New Microsoft search engine 'could affect SEO'

Marketers' approach to search engine optimisation(SEO) may have to change significantly following the launch of Microsoft's new search engine, Bing.

This is according to Forrester Research principal analyst Shar VanBoskirk, who explained that the so-called "decision engine" may mean businesses will have to shift away from purely focusing on keywords in their SEO campaigns.

Bing was announced by Microsoft yesterday (May 28th) and was developed with the aim of offering quicker answers to users' search queries, especially in the areas of shopping, travel, local business and information, and health research.

It returns results based on their relevance to individual searchers and displays them based on their subcategory grouping rather than whether they have keywords that match the search query.

"A search for 'Britney Spears' may organise by the subcategories 'biography', 'videos', 'music' and 'concert information'," Ms VanBoskirk stated.

She added: "SEO strategies will adjust in order to optimise web content for select subcategories, rather than select keywords only."

Bing will be gradually rolled out worldwide over the next few days and is expected to be fully available to web users globally by June 3rd.