Microsoft overhauls MSN.com to focus on Bing

The new page also tries to cut down on clutter by featuring about 50 per cent fewer links, Microsoft Vice President Erik Jorgensen said. A video pane on the top of the screen plays Silverlight clips, while a middle section offers popular searches. A right-side pane features social-networking services such as Facebook and Twitter.

Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, wants to do a better job of persuading visitors at its MSN network of Web sites to use Bing, which ranks third in the US search market. The Redmond, Washington-based company also received complaints from users that its sites looked dated, Jorgensen said.

“It's been too cluttered,” he said. “We have not had users very satisfied with our search results, and it really looks the same as it did in the '90s.”

In the US, Microsoft's websites overall rank third in unique visitors with 133 million in September, trailing Google Inc with 165 million and Yahoo! Inc with 160 million, according to ComScore Inc. In search, Google attracts almost seven times as many monthly users as Bing.

Many MSN.com users leave the site to search on Google instead of using the Microsoft search box, Jorgensen said. Yet since Microsoft overhauled its search function with the release of Bing in June, customer satisfaction among MSN users has risen by one-third, he said.

The site organises users into groups based on demographic data and past sites they've visited. Using that information, visitors are shown different news headlines on the site. The site potentially may boost Microsoft's advertising revenue by including context-related ads in sections such as news and finance.

The new home page also adds more local content such as Bing restaurant and events listings.

Customers who have installed the Silverlight video software will be able to get a different version of the home page. This one uses the animation technology to enable different panes to slide and flip, as well as allowing new Twitter tweets to appear without reloading.

Microsoft will roll out the new home page to employees today and offer it as an option to US customers later this week. It will completely replace the older page early next year.

The shares gained 53 cents to $28.06 at 4pm New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. They have risen 44 per cent this year.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email