Who Uses MSN Search ?

Webfu · 08-12-2006, 01:49 AM

Do you have an idea of what kind of person / demographic of people uses MSN search instead of Google or Yahoo ?

Any thoughts ?

John Scott · 08-12-2006, 04:29 AM

I'd guess that most MSN search users are newer to the Internet, but I do know one guy who runs a large business that does quite a bit of online business who uses MSN.

JamieJelly · 08-12-2006, 07:54 AM

I read on threadwatch that IE7 is an automatic update for IE6 users, and once updated, will reset the homepage to msn.

When it is fully released, I imagine those with high rankings in MSN should see some good traffic.

Webfu · 08-12-2006, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Scott

I do know one guy who runs a large business that does quite a bit of online business who uses MSN.

What type of industry is his business ?

saidev · 08-12-2006, 09:08 PM

Most people I've seen to use MSN are older people (no offense to anyone here), I know a 98 years old man who is learning to use MSN and writing emails to his kids while his wife 96 is also doing the same thing. Also have a few retired client won't use anything but MSN, I guess once they understand it and find what they need, they don't want to use anything else.

bermuda · 08-13-2006, 10:09 AM

It's not the point just who is using MSN but a fact that anyone interested in making searches online has three names in mind, Google, Yahoo and MSN.

I have found websites on MSN that do not appear on Yahoo and Google.

Also recently, the extremely fast MSN crawler has surprized many webmasters, getting their web pages listed in no time but waiting days and weeks for Yahoo and Google to visit them.

gaz545 · 08-13-2006, 01:12 PM

msn is changing to http://www.live.com/ after it is out of beta..

Richie_Ni · 08-13-2006, 07:03 PM

I don't use msn search

As John said,most newbies use it

Webfu · 08-13-2006, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saidev

Most people I've seen to use MSN are older people

--- > Saiddev - You said it best.

This is the pattern I seem to be seeing to. I've been waiting for the last 2 days to see if anyone has made this same observation. Older people and rookie inet surfers are the people I see using MSN most often.

But every once in awhile I'll see a person who I think ought to know better using msn to search. Then I ask " why are you using MSN to search instead of Google. " -- I don't know what to expect but I usually get the answer - " I like the way it looks " or " I always find what Im looking for on MSN. " -- On top of that,,,, I see a lot business owners {usually men} using MSN as their homepage and search portal. WTF ?

This one fella I did an seo project for owns his own film production company and his whole office is ALL Mac. No PC's to be found. So we go into a meeting about how the SEO Project is coming along, he pulls out his Powerbook and his freakin homepage is MSN ? I don't get it. What is it with the business owners ? Now plz don't consider my rants as complaints - all the sites we work with kick ass in MSN search and are doing pretty sweet in Google to. So if more people start using MSN - Im all for it. I don't really care either way as long as they click on my websites first... personally though - when its time for me to do some Inet shopping my preference is Google.

More useless msn mumbo jumbo...
Dell used to have an exclusive deal with MSN when you bought a dell your homepage would be Dell/MSN - now its Dell/Google.

I think Hotmail suckers a lot of people into using the MSN search as well. And oh shiesta,,, the new version of IE ? Automatically making your homepage MSN as well.... I guess thats ok. The people that know what to do will change it, and the novice PC user or lazy peeps will leave it at MSN.

**Rankenstein** · 08-14-2006, 02:43 AM

I think a lot of it is that MSN has a bunch of content on their homepages, Google doesn't. And the first thing you want to do when you go online isn't necessarily to search. It makes much more sense that MSN would be a homepage rather than Google.

Johan007 · 08-14-2006, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rankenstein

... content on their homepages, Google doesn't. And the first thing you want to do when you go online isn't necessarily to search. It makes much more sense that MSN would be a homepage rather than Google.

Google does! Select the "Personalised Home" link on the top right of Google - but not many people bother setting it up. I don’t think the portal type homage is a proven model... most people rather search?

**Rankenstein** · 08-14-2006, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johan007

Google does! Select the "Personalised Home" link on the top right of Google - but not many people bother setting it up.

Yeah true, I've set mine up for Google but never use it anyway. I prefer it 'clean'. Google UK's my homepage but that's not surprising for an SEO. I think we sometimes have blinkers on when it comes to thinking about what people want when they're online. According to the latest Alexa top 10 (forget the accuracy problems with Alexa for a minute, just pretend

) first Yahoo, then MSN are more popular than Google. But we know for a fact more searches are done at Google. So Yahoo and MSN are more popular for different reasons, which must be the portal element. Or is that faulty logic? Not to mention faulty stats?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johan007

I donâ€™t think the portal type homage is a proven model... most people rather search?

I don't know, Yahoo seems pretty popular as do MSN. We know people don't use their searches anywhere near as much as they do at Google.

Webfu · 08-14-2006, 01:34 PM

So Yahoo and MSN are more popular for different reasons, which must be the portal element. Or is that faulty logic? Not to mention faulty stats?

-- > You've got a good point Rankenstein.

I think the logic is valid... If you want to start your day with info or news Yahoos and MSN's homepage is more appealing than Googles. You nailed it. I use Yahoo as my homepage, but do all my searches through my G-Toolbar.

Web Gazelle · 08-15-2006, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Webfu

Do you have an idea of what kind of person / demographic of people uses MSN search instead of Google or Yahoo ?

Any thoughts ?

Microsoft employees that don't want to be fired, use MSN.

adamx8 · 08-15-2006, 09:45 AM

I also use yahoo as my home page and use the google bar to search from. I get the majority of vists on my site through MSN. They are way better with crawling and getting to the top without a doubt. I am number one for most keywords in my niche. I think people use them for the same reason they used aol. In the beginning you want trust and a solid relationship with a content provider. MSN is so well known, google isn't as well known unless your seo or doing the stock market. I just mean everything is Microsoft, they put out an actual product you can put your hands on, or watch your kids playing on XBOX Live, etc...MSN really does have it like that. Google is just a huge advertiser hub, so most new users feel comfortable with that and just like my dad for instance, he has had a computer for 5 years. He is well beyond the newbie stage and still has aol...why? Becuase that's home to him and doesn't want change or a new email address.

Mong · 08-15-2006, 10:17 AM

I have deleted it from my memory

Marketing Guy · 08-15-2006, 11:31 AM

I use MSN to find spam.

2nd only to Yahoo site explorer in my experience. Many times when reviewing potential client sites, I've found evidence of their past indiscretions via MSN - very good for finding link spam networks, dup content, etc.

Webfu · 08-15-2006, 02:21 PM

Marketing Guy, how do you use MSN to find spam ? Second, why would you be looking for spammy websites ?