Sharepoint / MOSS search results page slow accessing next link

By peter.stilgoe

When performing a search the search results page would display & then any link clicked thereafter, whether an actual search result or another menu item would take 20 – 30 seconds to load.

The problem was that our web front end servers didnt have access to the internet & they were trying to display external federated search results. If you are experiencing this check your WFE’s have external access, if they do not go into your federated seach settings & set it to return results from the local index & not from an external provider ie MSN, Google etc.