Microsoft MSN Search Engine to Face Stiff Competition in Evolving Search Market

Strategic Insights -

Microsoft's planned integration of its MSN search engine into the existing MSN platform is met with skepticism from industry analysts, who question the company's ability to gain significant market share in the highly competitive search market dominated by Google and Yahoo!. The Microsoft MSN search engine is currently in the testing phase and is expected to be launched soon, with a desktop search tool already in the pipeline for December.

Key Takeaways:

  • Microsoft MSN search engine faces stiff competition from Google and Yahoo! in the search market, with Google holding a 36.1% market share and Yahoo! holding 30.6%.
  • Microsoft has been developing search technology as a primary area of focus, but analysts question its ability to gain significant market share due to the rapid innovation of rivals.
  • The company would need to develop search technology that is at least 50% better than Google and Yahoo!'s to gain a significant market share.
  • The new MSN search engine is set to integrate more powerful and attractive features, including the Search Builder tool for search customization and the image search feature with 400 million images.
  • Microsoft has expanded its index from 1 billion pages to 5 billion in four months, offering more content than Google's 8.1 billion indexed pages.

Statistics:

  • 36.1%: Google's market share of searches
  • 30.6%: Yahoo!'s market share of searches
  • 14.4%: MSN's market share of searches
  • 50%: The percentage by which Microsoft's search technology would need to improve to gain significant market share.
  • 400 million: The number of images available in the new MSN image search feature
  • 5 billion: The number of pages indexed by Microsoft in four months, up from 1 billion
  • 8.1 billion: The number of pages indexed by Google

Sources:

  • Tomkins, R. (n.d.). Microsoft's new search engine is almost ready. Retrieved from http://www.zdnet.com/article/3256-2131-385840-1.htm?rssapi=true
  • Microsoft Corporation. (2004). Microsoft Expands MSN Search to 26 Markets and 11 Languages.