• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, February 11, 2011

Bing began testing two types of search queries to better understand human behavior and increase the relevance of results -- not only organic, but paid search, too. The tests running in the United States focus on results based on previous searches, and results based on location.

Since the personalized results rely on previous searches, the engine will build a history of searches before determining the best way to serve up for each individual person searching. Microsoft believes people search for the same thing continually, and choose the same link regardless of where it falls in the results page because they know exactly what they want.

While the personalized search based on history remains interesting, the more impactful feature becomes searches based on location. Add historic data to the mix and Bing will no doubt produce a winning combination.

The combined features not only improve individual organic search results, but in the long run should also improve paid-search ad targeting. And this gives Bing an opportunity to tie in a daily deal coupon offering -- all based on local searches -- not only on the PC, but also mobile devices. Aside from serving up coupons in the search results, think about paid-search ads that lead to a landing page offering a discount or deal the searcher can bring up on their phone and redeem at the local physical location.

Since the city someone searches in makes a difference on the results the searcher sees, marketers could provide mapping instructions along with the coupons on how to get to the physical location.

Microsoft estimates that about 30% of queries are navigational -- meaning someone searching on keywords wants to find a particular Web site like MediaPost or Facebook. But when searches are random, based on the ability to find a new local Italian or Thai restaurant in Huntington Beach, Calif., there's an opportunity to gain new customers.

Google has offered similar search results for a couple of years, allowing searchers to turn on or off the feature depending on their design for privacy. And while there are issues surrounding the amount of information someone chooses to give up, design a product around relevance that's helpful and consumers will want to use the tool.

The two tools Microsoft officially rolled out Thursday could become a positive influence on searchers and Microsoft's Bing, raising market share to become a more formidable competitor to Google.

In fact, we may already be seeing progress for the Microsoft search engine. Bing took search market share in January 2011. Explicit searches -- those done with user intent -- rose to 13.1%, compared with 12.0% sequentially, according to comScore numbers released late Thursday. Yahoo's share rose slightly to 16.1% from 16% in the same time period.

Combined, Bing's and Yahoo's search share reached 29.2% in January 2011, compared with 28.0% in December 2010. Google's search market share fell to 65.6% in January from 66.6% sequentially. The bottom line, writes Ben Schachter, Macquarie Securities analyst, is that Bing continues to aggressively approach Yahoo's level of market share all on its own.