It seems Microsoft have come up with an idea that they hope might help them close some ground on Google on search share.

Obviously this isn’t going to happen overnight but if they can implement a system that returns better quality or is less corrupable than Google PageRank then at least they stand a better chance at attracting new users. We do of course have to bare in mind that the lead is currently huge and Google doesn’t stand still so I’d definitely stop short of saying this was a Google killer.

So what’s this fuss about then? Well Google’s success is built on PageRank- essentially a measure of website popularity by incoming links to a website. This popularity when coupled with relevancy can give a good indication of the importance of a website and therefore help rank it accurately. Now it isn’t quite that simple anymore - Google have added much to their algorithm to avoid easy interference by people trying to manipulate the index e.g. using link farms.

Microsoft are touting a system called BrowseRank which effectively takes a user’s browsing habits into account when working out importance. In other words the websites you visit regularly, the time you send on the site etc.

This is great from the perspective of search results and a hell of a lot more difficult to manipulate than current algorithms. Perhaps search engine optimisation would be come just that “optimisation” or maybe some companies would spend money on overall online marketing rather than just spending huge amounts of their budget just on SEO.

Who knows where we will be in a few years time but it’s the first real search idea I’ve seen come out from Microsoft that I’ve thought has real potential. I’m uneasy at Google’s current dominance in the search market and hope that the market becomes more open in the future (Microsoft or any other company).

It seems that Yahoo! has been able to avoid the attempts of Microsoft to buy them up. Certainly it makes Microsoft look the major loser in all of this however is Yahoo! really the victor?

Share prices of both Yahoo! and Microsoft are likely to drop because of this and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google prices rise.

Yahoo! gets to keep it’s independence but the question is for how long? Their market share has been dropping steady and with Google’s dominance of the search market it’s not easy for either Yahoo! or Microsoft to get a foothold against the search leader.

I actually think the failure of this potential merger is in the long term going to be damaging for both Microsoft and Yahoo! We can only hope that individually they can make up some ground against Google otherwise the monopoly Google could exercise could be very dangerous for online community in general.

Comments on a post about this on BBC News dot.life shows I’m not the only one with this belief. I’ve got to say I’m a little disappointed as I was very interested to see how the two different cultures of Microsoft and Yahoo! would combine - what kind of company would Microhoo! have been?