In July, Microsoft and Facebook had made a search and advertisement deal, which meant that Live Search would be integrated into Facebook, along with advertisements. Well, the search has finally started to appear in Facebook now.
When you start typing in the search bar at the top right of your homepage, you’ll notice a ‘Search the Web’ option. This is a very clever placement for Live Search, and I expect this to work in favor for Microsoft’s search efforts. The search results are displayed in native Facebook style search results. Related text ads for the search results are shown at the right, showing how the new layout has been thought out well for monetary benefits by Facebook. The search results are provided by Live Search but directly open the search results upon clicking. Notice there is also a link for advanced search.
Facebook
Live Search
The search is also accessible from the All Results page, through the Web link.
This is the best move for Live Search so far, better than Cashback in my opinion. As Cashback and the likes are restricted to the US only, this will open up Live Search to the huge number of growing users on Facebook. I can’t wait to see the possible gain in Live Search market share after 6 months. Good luck to Microsoft and great move!
