MSN finally getting rid of directory listings

[Apollo]

I was number 1 in MSN for my main site main search term when they were using looksmart. Then I got relegated to the second page when they seemed to dump my section of the directory but kept some others.

Now it seems they have cleared out the directory listings in my area. There was a bit of a bounce a few days ago when they again produced directory listings (and pretty poor quality ones) but now they are back with just straight listings.

I am number 7 but there are 2 above me that are useless so I should at least be 5.

I am numer 5 on Inktomi but still have one of the useless sites above me.

MSN results actually look like a rearrangement of Inktomi results.

It is funny in some other forums people repeating Gate's spin about what MSN are doing with their search engine as though they have been beaten by google and it is going to take a long time to catch up and so on. MSN will be spending billions trying to capture google's market as soon as possible, so it is worth watching it.

[cameron]

With so much focus on Google all the time I haven't really paid much attention to MSN. I just went and checked some terms that I'm doing ok for in Google and I'm not doing nearly as well in MSN.

[incka]

I got alot more traffic from MSN than google on games2go and 3bgames, but I still prefer google.

[Chris]

I noticed some directory listings being phased out months ago.

[Apollo]

Yes I know the directory listings were being phased out months ago and this was discussed earlier but in my area there seemed to be nothing happening after an intial purge which dumped my site but kept another page and a half of directory listings in the results.

Also, MSN are currently bringing only 4% of my traffic so it is nothing to get excited about (although I am no.7 now compared to no.1 before the directory dump). Currently MSN (or whatever results they are using) just cannot match google for the way my site can be found through a multitude of search terms. So even if there are more than 4% of searches done using MSN they cannot find me anyway.

Still, it is interesting to watch because MSN wants this market.