A Seattle PI Microsoft blogger Todd Bishop did a real world test of some new search capabilities - and compared results of several search services - after seeing a new MSN Search advertisement on a van:

“Some of the MSN Search advertising banners and transit signs around the main Microsoft campus in Redmond are tailored to the area, including this one, above, that shows a search for ‘Pizza in Redmond.’

“After seeing that sign, I couldn’t resist plugging that phrase into the MSN Search engine and a few other big search sites, just as an experiment to see how the results would compare…”

The results are interesting, and it’s pretty clear that unless and until more and better meta information can be specified and used in an accurate way for certain kinds of searches, it won’t necessarily work the way people expect. It points out the fact that there’s still lots of room to improve search services even more.

However, it makes for a useful comparison of the search engines as they are today, in a where-the-rubber-meets-the-road kind of way.