"One of Internet Explorer 8's new features is a button that suggests the related sites to visitors. This button makes use of browser history and related suggestions from Microsoft. The button aims to help users discover a wider range of sites and Microsoft may well be hoping that internet users turn to it for content discovery rather than returning to Google for another search.:
I know there are Google and Yahoo! toolbars, but if Microsoft can show that a browser, without any toolbars (the initial download), is a viable engine for conducting/pushing/helping consumers locate items/sites, then the idea of websites search engine portals (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) may have a significant competitor. This may be in response to Google's Chrome and Google's own thinking that searches will be done by the browser and not just through portal/search website. It's interesting to see the browser becoming the competition for the SEO market as opposed to new types of websites.
I think Microsoft has a name brand advantage, according to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp, the following browsers are used:
Browser Statistics Month by Month
| 2008 | IE7 | IE6 | Chrome | Fx | Moz | S | O |
| December | 26.1% | 19.6% | 3.6% | 44.4% | 2.7% | 2.4% | |
| November | 26.6% | 20.0% | 3.1% | 44.2% | 2.7% | 2.3% | |
| October | 26.9% | 20.2% | 3.0% | 44.0% | 2.8% | 2.2% | |
| September | 26.3% | 22.3% | 3.1% | 42.6% | 2.7% | 2.0% |
Therefore, if IE7 and IE6 (which like Firefox have approx. 45% of the market), users simply upgrade, then Microsoft could command, with it's built in browser-search optimization/history feature, the searches of nearly 45% of the Internet. I think this is a larger than real number, but it does highlight the potential strength a browser could have on searches.
I also don't think any of this will happen overnight, but I do believe marketers may get some interesting new marketing tools that will optimize marketing plans by using browsers instead of SEO through sites such as Google. MediaPosts.com's Laurie Sullivan adds that the writer of the blog, Andrew Girdwood:
"Another question centers on whether a new feature in IE8 would enable searchers to bypass the Google search engine and go straight to suggested related sites. Girdwood explains a new feature in IE8 offers a button suggesting to visitors sites related to the one they landed on. "Microsoft may well be hoping that Internet users turn to it for content discovery rather than returning to Google for another search," he writes. Think of the consequence that could have on pay-per-click campaigns."
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