There have been a few requests for some international flair on the Live Search team blog, so we thought we’d give you an update on the European Search Technology Centre. Thanks for asking!
There have been several important milestones in the creation of STC Europe:
The first was in Paris, October 2008, when Steve Ballmer and Jordi Ribas (General Manager, STC Europe) announced the creation of the STC Europe. This announcement was well received in Europe and STC Europe became one of the top news stories for 2009 in France. This was a promising start although all the hard work was still ahead!
It was in November 2008 when the first members joined the team – Mike Miles (Group Program Manager, STC Europe/London), Oswaldo Ribas (Development Manager, STC Europe/London), Travis Barrett (Group Program Manager, STC Europe/Munich), and Andreas Bode (Development Manager, STC Europe/Munich).
Then in early January 2009, Mike, Oswaldo, and Jordi moved to London. You can tell we moved in January since Internet search volume increased significantly that month for grocery stores, garbage service, TV, internet, HOT WATER, etc. BTW: January was THE WORST WINTER IN LIVING MEMORY in London.
Europe is an important market for Search and one we’ve been focusing on a lot recently. Here are some of the more significant reasons why, counting down to number one:
7. Live Search in the U.S. has improved over the past few releases. We have some unique features (Live Search cashback, to name one). And we’re starting to develop the business through distribution partners. In short, while there is still a lot to do, the U.S. product is mature enough for us to start spending more energy elsewhere.
6. Europe is a big Search market. Currently around $8B, Europe represents 40% of the non-U.S. Search opportunity over the next few years...
5. STC Asia was established and is making good progress. Asia represents a significant growth opportunity for the Search market over the next few years (especially as China becomes increasingly connected). We established a Search Technology Centre in Beijing a few years ago that is focused on developing Live Search business in that region. Steve Macbeth, General Manager, STC Asia, is at the helm. Following STC Asia’s model in Europe was a logical next step.
4. We’ve recently made strong European acquisitions (e.g., Ciao and MultiMap) that will help expand our user base as well as increase the breadth of our technology stack.
3. We need to improve our understanding of the European Search user.
2. We have strong Internet reach through our network across MSN, Windows Live, MultiMap, and Ciao in most European Markets (upwards of 80%), representing a big opportunity to increase traffic to Live Search.
1. The ‘10 blue link’ Search paradigm hasn’t changed that much over the last 10 years, and we believe that European Search users are ready for a change.
So what are we doing about it? It’s hard to talk about all of the exciting things that we are working on without giving up too many details, but here are a few of the highlights:
· Core web relevance – this is the primary focus of our team in Munich. We’ve made some strong hires in Munich and are already starting to see some gains in core relevance. Much more to come from this team.
· Local – including integrating the MultiMap team and product into Live Search Maps.
· U.S. feature parity – there are a lot of features that work well in the U.S., but haven’t yet been extended to Europe, so we’re working on that.
· Making the most of our online assets – think MSN + Windows Live + MultiMap + Ciao = better Search experience for Europeans.
· Other exciting stuff that I can’t mention for fear of being made redundant.
We believe that Search will be much improved and radically better for consumers in another 10 years, and, even though we have much work and challenges ahead, we are excited about the opportunities to innovate in Europe with Live Search. We encourage you to visit this space and continue to use Live Search to see our progress.
À bientôt, Bis spatter, Cheers!
Mike Miles, Group Program Manager, Live Search
Merci, monsieur!
