The monster search engine, Google, has been constantly innovating new web applications and designs. The company is so highly regarded that in the 10 months it has been traded in public stocks, it has increased in price from about $80 a share to over $300. Of course, a high tech company can’t get this much attention without raising some eyebrows over at Microsoft. Can these two companies, currently on a collision course, survive each other?
Google is the hottest tech name right now, significantly hotter than even iPod. It’s no surprise that Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, is feeling the heat from Google’s success. At the end of June, he listed Google and open source as top competitors for Microsoft. It sounded as if Microsoft is having a bit of trouble balancing innovation with listening to customer feedback; customers expect Microsoft to surprise them with great features, but also to suit their needs and listen when they have feedback. Meanwhile, Google has had progressive innovations in search, which Ballmer recognized.
Still Microsoft’s CEO is unhappy with the state of search technologies. He warned that he isn’t expecting to see Google invading Microsoft’s domain of operating systems, but Microsoft will definitely become a major player in search. Already, MSN Search is ranked number three, behind Yahoo and Google. But that just isn’t good enough for Microsoft. If the software giant has its way, Google will be ancient history in 5 years.
Microsoft is a late-comer to search engines. Up until February of this year, MSN Search was powered by an engine and index leased from their search partner, most recently Yahoo. When Microsoft released its own proprietary index and engine, it had been in development for two years.
Even though it’s new, MSN Search is catching up to Google. They return almost equally relevant results in most cases. MSN Search still struggles with questions and certain types of searches, but Microsoft is constantly listening to user feedback and making corrections. Though both engines are already useful, they turn up different websites as top results. This mean search engine specialists must undergo different optimization for both kinds of engines. Opening up a whole new venue for search engine marketing is definitely good news for those shoved to the bottom of other search engines, and it’s a new headache for those who were doing great before.
Perhaps if users follow Microsoft’s search engine, SEO experts will consider optimization tips for MSN as extraordinarily valuable as Google’s currently are. This isn’t a ridiculous idea, either. Microsoft thrives on targeting successful competitors and taking them down to obscurity. Using the leverage of their existing products, Microsoft will probably try to promote MSN Search. They will likely integrate it into Windows, Internet Explorer, and their new desktop search (which integrates into both of the former plus Outlook). It’s worked for them before. Remember Netscape, WordPerfect, Lotus, and Borland? Microsoft would like to add Google to that list, but Google isn’t getting too worried yet.
Search Engine News 
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