14 DAY TRIAL // The past year, Google became synonymous with search. Literally. The term was included in dictionaries as a transitive verb, indicating the generalization of a corporate brand and the complete identification with the process and service served under its umbrella. Microsoft is still lagging behind the Mountain View at a distance in terms of the actual share on the market, but when it comes to its own brands of search, the Redmond company is not even in the same league as Google. Both MSN and Live Search are situated at the periphery of the search market while Google is the core, and with Yahoo between them. This week, Microsoft is expected to unveil the next generation of the Windows Live Search engine.
Still, while building a search engine - or in Microsoft's case, a couple - is a problem easily dealt with sufficient resources, building a brand is an entirely different thing altogether. And in this context, Live Search 2.0 will be introduced into a world where both Microsoft's search engine share and brand are suffering. According to statistics released by Nielsen//NetRatings and Hitwise the past week, following a jump in June, the combined results of MSN and Live Search are now on a new descendant trajectory.
Data published by comScore comes only to confirm that in August, the search share of Live Search and MSN has begun to slowly erode. "In August, Google Sites maintained its position atop the core search rankings with 56.5 percent of U.S. searches, gaining 1.3 share points versus the previous month. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 23.3 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites (11.3 percent), Time Warner Networks (4.5 percent) and Ask Network (4.5 percent). Nearly 5.5 billion core searches were conducted at Google Sites during the month, marking a 1.6 percent increase in volume versus July. Time Warner Network, assisted by gains at AOL, gained in query volume, with a 1.2-percent increase to 441 million searches," revealed comScore.
Dropping from 12.3% in July to 11.3% in August, Microsoft seems destined to remain the traditional occupant of the third position on the search market. Taking Live Search into a new direction will help little with positioning Microsoft as an equivalent, or at least a viable alternative to Google. After all, only one of the two is actually a verb synonymous with Internet search.