Google's unveiling of a major redesign signals the start of what promises to be a period of intensified competition with rival Microsoft Bing.
"Only two search-engine players are investing heavily right now, Google and Microsoft,'' says Kevin Lee, CEO of search consultancy Didit.com. "The end users will be the beneficiaries of this highly competitive landscape.''
Google touched up its logo, adopted a new color scheme and has begun to insert images more liberally amid search results.
The biggest change? A Bing-like navigable column appears down the left side of search results pages. It is designed to help readers fine tune their searches.
The search giant hopes to "make it easier than ever to find exactly what you're looking for,'' says Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience.
The makeover comes in the wake of Microsoft's successful launch last June of Bing, a revamped version of its Windows Live search service.
Few expected Bing to succeed as well as it has. Bing is now used for 11.7 percent of U.S. searches, up nearly 4 percentage points since its launch, according to ComScore. Google continues to dominate with a 65 percent share.
And now Microsoft is in the process of consummating a partnership with Yahoo to blend Bing and Yahoo Search, which has a 16.9 percent market share.
"You'll see Microsoft pour resources into leveraging Yahoo's technology strategically,'' says Tom Demers, marketing director at search software firm WordStream.
Microsoft has declined to comment about the status of the partnership.
"It's a major undertaking to get two companies this size to collaborate on anything, and search involves a ton of moving pieces,'' Demers says.
The partners are likely plotting ways to integrate new search services into the rising activity on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, says David Harry, president of search consultancy Reliable SEO.
"If Google has one weakness, it's dealing with social networks in real time on the web,'' he says.
The blended services will probably look like Bing.
"Yahoo's really making no secret about not wanting to be a search company,'' Demers says.
The combination "will be greater than the sum of the parts, and Bing's increased market share will be self-reinforcing,'' he says.
Microsoft has poured billions into search with little to show, until Bing.
"Honestly, I'm shocked and very happy that they've been doing well,'' says Barry Schwartz, founder of tech discussion blog Search Engine Roundtable. "Bing is really making a dent.''
