ow that MSN search has interface I feel more inclined to
changed its look and search use their search engine.
results I thought I'd do a
little digging into the new look Why, you may ask?
to see what I could come up with.
For one thing, I could never
Overall I am impressed with the really put my finger on what it
new look even if the current was that bothered me about it
results aren't that spectacular. until MSN changed the look. I
think it was the blue bars that
But is the new MSN really that used to run across the top and
much better? bottom of the search results
page.
As you've already no doubt heard,
MSN Search has changed their Now, instead of wide blue bars
look. But there's more to this there are sleek silver-grey bars.
new look than meets the eye.
Also, the top bar where the
I've always been apprehensive search box is became narrower. To
about using MSN Search. It's not me this makes the page seem less
because the results are generally "closed in" and more visually
less relevant than other engines appealing. I now feel as if I can
(although that's always been part trust the results more because
of the problem) but I've never they have more room.
really liked the search results.
I've also noticed that MSN has
To me they were always too been playing with the display of
crowded and dark. the titles. Before this change,
they seemed to bold the entire
But now that there's a new search title, as well as bolding terms
which matched the search query in to 2004, but most recently - even
the snippet. as recent as a few days ago -
there was no bolding on matched
Now, they still bold terms terms.
matching the query in the snippet
but they also only bold the When you look at the sponsored
search term matches in the title. results you will see even more
Additionally, the font used for differences.
both the title and snippet are
smaller. While looking at searches
performed in Firefox, I thought
These help to create a more I'd perform those same searches
visually appealing search result in Internet Explorer. Here's
making it easier to spot the best where things got interesting.
match to what you are looking
for. While the organic results were
the same, some things caught my
You see as humans, we like to eye. First, the sponsored ads
take the easy way out. Most of us appear much smaller in Firefox
are "scan and click" search than IE. The font size used to
engine users. We scan the results display the top and side
hoping something will "jump out" sponsored ads is smaller than the
at us. This is how Google became organic results. In IE they are
so popular - because they the same.
realized early on that we like
visual cues to help guide us on Also, in Firefox I was seeing
the web. Yahoo! sponsored results, however
in IE I was seeing Microsoft
MSN tried this for a while - I Sponsored results.
found examples of it dating back
That's right, I was seeing page to see if perhaps they were
different sponsored results doing some kind of browser
providers depending on the detection before rendering the
browser I was using. page but I didn't see anything
other than some style
Even the layout of the sponsored modifications for IE on Mac.
ads was different. With Firefox
and the Yahoo! ads, the top Of course, this is still early in
sponsored stretched across the the game for the new MSN look. I
page and the side sponsored expect they will continue to
started at the same line as the tweak and refine it until it's
organic result, creating a fairly just right. As a result, if you
large blank spot in the upper do try the same tests I did (with
right hand corner of the page. a side by side browser test) you
may not see the same results.
However on the IE browser with
MSN ads, that blank space In the end I do have to say,
disappeared and the side results aside, the new look is
sponsored ads moved up to be in more visually appealing and at
line with the top sponsored least for me makes it easier to
results. It made the page look accept the results. I don't feel
much more organized. overwhelmed because of the
previously small space available.
I looked into the CSS and
JavaScripts being executed on the
About the Author:
Rob Sullivan is a SEO Consultant and Writer for http://www.textlinkbrokers.com. Textlinkbrokers is a link building company. Please provide a link directly to Textlinkbrokers when syndicating this article.
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