MSN Live Search Updated!

posted by Christopher on September 27, 2007

Christopher KataMicrosoft has finally updated MSN Live Search. They had planned to announce the updates at the Searchification event, but Akram Hussein, program manager for Windows Live Platform accidentaly released the news early.

Some of the new features include:

  • Product searches will include product details as well as product reviews from around the web in the search results.
  • A celebrity search page that ranks the current popularity of any given celebrity – their “celebrity xRank.”
  • Video previews operated by mouse-over in the search results.
  • 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.

Once again, we’re feeling good about Microsoft these days because it feels like they are really trying to get back in the game with “actions” not just words! This has been a week of Microsoft news including the launch of Halo 3 which has seen tremendous sales. But I’m getting a little off topic here.

These latest changes should prove to make MSN Live Search even better than it was. The more Microsoft innovates the more attention people pay to it. Now all they have to do is come up with a better name. Saying “Just MSN Live Search It” does not work so well as “Just Google It”.

More Microsoft posts from this week:

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Comments (14 Comments)

  1. Court
    September 28, 2007

    It’s about freaking time they do an update. I wonder if they’ll ever become really good… They have the budget to but so far I guess they just haven’t needed it enough.

  2. ckata
    September 28, 2007

    I agree. It’s about time they made some changes. I can only hope that they continue the pace of innovation and don’t let people down!

  3. joseph perros
    September 28, 2007

    Well its good they are finally taking some action to compete – so far it seems they have been relying on ‘net newbies that rely on microsoft because they don’t know better.

  4. New LiveSearch: An Overview » Unofficial SEO Blog
    September 28, 2007

    [...] On a humorous note, in the words of ckata, "Now all they have to do is come up with a better name. Saying “Just MSN Live Search It” does not work so well as “Just Google It”. [...]

  5. Doris
    September 29, 2007

    I definitely think it is good that places are updating their indexes I can’t wait for google to update its page rank!

  6. Amanda
    September 29, 2007

    I definitely agree on coming up with a new name. Google has definitely taken over the internet world when it comes to searching to the point where when watching a show, it is not unlikely to hear the word Google.

  7. GroundFloorSEO.com Syndicated SEO News » New Live Search: An Overview
    September 30, 2007

    [...] On a humorous note, in the words of ckata, "Now all they have to do is come up with a better name. Saying “Just MSN Live Search It” does not work so well as “Just Google It”. [...]

  8. ckata
    October 1, 2007

    It’s nice to see I’m not alone on this one!

  9. Michael C
    October 1, 2007

    Do you think these updates will really improve the search results?

  10. Express Medical Supplies
    October 2, 2007

    Google is getting out of control….it’s about time someone stepped up to the plate….here’s hoping that they can compete!

  11. Vera Bradley
    October 2, 2007

    Looking really nice. Super fast and the results look pretty decent, Looks a little like google.

  12. ckata
    October 3, 2007

    It does look a little googlish!

  13. Dallas Office Space
    October 3, 2007

    Much better, however years away from being anything like Google.

  14. Bambi
    October 4, 2007

    I tried using Live Search but I feel awkward since I’ve been using Google ever since.
    Well, yes it looks like Google!

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