"Live Search" to compete with "Google Search"

Seeking to narrow the gap with Google, Microsoft Corp unveiled a retooled Web search service that aims to deliver more relevant results and combines text, video and other information onto a single page.

The overhauled Live Search, announced Wednesday, automatically packages results for some search queries -- such as celebrity, business and product names -- in a way that looks like a specially designed page on the subject, not a standard list of results.

The updates will be phased in by the end of the month, said Satya Nadella, corporate vice president for Microsoft's search and advertising group. Among them, he said, are improvements to the way Live Search interprets what users are looking for, even if they misspell a word, type in two separate words instead of a compound word or use a variation, like "driving" instead of "drive."

Live Search also will better detect what Nadella calls "stop words" — keywords or phrases that aren't considered unless there's a specific combination or context — like the name "Will Smith" in the U.S.