Bots Helped To Boost Microsoft Live Search Gains
 

*Source: Information Week (http://www.informationweek.com/news/...ID=201001092)*
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Earlier this week, InformationWeek reported (http://www.informationweek.com/showA...leID=201000338) that MSN and Microsoft Live's U.S. searchquery volume increased significantly from May to June of this year, rising from 8.4% to 13.2%, based on a report from Internet metrics firm Compete, Inc.

In a blog post (http://blog.compete.com/2007/07/09/j...le-yahoo-ask/), Compete analyst Steve Willis attributed Microsoft's search gains to prizes awarded to users participating in Live Search Club (http://club.live.com/), which features games that post queries to Microsoft's search engine.

Questions immediately arose about the atypical magnitude of Microsoft's search share gain. And it turns out those questions were well-founded.

Some of Microsoft's statistical spike can be attributed to bots, though the exact percentage isn't clear. Live Search Club users believe that automated searches account for a significant portion of Microsoft's search share gain.

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