MSN Search beta returns results as RSS

MSN Search beta returns your search results as Really Simple Syndication (RSS). On the search results page view source. Right after the copyright statement you will notice <div id="rss_feed" class="clear"> and a link to the RSS feed for your search. Use the parameter q for your keywords (properly escaped of course) and the format parameter should be rss.

• http://beta.search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=Feedster&format=rss

• http://beta.search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=Technorati&format=rss

Very interesting. Yes, Feedster and Technorati will still have a fresher index, but they now have to make a stronger business case. You can add frsh-100 to your query string to give fresher results a higher weighting but the search results are not Last In First Out (LIFO), leading to constantly changing results due to the weightings of MSN.