Microsoft to provide cashback for Live Search

Just recently I mentioned that Microsoft was reviving Live Search for Products. And quite a while ago I wrote about Microsoft acquiring Jellyfish and I wondered when they would have integrated Jellyfish in Microsoft Search. Well, that time has come. Micrsoft just announced their Live Search cashback program (which is nothing new, Jellyfish is doing this for years now). However, it is a good PR stunt. Microsoft about their ‘new’ service:

Now you can get cashback savings by using Live Search to find great deals on the products you want from the stores that you know and trust.

Here you can see how it works. But, you could also go to Jellyfish

Vergelijk.nl launches impressive Euro 2008 poule

Vergelijk.nl just launched a very impressive Euro 2008 poule. Participants can compare teams (yep, Vergelijk.nl means ‘Compare’), win fantastic prices, invite friends for separate subpouls, etc. I know that I am biased, but if you love soccer and you like the excitement of participating in a soccer poule for Euro 2008 then this is the one to choose! So go and enter the competition, it is entirely free (but in Dutch…)!!

You can enter the Euro 2008 competition here!

New release Google Product Search

Yesterday I mentioned that Microsoft had made some changes in their Live product search. It now seems that Google is also testing a new version of its Product Search with actual CSE features. This includes the aggregation of merchant offers by product, compare functionalities, technical specifications of products and reviews for products. This new version was first seen in December ‘07 by eCommerceOptimization. The changes are only visible on Google.com. On local sites of Google in Europe nothing has changed (yet).

It will be likely that Google will start promoting this service in their regular search results. Currently they still use the ‘shopping bag’ icon, but according to SearchEngineland Google is also testing with displaying the product image.

Microsoft reviving Live Search for products?

According to Liveside.net Microsoft has just launched a brand new page for product search. Microsoft hasn’t improved product search for quite some time, so this might be a sign that they are taking this more seriously. In a previous post I mentioned that Steve Balmer acknowledged the importance of comparison shopping. He also said that they should be able to generate 25% in advertising.

Currently the Live Search for Products doesn’t work, which is pretty silly. Every search results in the following message:

Sorry, we did not find any product results for this search.

If Live Search for Products actually works then it would look like the image below. You are now able to refine the search results by user opinions, brands, category, and price range. Liveside.net concluded that in comparison to the old product search, search results have improved dramatically. Other improvements, although available before as part of the Shopping Search vertical already, include the ability to compare prices and view user ratings and reviews.

The new look of Product Search:

Let’s see if Microsoft will integrate other features soon. I still expect some kind of integration of Jellyfish in their Product Search.