ninemsn Australia
Live Search now offers Australians the most comprehensive video search with new inline preview functionality and indexing from a range of video sources across the internet. Additionally, Australians will benefit from new features in Live Search Maps and increases in overall relevancy of search results. Coming soon will be a new way for people to keep their finger on the pulse of their favourite celebrity with the arrival of Celebrity xRank™.
Alex Parsons, Head of Search at ninemsn, explains:
"Live Search has significantly improved, particularly in Video Search, and with new features in Live Search Maps and Celebrity xRank™. The new inline video preview offers Australians something they have never seen before in search. Couple this with Celebrity xRank™, which will be coming to Australia soon, and our excellent web search results and you have a really unique search experience for consumers."
Changes to Live Search include:
Video Search - The most comprehensive one-stop-shop for all video searching, indexing video content from a variety of partners including ninemsn, Fairfax and YouTube. Live Search is the only search engine to offer inline video previews in the results page. Simply roll the cursor over the video and the thumbnail will begin to play without needing to leave the results page.
Live Search Maps - Now with integrated business listings provided by Yellow™ to help people find local businesses, their exact locations, and directions on how to get there, with one easy search. Also, in a first for the Australian market, Live Search Maps offers a detailed photographic bird's-eye view of some metropolitan capitals. This provides a unique perspective of these cities never before seen by most Australians.
Celebrity xRank™ - Coming soon to Australia, Celebrity xRank is indicative of the current celebrity craze in Australia. Celebrity xRank™ is a barometer of celebrity presence and popularity, ranking personalities based on the frequency of their names being searched using Live Search.
'Instant Answers' - Now offering Live Search results that interpret people's search query, Instant Answers provide a direct answer to the question within the main results set. Video previews and synopsis of the likely search results means people won’t need to leave the listings page to get the results they desire. For example, searching for the 'population of Australia' will bring up the answer on the search results page, rather than having to click through to another page to get the information needed.
"Speeding up the journey from query to result is a major benefit of the changes to Live Search. We're confident the enhancements and improvements made to Live Search query interpretation further position us a serious player in the search market," says Alex.
People can experience the new Live Search features online at http://live.com.au
For further information, please contact:
Nelly Assayag, ninemsn, 02 8001 4198, nelly.assayag@
Kathryn Pogson, One Green Bean, 02 9699 9503, kathryn@onegreenbean.com.au
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
