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Google search vs. MSN search
Feb. 21st, 2005 03:05 pmOk, so Microsoft wanted a slice of the Internet search engine pie. So much so that they're advertising it on television now. But is it actually any good? I tried it, so you don't have to!
Search query: "free game development libraries" (MSN, Google): MSN's first result seems to be some ad-packed 'try-before-you-buy' software shop. The first relevant result is the 4th, and 40% of the results on the first page are barely relevant. The Google search has MSN's 4th result as its first result, and there's only 10 or 20% of irrelevant results. My site is 3rd on Google, yet doesn't seem to appear at all on MSN. Doesn't Microsoft like me? *wipes a solitary tear away*
Search query: "gothic metal" (MSN, Google): MSN fares slightly better here than before, with almost all the links being relevant, but still Google wins. Why? Reason 1: Because MSN's first result is from the same domain as Google's first result, yet inexplicably points to a random page within instead of the front page. Reason 2: MSN's second result is in German, when there is a corresponding page on the same server (Wikipedia) in English. Reason 3: MSN returns a page about 'gothic metal canopy beds'. Arguably this is still relevant, but to be honest, if you're looking for beds but didn't put the word 'bed' into the search engine as well, you don't deserve to find what you're looking for. ;) Google's first 10 results appear to all be relevant.
Search query: "python" (MSN, Google): Anyone hoping for information on the lovable cuddly constrictors or Palin and Cleese et al's adventures will be sorely disappointed, as the first page of results on both engines is exclusively on the Python computer programming language. Purely subjectively I would say MSN has the edge here, since it gives more unique sites where Google returns 2 results from a couple of places, one of which is linuxjournal.com, not totally relevant.
Search query: "coach times uk" (MSN, Google): Whereas a similar search for 'train times uk' was evenly matched, Google thrashes MSN to within an inch of its virtual life on this query. MSN's first result is for 'www.firstcoach.com' which deals with 'Management and Sales Coaching'. I can see the lexical link but really, I doubt it has much relevance to the 'times' search term, so why is it there? MSN's 3rd result is a hotel site with external links to coach times. MSN's 7th result is useful and relevant if you're in Scotland, but apart from that the first page of results is close to being useless. Google gives you the National Express coach site as the first result, and the 2nd result doesn't look too bad either. Amusingly, MSN Search's 5th entry concerns the coach times to Gen'05, "a series of events for students that Microsoft is running on UK university campuses", hosted on the MS site. I would call them biased, but the same result comes up 10th on Google... :)
Search query: "hoe of destruction" (MSN, Google): If you don't know why I searched for this, I'm not gonna tell you. :) Oh, ok then. It's an item from a 10 year old computer game called Ultima VII, and it should be a good example of how these search engines handle quite specific phrases referring to rare information. MSN has relevant entries in positions 2,4, 5, and 8. All 10 entries on Google's first page are relevant, although one is a tenuous link on everything2.com.
So... out of those search terms, Google won 4 times conclusively, and MSN barely won once. It does have the nice feature of letting you search the Encarta encyclopaedia, but based on the basic search functionality, I can see no reason to switch to using MSN search just yet.
Search query: "free game development libraries" (MSN, Google): MSN's first result seems to be some ad-packed 'try-before-you-buy' software shop. The first relevant result is the 4th, and 40% of the results on the first page are barely relevant. The Google search has MSN's 4th result as its first result, and there's only 10 or 20% of irrelevant results. My site is 3rd on Google, yet doesn't seem to appear at all on MSN. Doesn't Microsoft like me? *wipes a solitary tear away*
Search query: "gothic metal" (MSN, Google): MSN fares slightly better here than before, with almost all the links being relevant, but still Google wins. Why? Reason 1: Because MSN's first result is from the same domain as Google's first result, yet inexplicably points to a random page within instead of the front page. Reason 2: MSN's second result is in German, when there is a corresponding page on the same server (Wikipedia) in English. Reason 3: MSN returns a page about 'gothic metal canopy beds'. Arguably this is still relevant, but to be honest, if you're looking for beds but didn't put the word 'bed' into the search engine as well, you don't deserve to find what you're looking for. ;) Google's first 10 results appear to all be relevant.
Search query: "python" (MSN, Google): Anyone hoping for information on the lovable cuddly constrictors or Palin and Cleese et al's adventures will be sorely disappointed, as the first page of results on both engines is exclusively on the Python computer programming language. Purely subjectively I would say MSN has the edge here, since it gives more unique sites where Google returns 2 results from a couple of places, one of which is linuxjournal.com, not totally relevant.
Search query: "coach times uk" (MSN, Google): Whereas a similar search for 'train times uk' was evenly matched, Google thrashes MSN to within an inch of its virtual life on this query. MSN's first result is for 'www.firstcoach.com' which deals with 'Management and Sales Coaching'. I can see the lexical link but really, I doubt it has much relevance to the 'times' search term, so why is it there? MSN's 3rd result is a hotel site with external links to coach times. MSN's 7th result is useful and relevant if you're in Scotland, but apart from that the first page of results is close to being useless. Google gives you the National Express coach site as the first result, and the 2nd result doesn't look too bad either. Amusingly, MSN Search's 5th entry concerns the coach times to Gen'05, "a series of events for students that Microsoft is running on UK university campuses", hosted on the MS site. I would call them biased, but the same result comes up 10th on Google... :)
Search query: "hoe of destruction" (MSN, Google): If you don't know why I searched for this, I'm not gonna tell you. :) Oh, ok then. It's an item from a 10 year old computer game called Ultima VII, and it should be a good example of how these search engines handle quite specific phrases referring to rare information. MSN has relevant entries in positions 2,4, 5, and 8. All 10 entries on Google's first page are relevant, although one is a tenuous link on everything2.com.
So... out of those search terms, Google won 4 times conclusively, and MSN barely won once. It does have the nice feature of letting you search the Encarta encyclopaedia, but based on the basic search functionality, I can see no reason to switch to using MSN search just yet.
