Ready for Microsoft to take another shot at Google? Bing it on On says Google! Microsoft is rolling out a redesigned search site and hopes it will lure more Web surfers than their two most recent search efforts, Live Search and MSN Search.
The new search will be called “Bing. When asked why Microsoft chose “Bing,” he said, “The name is short, it’s easy to say, it works globally.”
Microsoft’s last effort, Live Search, failed to catch on partly because the software maker didn’t do much to promote it. Marketing is no guarantee of success but this time, Microsoft appears to be taking no chances. Ad Age reported Microsoft plans to spend as much as $100 million on advertising Bing.
Some of Bing’s features showed up on a Microsoft blog in March, when the new site was known as “Kumo.” The most obvious difference is a bar of links running down the left-hand side of Bing search results pages. Some searches — especially ones for celebrities or travel destinations — yield links to help narrow results into categories. For pro athletes, it might offer links for statistics and highlights. For Thailand, categories include weather and real estate.
Bing also lists related search terms on the left, not at the bottom of the page like Google does. It keeps track of recent searches and gives people a way to e-mail links from that search history or post them on Facebook. (more…)