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Can Microsoft Out-Google Google?
It aims to grab more of the search market with a new slew of search services that copy, and try to build on, Google's approach
Editor's Review
The Good
Offers both no-frills and info-rich, customized search. Related results are relevant
The Bad Looks a lot like Google; video search still in beta
The Bottom Line
It may not score originality points but does make for a solid search experience
If you can't beat them, copy them. At first glance, that seems to be Microsoft's strategy to capture more of the search market. On Sept. 11, the software giant officially released from testing a trio of search services: Live Search, Live.com, and Live Local Search, which share a striking resemblance to Google's own offering.
Unlike MSN.com, Microsoft's longtime search site, Live.com has the streamlined look of Google's homepage. The basic site is a bar with several words underneath linking to, among other things, an image search, a Web-only search, and a map program featuring 3-D aerial shots similar to those found in Google maps.
RELEVANCY. It makes sense why Microsoft (MSFT) would release a platform similar to Google's. Despite having 465 million unique viewers on its MSN site each month, Microsoft has lagged a distant third behind Google (GOOG) and Yahoo! (YHOO) in the search market. Nielsen NetRatings puts MSN's share of the market at just 9.6% for July, 2006, the last month for which the company has statistics. During that same period, Google controlled 49.2% of the market, with 2.78 billion searches. Yahoo came in second with 1.35 billion searches, representing 23.8% of total queries.
Sid Parakh, an analyst at McAdams, Wright, and Ragen, says computer users were visiting MSN for its content but then leaving when they wanted to find more information. "Microsoft realized that, even though they have a lot of traffic on their Web site, people were going to Google or Yahoo for searches," Parakh says. A major reason for the search switch was relevancy. Computer users who searched MSN would sometimes receive different, perhaps less targeted, results than when they searched Google and Yahoo, Parakh says.
The new engine, Live.com, has resolved these issues. A recent search for "cars" on Live Search and Google yielded many of the same results in the top 10, including cars.com and a stock analysis of Avis Budget Group (CAR). Similarly, a simple search for a word or two also yields results with relevant ways to refine the search. For example, a search for "home" would bring up suggested queries such as "home loans."
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE. Another reason for leaving MSN, it seems, is that computer users like the simple search bar and customization features that Google offers. Microsoft's senior product manager for Live Search, Justin Osmer, says the design of the site was influenced not by Google, but by what users said they wanted. "I don't know how much we actually look at competitors, but we ask customers to say what is working for them and what is not," says Osmer.
One of the major pain points users sited with MSN was that it had too much information for a search page, Osmer says. MSN was developed as a dual search engine and destination site, similar to Yahoo and Time Warner's (TWX) AOL, where computer users can see the top news, economic, and entertainment headlines as well as enjoy original content. That design appealed to some users but turned off others who wanted a simple toolbar or the ability to customize their search homepage with their chosen sources of information and entertainment. Robert Toomey, chief strategist at Seattle's E.K. Riley Advisors, says the new site is more appealing. "The new Live Search does look better—it seems cleaner," he says.
After six months of beta testing, Microsoft decided it had enough of a handle on this other group of users to give everybody what they wanted. For the users who like MSN, it is still there with a search toolbar powered by Live that can deliver better results. For the others, there is a Google-like Live.com site with some additional functions. "MSN is really for those who like a pre-programmed experience and want to jump in and get a snapshot of what is going on in the world," says Osmer. "We are really giving customers a choice."
SEARCH STANDINGS. Among the best of the new functions are Microsoft's customization features. Users can create tabs to homepages featuring a variety of self-selected information. Links can either be chosen from a menu of news sites and blogs compiled by Microsoft or favorites compiled by users while conducting searches. For example, if a user stumbles upon a supported blog or site that he or she likes, it can be added to the user's homepage by clicking on a link that adds it to Live.com. The link can be removed at any time.
The tab layout of Microsoft's homepage allows users to toggle back and forth between customized pages. This is beneficial because it allows users to have pages that aggregate different types of information rather than, as with Google, having all their information on one homepage.
Features such as this one and suggested queries should eventually improve Microsoft's standing in the search game, says Charles Buchwalter, vice president of industry solutions at Nielsen NetRatings. "The market is far from settled," says Buchwalter. "Despite how much momentum a player like Google has made in the search arena, we are still in the early stages of this battle."
And Microsoft could win by beating Google at its own game, doing what it does only better.
