Search & Win with a new UI

Earlier this week we launched MSN Search and Win. It’s a contest that will be running through April and you have the opportunity to win some pretty great prizes. I like it because it’s easy. As you search on our main site (or through the flash interface) you have the ability to win prizes. If you’re not interested in the prizes then you can ignore the ads.Why are we doing it? Well there certainly are a number of people who have pondered our motives, but when it comes down to it we have made a lot of improvements over the past year with our algo so people should notice a difference in relevance and a marketing campaign like MSN Search and Win is a good way to encourage people to try us again so they can see the improvements for themselves.

Since you’ve all been doing extra searches on our site due to the contest I am sure that you’ve seen the new UI on MSN Search that we rolled out yesterday afternoon. We’ve traded in the blue for a steely grey. Other changes include a longer search box and hit highlighting in the title.  On the first, we’ve listened to your feedback and on the second, trust us, it makes your job as a searcher easier. Thanks for the feedback and keep it coming. Personally, I like the change, but I’ll continue to search from live.com – I can’t do without my Seattle Traffic Map.

 

Brady Forrest, MSN Search PM