14 DAY TRIAL // The introduction of Live Search 2.0 is synonymous with a contradiction on the search engine market for Microsoft. The company's new generation search engine evolving under the Windows Live could suite of products and services managed, together with MSN Search, to attract a larger volume of searches in October 2007 compared to September, but at the same time succeeded in continuing to lose market share to direct rivals Google and Yahoo. A month into the life of Live Search 2.0, and the overhauling introduced by Microsoft failed miserably to turn back the search tide. Both MSN Search and Live Search seemed nailed down to the third position in the three competitor search race that has Microsoft going head to head against Google and Yahoo.
"In the October 2007 analysis of the Top 50 properties worldwide where search activity is observed, Google Sites led the pack with approximately 7.5 billion searches. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with nearly 2.6 billion searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (1 billion), Time Warner Network (905 million) and Ask Network (493 million)", comScore revealed.
Microsoft President of Platforms & Services Kevin Johnson recently made public the company's plans to catch up with Google on the advertising market in the coming three to five years. The statistics provided by comScore point to the fact that Microsoft could not be further away from Google, and as far as catching up goes, even moving in the opposite direction. The company's search share dropped from 10.3% in September to 9.7% in October. Simply put, Microsoft would need to go the other way if it is to take the number two position away from Yahoo.
"Among core search engines in October 2007, Google Sites remained the top search property with more than 6.1 billion core searches conducted, representing a 58.5 percent share of the search market. October was a strong month for overall search activity, as each of the five core search engines achieved at least 5 percent growth in the number of searches conducted", comScore added. "In October, Google Sites increased its lead atop the core search ranking with 58.5 percent of U.S. searches, gaining 1.5 share points versus the previous month. Yahoo! Sites ranked second with 22.9 percent, followed by Microsoft Sites (9.7 percent)."