26 March 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Microsoft announces Bing overhaul

Microsoft is planning a number of updates to its Bing 'decision engine' that aim to improve the search experience, based on popularity queries and user trends.

The company announced on Tuesday that it will be testing new design features for Bing "over the next few months." The Los Angeles Times reports that these updates will aim to attract more users to Microsoft's search engine in an attempt to challenge Google's dominant position in the market, and will see Microsoft overhauling many of Bing's key features including Quick Tabs, real-time search results and Bing Maps.

Since its high-profile launch last June, Bing has steadily gained momentum in the US, and currently holds 11.5 per cent of the search engine market according to recent statistics from comScore. Despite this impressive growth, Microsoft believes it can still offer an improved experience to users, with the company's research showing that 42 per cent of all queries made through Bing need further refinement in order for users to find precisely what they're looking for.

Part of this overhaul will come in the form of granting greater prominence to the site's Quick Tabs panel, which is currently housed to the left of search results but will be moved to the top of the page to help users "make faster, more informed decisions" by refining their search queries.

Microsoft is also looking to include more real-time results in Bing. The company experimented with Twitter feeds as early as July last year, and now includes tweets as well as Facebook status updates related to search queries. However, the company is reportedly planning to test better availability of real-time results soon, including offering services such as "most popular shared links" sourced from other sites. To add functionality to Bing Maps, Microsoft has also partnered with Foursquare to provide extensive location-based data.

Taking on the Mountain View giant might be an uphill struggle from Silicon Valley, but by keeping a watchful eye on its decision engine, Microsoft is showing its commitment to offering the optimum search experience.

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