MSN set to dominate search engines by next year?

[newsguy]

MSN has released their search engine to the world now (if not completely). Microsoft has a lot of ca$h to backup their enterprises.

Does anybody here think that MSN will be a real challenge to Google's search engine dominanace in the coming year?

[newsguy]

Regarding the likelyhood of MSN search dominance, I failed to ask the question that I was really getting at:

Should I spend more time optimizing for MSN now and a little less on Google? Is MSN's search going to be popular enough to warrant that?

Thanks. :)

[St0n3y]

I don't see Google going anywhere anytime soon, however focusing optimization on Google/MSN/Yahoo *somewhat* equally would cover all your bases. However until MSN shows a larger marketshare, Google still gets our prime attention.

[Nacho]

Does anybody here think that MSN will be a real challenge to Google's search engine dominanace in the coming year?
According to the latest SEC filing for Google Inc. (http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1288776/000119312504197540/d10q.htm) reported for For the Quarterly Period Ended September 30, 2004, Google seems to think so.

In page 34, under the "Risks Related to Our Business and Industry" it says:
We face significant competition from Microsoft and Yahoo.

We face formidable competition in every aspect of our business, and particularly from other companies that seek to connect people with information on the web and provide them with relevant advertising. Currently, we consider our primary competitors to be Microsoft Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. Microsoft recently introduced a test version of a new search engine and has announced plans to develop features that may make web search a more integrated part of its Windows operating system. We expect that Microsoft will increasingly use its financial and engineering resources to compete with us. Yahoo has become an increasingly significant competitor, having acquired Overture Services, which offers Internet advertising solutions that compete with our AdWords and AdSense programs, as well as the Inktomi, AltaVista and AllTheWeb search engines.

Both Microsoft and Yahoo have more employees than we do (in Microsoft’s case, currently more than 20 times as many). Microsoft also has significantly more cash resources than we do. Both of these companies also have longer operating histories and more established relationships with customers. They can use their experience and resources against us in a variety of competitive ways, including by making acquisitions, investing more aggressively in research and development and competing more aggressively for advertisers and web sites. Microsoft and Yahoo also may have a greater ability to attract and retain users than we do because they operate Internet portals with a broad range of content, products and services. If Microsoft or Yahoo are successful in providing similar or better web search results compared to ours or leverage their platforms to make their web search services easier to access than ours, we could experience a significant decline in user traffic. Any such decline in traffic could negatively affect our revenues.
The threat is there and it's a reality.

[AussieWebmaster]

Regarding the likelyhood of MSN search dominance, I failed to ask the question that I was really getting at:

Should I spend more time optimizing for MSN now and a little less on Google? Is MSN's search going to be popular enough to warrant that?

Thanks. :)
Optimzing for MSN is like optimizing for Inktomi and the process should be included in all optimization work. MSN it appears looks more at the content on the page etc. so good design for that should be part of page development and then the Google search looks more heavily at off page factors so that should be part of the step following having the pages set up.

[ihelpyou]

That's a standard "disclaimer" made by "every" company in a SEC filing. Of course Google is going to say that whether or not they really think so.

And why worry about MSN right now? It's "beta". Wait until it goes live when the hundreds of changes from now until then will take place. Kind of wasted time to figure anything out at this point.

[I, Brian]

Is there *any* SEO forum that newsguy hasn't made this exact post in?

I suspect someone is testing out duplicate filters on forum postings. :)

[St0n3y]

I think that disclaimer represents the *possibility* of a threat, but not necessarily the *reality* of a threat. Personally I do believe (and hope) that MSN becomes Googles equal in the search race. I hope the same for Yahoo. So, yes, it is certainly possible that MSN will pose a threat and, in my mind, likely, but that is still a bit down the road. MSN will not be able to steal Google's marketshare overnight unless Google simply rolls over and gives up.

[greenleaves]

I think google has a lot of loyalty going for it. However, microsoft has some serious ca$h to back it up. I don't think MSN search will dominate the search engine scene in just one year, but it will have sucked up a very considerable amount of traffic by then. I think it will be worth it to optimize for MSN.

[Chris_D]

Different search engines cater to different users.

Typically, I've found that MSN - whilst it doesn't deliver the volume of searchers that Google delivers - actually provides higher conversions if you are selling from the site.

From an ecommerce perspective, I suppose one way to view it is that MSN delivers more 'buyers' (a higher ratio of conversions on a lower number of clicks) - whereas Google delivers more clicks - but many are 'researchers' (a lower percentage of conversions).

Don't ignore any of them!

[Crichey]

The beta looks promising. I don't think they will eat into google's market share too much. I think they will replace Yahoo in the number 2 spot.