The MSN home page is to be redesigned over the next few weeks, as Microsoft performs an overhaul of one of the most popular web portals on the internet.

One of the most prominent online news providers on the web, the MSN homepage is also the default home page of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer software. An estimated 85 million people visit the site each month in the US alone.

Microsoft first announced that they planned to redesign the MSN home page in November 2009. According to paidcontent.org, a content marketing news hub, their initial plans to roll out the design in late January were disrupted by the Superbowl and the Olympics. The two major events led to a marked drop in click-through rates on the new page for the test group – around 10% of MSN users who had been using the new design since autumn 2009.  

The new design features deeper integration of the Bing search technology to the home page, used for content generation in sections like shopping, travel and local sections as well as for highlighting related trends and topics. Social networking platforms have also been integrated into the new design; as well as Facebook and twitter plug-ins, the site also features a tab for Microsoft’s own Windows Live network, which includes MSN messenger accounts and the Xbox Live network.

In the official announcement of the upcoming change, MSN’s corporate vice president Erik Jorgensen said that the design was “an exciting milestone for MSN” and that the new features were “introduced to address customer feedback.”

Visibility for search engine marketing on Bing may benefit from the new design, as Jorgensen says that the design brings “Bing, Bing and more Bing. We’ve seen double-digit increases in Bing search queries coming from the new homepage.”

“People wanted even more Bing, so we increased the prominence of the Bing search box…added a new trendwatch feature to highlight the day’s top movers on Twitter….increased the prominence of Popular Searches….increased editorial programming of search-related content…and we’re currently testing a Search History feature.”