DigitMemo.com

While some improvements are a bit of a catch-up with Google and Yahoo, others take Microsoft beyond what those search engines offer today.

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.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, said Windows Live search is now on an even technology footing with offerings from rival search engines after years of playing catch-up since it started developing its own Web search in 2003.

Its new presentation is in line with an industry trend to step beyond traditional text links, with unified search results that offer Web sites, news, pictures and video on one page.

Microsoft ceded a head start to Google in Web search and then watched it create a multibillion-dollar business on the back of selling advertisements tied to search results.

Microsoft ranks a distant third in Web search, with just 11.3 percent of the U.S. search market in August versus 56.5 percent for Google and 23.3 percent for Yahoo, according to research firm ComScore. Yet analysts note Microsoft is one of the few companies with the wherewithal to close that gap.