MSN Search officially opens
The new MSN search that uses Microsoft’s new search engine rather than Yahoo’s results has been in beta testing for a while, but as of today it’s open for business. Microsoft is launching an advertising campaign for the new search engine that will include ads during the Super Bowl, the Oscars, and the Grammy awards.
Obviously Microsoft is willing to spend some of their billions to get this search engine noticed. I’m not sure how many people will use it over Google, but I’ll be keeping an eye on it. Currently my sites get most of their traffic from Google, about 1/4 of that amount from Yahoo, and MSN runs a distant third. The results at MSN are wildly different, though, so some sites will benefit more than others.
Also, Douglas at Stopdesign is impressed that MSN is using reasonably standard XML and CSS for the new site.