MSN Search Launch December ’04? Wouldn’t it be a kick, if they stick to effective algorithms and the slick look they’re offering in the October tech preview incarnation! That version has me very happy with the rankings of my own sites and those of clients as I’ve mentioned in my previous posts here.
I can’t wait until the official announcement of MSN search and to see whether they will deliver visitors at the same rate as does Google with top ranking sites. I’ve commented before about the much lower referred visitor counts found in search logs for both MSN and Yahoo search as compared to Google and wondered out loud if it were because of the heavy “sponsor” PPC links covering the pages at those two also-ran engines. They simply don’t deliver traffic to top ranking sites at the rate that Google does.
What exactly is the value of a search engine to web businesses when they rank at the top of the SERP’s but garner little traffic from those rankings? For that matter, why would the users of those engines care which sites rank at the top if they instead choose to visit pay-per-click ads on those results pages? Are users of Yahoo and MSN PPC ad “suckers” that don’t know the difference between organic and paid results? I doubt that, but let’s look forward to seeing how MSN delivers on referred visitors once they launch this shiny new baby.
I’m excited to see this newborn only because of the promise of the additional traffic it will deliver to top ranked sites of clients and customers of my search engine optimization services. My tests indicate that the new MSN search will bring thousands of new visitors to my customers, and this vindicates my methods and strategies. That is – content and relevance rules!
Here’s hoping MSN search rules in referred traffic as they prepare to give us all a Christmas gift of new visitors to our web sites.