Posted by: Sean Voorhies, Senior Marketing Coordinator

Aside from its attempt to buy Yahoo!, Microsoft’s Live Search spent most of 2008 playing catch up to arch rival Google. Recent attempts to keep pace have included Live Search News, a quality based ranking tool, updates to Live Search local listings center, an adCenter community site, an expedited ad approval process, the adExcellence training program and improved adCenter functionality.

According to Nielson Ratings data, Live’s search volume remained relatively static throughout the year - averaging roughly 1 billion searches per month, while Google’s search volume increased from 4.25 billion in January to 5.5 billion in December.

With its mainstay software business being hit by the recession, Microsoft is under pressure to deliver in online search. So, will 2009 be the year that Live Search steps out of Google’s shadow?

Not likely - not organically. Despite taking important steps in 2008 to make its search results more relevant, pioneering cash back product search, and integrating more interactive content into its portal, Microsoft lost search share to Google. So did Yahoo.

If 2008 is any indicator, those of us working in online marketing shouldn’t be asking how much MSN Live Search will gain in 2009, but rather how much Microsoft can avoid losing. If Microsoft is to grow in 2009, it probably won’t be of its own accord. Realistically, there’s only one way for Microsoft to stay competitive and grow in 2009: there needs to be a new search engine in town. Microhoo?