Microsoft has once again redesigned their Web search engine, adding a few bells and whistles to try to make up ground on Google and Yahoo, who are miles ahead of Microsoft’s latest attempts.

The Redmond software giant has never been successful with search, though it keeps trying. The last two incarnations, Live Search and MSN Search, barely registered on the search-o-meter, which is still turned up loud by Google and even gives some recognition to Yahoo. If history is a teacher, we can count on more yawns for Microsoft Bing, even if their launch is better that Wolfram Alpha’s.

The innovations in Bing are clever in some ways. The user interface tries to make it easy to refine searches by featuring links that make that easier, according to an AP story. For example, if you search for England, you get refining links that will get you detailed population data, weather statistics, or history. Of course, Google has been putting similar links at the bottom of some search pages for some time, so that is not likely to be a major advantage. Microsoft uses a similar tactic to narrow shopping searches, like presenting lists of prices and manufacturers.

Microsoft is still badly stung by being far behind in the search wars. Nor is the battle even close: Google 64.2 percent, Yahoo 20.4 percent, Microsoft 8.2 percent. That means that Google is doing roughly 8 times better than Microsoft in search. In a masterstroke of understatement, Steve Ballmer, earlier this week said, “We want to do better. There are times in our history where we’ve felt a little bit like Rocky. It takes persistence in this stuff. You don’t always get things right.”

Last time they didn’t get much of anything right, including advertising for a new search strategy. Industry advertising watchers say that they are putting more bling behind Bing, with a plan to spend $100 million in ads for the new search service. The question is, will that do the new service any good in the field?

The answer is probably not. Google is more than a household word in search. For most people, Google simply is search. Google is the way you find things, and neither a few refining links, nor a merger with Google, nor millions spent on advertising is going to change that anytime soon. Microsoft continues to fish when it should cut bait.

Related:

Entry was posted on Sunday, May 31st, 2009 at 2:27 pm under Google, Internet, Microsoft, Yahoo!.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
Stumble It!