Microsoft Upgrades Live Search in Battle With Google

Posted on September 27, 2007

Microsoft is phasing in an upgrade to Live Search. The company claims its search offering is now as good as Google.

"The core thing for us is to show user we made a quantum jump in search results," Nadella said while demonstrating Search at an invitation-only gathering at Microsoft's campus in Mountain View, California.

"This time, we feel we can claim we are as good as Google."

Microsoft to the AFP that its updated search technology it loosely based on human brains. They have quadrupled Live Search's index.
Microsoft said it quadrupled its index of web pages from which search results are mined and refined software that figures out what people are seeking despite vague or misspelled queries.

The search platform is "loosely based" on the workings of human brains so it can assess relationships between search words rather than just the presence of words on web pages, said Live Search team member Ramez Naam.

"Search is not a dark art," team member Sebastian Gard told AFP. "It is block and tackle stuff. You don't need wizards and wands."

Relevant charts, maps, video and pictures are displayed on search result pages.

Microsoft announced some of the upgraded features here in the Live Search blog.
  • Relevance, relevance, relevance. We've quadrupled the size of our index, which means we can return the right results for your searches. Improvements like enhanced ranking algorithms, auto-spell correction and better stop word handling help us return the best results.
  • Speed. Pages load much faster than before.
  • Streamlined look and feel. We focused on the end-to-end experience from the homepage throughout the site. For example, search results are now easier to read thanks to work on typography, contrast, colors and spacing.
  • More high-interest content. You asked us for more in Entertainment, Shopping, Health, Local and Video search and we're happy to deliver it.
    • ClickZ reports that Microsoft talked up its Live Search upgrades at an event called Searchification.

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