Google's search revamp is all about social

Seeking more personalized results and exposure for its fledgling Google+, the search giant is changing the results it displays.

FORTUNE -- Google+ is about to get a whole lot more exposure.

In a move that is certain to sharpen its rivalry with Facebook, Google (GOOG) on Tuesday is introducing a revamped version of its ubiquitous search engine that will dive deeply into the company's fledgling social network, Google+, to find content that is relevant to a particular user. The change will expose Google+ profiles, as well as posts and photographs uploaded to the network, to hundreds of millions of search users whether or not they have Google+ accounts. In many cases, the changes will push content from other sites, including Facebook, further down on the search results pages.

Google said the changes were among the most significant it had made in years. "This is the biggest expansion of the kind of content that user can see since Universal Search," Ben Gomes, a Google Fellow, said in an interview. Google introduced Universal Search, which began combining Web pages with images, videos and other types of content in search results, in 2007.

Starting Tuesday, a search for the name of a friend, for example, will likely bring that person's Google+ profile as the top search result. As a result, their profiles on Facebook or LinkedIn will appear lower.

The changes are likely to renew persistent criticism that Google promotes content from its own services, like maps, reviews, YouTube and, now, Google+ ahead of those of rivals. Gomes said that Google is simply trying to make its search engine more useful. "Our goal is to bring the user the most relevant data based on their query," he said.

Under the changes -- dubbed "search, plus your world" -- Google will also include in search results private content that a user has uploaded or that someone has shared with them on Google+ or Picasa. For example, if you search for Hawaii, you are likely to see pictures of your trip to Hawaii from your own albums, or from a friend's album. You may also see travel tips and recommendations that your friends may have posted on Google+.

Generic searches for broad topics will now also include profiles and pages from Google+ for people who are relevant and important to that topic. A search for "music" may suggest the profiles of Britney Spears or Snoop Dogg to the right of search results.

This kind of personalization has long seen as a holy grail of Web search. Facebook has been working with Microsoft (MSFT) to allow that company's search engine, Bing, to surface more personalized content. And the Facebook platform has allowed countless services, like Yelp, Pandora (P) and Spotify, to become more personal by showing users content that is relevant to their Facebook friends.

Users who do not want personalized content will be able to turn it off easily, the company said.

Microsoft Q2 revenue up 5%, net income slightly down

IDG News Service - Microsoft revenue rose in the second fiscal quarter, while its profits dipped a bit.

Revenue for the quarter, ended Dec. 31, hit $20.89 billion, up 5 percent compared with 2010's second fiscal quarter, which included recognition of $224 million of deferred revenue related to the Office 2010 technology guarantee program.

Net income came in at $6.62 billion, or $0.78 per share, down from $6.63 billion, or $0.77 per share.

CEO Steve Ballmer called the results "solid" in a statement and predicted that business will accelerate in the new fiscal year starting in July as a result of upcoming product and service launches.

Microsoft missed on the consensus revenue expectation of $20.93 billion from financial analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, but exceeded their earnings per share forecast of $0.76.

The company's Business Division generated $6.28 billion in revenue, up 3 percent year-on-year, and up 7 percent excluding the Office 2010 recognition of deferred revenue. Almost 200 million licenses of Office 2010 have been sold since its launch 18 months ago, the company said. Exchange and SharePoint revenue grew 10 percent, while revenue from Lync and Dynamics CRM grew more than 30 percent.

The Server & Tools business had $4.77 billion in revenue, up 11 percent, and was helped by "double-digit revenue growth" from Windows Server and SQL Server premium editions and by more than 20 percent growth in System Center revenue.

Revenue shrank 6 percent at the Windows & Windows Live Division to $4.74 billion. More than 525 million Windows 7 licenses have been sold since its launch.

The Online Services Division's revenue grew 10 percent to $784 million, while the Entertainment & Devices Division had revenue of $4.24 billion, up 15 percent. There are now about 66 million Xbox 360 consoles in the market, along with 18 million Kinect sensors. Xbox Live memberships increased 33 percent to 40 million.

Looking ahead, Microsoft is revising downward its operating expense guidance to a range of between $28.5 billion and $28.9 billion for the full year ending June 30.