As the quest for global domination in the search engine field continues, Microsoft has admitted that it is 'investing heavily' in web search as an important and potentially lucrative market.

Speaking to delegates at Jupiter Media's Search Engine Strategies Conference in California, Christopher Payne, vice president of MSN.com, said: "On the information side of the house, there's no question that search is the cornerstone of our strategy. We're investing heavily in this space."

Payne declined to disclose how much Microsoft is investing in search technologies, but said that there is a lot of 'headroom' left in the search arena and that a lot of searches can be improved.

Microsoft, which currently has no algorithmic search engine of its own, has been tight-lipped about its future plans for web search.

Unlike search rivals like Google and Yahoo, MSN has traditionally relied on an agreement with Inktomi for the provision of its algorithmic search results, while web search advertising has been supplied by Overture Services.

Both Inktomi and Overture have now been bought up by Yahoo, raising questions as to the future provision arrangements for search on MSN.

Following Yahoo's acquisition of Overture, however, MSN said it had no immediate plans to cancel its agreement with Overture for paid search listings. It also has a contract with Inktomi until December 2005.

But it is believed that a new Microsoft web indexing software - quietly launched this summer under the name MSNBot - may be a signal of things to come.

MSNBot scours web sites, where it collects documents and hyperlinks. It is thought the new software is part of MSN's effort to challenge the likes of Google and Yahoo by injecting its own algorithmic search technology directly into MSN Search.