Microsoft ^[1] has a very large problem. Its search engine, Bing ^[2], loses  $1 billion each quarter. Now the solution to this might mean a big change for the way users search for content. Or so Microsoft hopes. This solution will involve “reorganizing the web.” Microsoft will use its networks, products, and partnerships to develop new research into what users actually want when they type a few words into a search engine. At a company meeting last week, Microsoft’s Online Services President Qi Lu said Microsoft will set out to “change the [search-engine] game fundamentally.” What exactly will this mean? Well, Bing has already made some innovations — these just haven’t helped its revenue. For example, searching for “Marines tickets” will bring up links to upcoming games and a map for the Marines’ field. Look for flight information, and you’ll learn when the best day to buy a plane ticket through the Price Predictor. It boasts some pretty useful image-sorting technology, too. Obviously, if Microsoft succeeded in attracting enough users through new innovations, the implications for search-engine optimization and website rankings would be profound.

The entire point behind this initiative is to increase Bing’s market share and drive more ad revenue. For now, don’t touch Bing’s ad space with anything about a 125-foot pole. Bing accounts for only 14.7 percent of the market, up from just  8.4 percent when it launched, and most of that increase came from cannibalizing Yahoo when the two formed a partnership. Before Bing becomes sustainable it will need to assume 25 to 30 percent of the market. Hopefully, those maps pay off big.

Read more at CNNMoney ^[3].