It's Official: MSN no longer using LookSmart Directory results

As of around noon today, every computer in our office was checked for MSN search results, and none of them are using LookSmart results any longer. Therefore, we are willing to consider it official: MSN no longer uses LookSmart for their directory results.

So just what are they using? They're not saying. However, some results are from Inktomi directly, and they have high ranking, and most other results are fairly close matches to results on other search engines that use Inktomi. Therefore it would seem that MSN is using the Inktomi database, but perhaps using a unique ranking algorithm to rank them, even as they did with the LookSmart results.

MSN is the second most-visited site in the world by some measures, and accounts for a huge percentage of search engine traffic. Their rankings were just turned upside down.

Another day in SEO, another chance to start from ground zero and rebuild!

Comments

[Laura Seeley]

Thanks Jenny!

Our blog does get quite a lot of traffic, and has been steadily increasing over time. Hopefully, most visitors have found it to be informative and entertaining!