MSN search analysis will covers the following topics:

1. Generic Analysis
2. MSN Search directions - Acroterion Prediction
3. What will happen with MSN Search at 2004?
4. What will make you sleep well at 2004? What to do?

Generic Analysis

June 2003. Microsoft launched a new search program called MSNBot. MSNBot is believed to be the first step in a multiyear plan to build new search technology that bridges Microsoft's home and business customers. Company executives hope the program will eventually prove to be the elusive technology that binds its various Web sites, applications and, of course, the dominant Windows operating system.

Microsoft could then connect the search engine of its MSN portal to new file technology planned for the next version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, which will make it easier to search e-mail, spreadsheets and documents on PCs, corporate networks and the Web. The result would be a powerful technology reaching from the desktop to the greater Internet that could displace Google as the Web's leading search engine.

What Google has done in terms of doing a great end-user experience has led us to basically go back and redouble our efforts," Microsoft Vice President Yusuf Mehdi, who oversees the MSN division, said at a conference held by investment bank Goldman Sachs last month. "We are investing a lot to build what we expect and hope will be the best-in-class search service in the near future."

The move begs obvious comparisons to earlier Microsoft campaigns, including the infamous undoing of Netscape Communications in the browser market. But Microsoft is not trying to unseat a leading rival simply to catch up with a market it had underestimated, as it has in previous battles. The company would be moving in its current direction even without the presence of Google, because search is expected to evolve into a pivotal part of its business.

Nevertheless, Microsoft may use some familiar tactics in the search market, most notably by integrating and distributing the technology throughout its many products and services. The company could, for example, embed connections to related Microsoft search and mapping functions directly into Word documents or Web sites built with Windows development tools.

The goal is vintage Microsoft: Keep customers within the Windows universe; build demand through popular functions such as search; and bypass the need for services from competitors. This strategy, in theory, will give consumers more incentive to buy Windows software and use Microsoft services, while taking away revenue that Google receives for search results.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer  identified search as one area where Microsoft will offer "new end-user functionality and services." As part of his "integrated innovation" message, he said the company needs to "reach out broadly" through search, consumer services and other avenues to grow.

MSN Search directions - Acroterion Prediction

"Commercial search pays the bills, algorithmic search keeps the customer happy". MSN has deals with Inktomi and LookSmart to power its Web search results, though the future of its deal with Inktomi has been questionable since Yahoo acquired the company late last year. Still, for all its resources and influence, Microsoft has yet to find a runaway winner in consumer services--and, in fact, continues to suffer from the failures of its last high-profile initiative launched three years ago. A planned consumer-oriented Web service, called .Net My Services, was eventually shelved because of market confusion, a lack of partners and other factors.

This time, Acroterion research team believe, Microsoft may finally have learned the painful lessons of its many miscalculations on Web-related businesses, which date back to the early 1990s when the software giant initially failed to grasp the significance of the Internet as a whole.

What will happen with MSN Search at 2004?

• Microsof will go out at spring with its  beta.search.msn.com
• Microsoft will keep LookSmart, its last straw, close to the chest 
• Many features of the new MSN search will be copied from Google. Read more »
•  MSNBot will continue to crawl the web at it started at 2003
• A new and novle search engine will be build. Full production product is scheduled to 2006. 

What will make you sleep well at 2004? 

WHAT TO DO	HOW TO DO	WHEN TO DO
Keep a bug-free website	Run CheckIT	Every month or major site change
Go with LookSmart	Run and manage more ads.  Run Acroterion's LookSmart reports	Now!
Index more pages	Implement Acroterion's ConnectIT	Every quarter
Use express inclusion	Use http://ink.ineedhits.com for express inclusion with  Inktomi. Use Robots metatag smartly  will save you money	For any new page
Increase Link Popularity	Contact site owners and directories	30 minutes a day
Web pages optimization	Deploy SpiderIT	For any new page or template.  For any change with search algorithm
Prepare for the unknown	Run AdGuard reports.  Turn campaigns on/off.	Every week
Track Results	Use Acroterion Tracking Reports	Every week