a location, Microsoft returns results based upon the user's IP address.

The company decides what results to return through a variety of means. When it began building its index, it looked at things like the location of the host and the geographical indicators (ZIP code, city, state) in the content of the pages. It then tagged each page with a geographical designation, which can be matched with a user's location.

The second tool set, Search Builder, adds a graphical interface to the typical advanced search features offered on most major engines. The interface, which utilizes horizontal slider bars, lets users incrementally adjust search results based upon three criteria: recency, popularity and preciseness of match.

Lets see how will ut gonna influence MSN.

Will MSN dumps google and Yahoo???

Come up with your views !!!!

Source: XMLmania.com