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Richard touched briefly on Live Search last week, but I thought I’d go into some more detail on the new engine.
Microsoft fights at the front of a lot of battles. But one historic battle it’s had problems winning is the Battle of the Search Engines. MSN’s share of the search market has always been significantly lower than either Google or Yahoo, although it still manages to hang onto third place (current Nielson/Netratings show Google at 49%, Yahoo! at 23% and Microsoft at 10% - courtesy of searchnews). This could change with Live Search.
Live Search completely replaces the old MSN Search interface. Right away you’ll notice a much simpler, cleaner design and layout, a standard made popular by search king Google. The change in usability is step one to drawing more users. Step two will be to garner a stronger reputation through popular services and better results than the other guys.
Aside from the standard Web, Images, and News search functions, Live offers:
- Language selection: from a well organized list, located under the options menu.
- Local search: growing database of North American cities, with kick butt maps that let you zoom into specific areas; contact info and driving instructions.
