Microsoft has finally figured it out:  search and search advertising should work together!  As reported by a number of sources, Microsoft has reorganized it's Live Search and adCenter units together into a new Search and Ad Platform group.  The group, to be headed by long-term Microsoft executive Satya Nadella, will bring together two parts of the company that should have been under the same umbrella for a long time.

Honest to Pete!  Why did it take Redmond so long to figure this out?  I guess the blame for my surprise at this falls squarely at my feet, though.  I make too many assumptions.  One of those was that Live Search and adCenter were already a tied entity.  I guess that's what I get for giving corporations the benefit of the doubt.

I can only imagine that this new arangement will be beneficial to Live Search as a whole.  And it's interesting to note that the other Windows Live services, including web-based and application software, are remaining together.  Live Search is now its own little baby.

Maybe Microsoft just isn't supposed to "get" search.  Seriously.  With an oversight like this it makes you question their entire perspective on how lucrative Internet search works:

Search + Advertising = $$$$$$$$

I really hate to sound like a broken record when it comes to Live Search.  But it really doesn't work well.

Case in point

I noticed that someone had arrived at my other blog by doing an image search for "Larry King".  So I followed the link to see what in the world that had to do with my other site.  The answer:  nothing.  I did a local search, just to make sure I hadn't forgot something, and my initial thoughts were confirmed.  I've never written "Larry King" or used his image on my site.  So I never did figure out how they followed that search to me.

Strike 1.

I was a little surprised:  I really like the Live Image Search interface.  Clicking a thumbnail actually pulls up a preview window and moves your results to a scrolling filmstrip that goes down the left side.  As you scroll through the results the page automatically continues to load in advance.  There are no pages to click through… you just keep scrolling down until you get the picture you're looking for.  Pretty nice.

On the right side was a list of "related people".  This is where Live Image Search started to lose me, though.  I don't know exactly what criteria they use to choose these people.  But other than the fact that they've probably talked before, how are Larry King and Johnny Cash, Ben Affleck, Richard Simmons, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, or Barbara Streisand related?

Strike 2.

As I continued to click through related links trying to find a list that didn't include such an odd assortment of names, I kept encountering the same message on a number of my clicks.  The message informed me that I'd spelled the person's name wrong and that I was probably looking for XXXXX (with the correct spelling supplied).

Ummm… hello?  I'm just clicking on your links!  I didn't spell anything wrong.

Strike 3.

But I do have to give credit where credit is due:  Live Image Search returned far fewer erroneous image results than the other guys.  If you do a search for "Larry King" that's who you get pictures of (minus the occassional picture of a monkey… which is really uncanny).  Some searches didn't return as many results as the other engines.  But the results weren't quite as littered with unrelated photos.

I know the reorganization of Live Search and adCenter into one group doesn't have any direct influence on Live Search results.  That is still in the hands of the engineers who work on it.  But maybe it signals a big "DUH" on Microsoft's part.  Maybe they're finally starting to figure this whole search thing out.

And maybe, just maybe, I can stop showing up in results for Larry King.