Until now, our coverage of the region has been split into two: Asia Pacific and South Asia. However many users have told us that they do not understand these labels and do not always know where to go for news they want from the region.

We think we will be better serving audiences in the UK and elsewhere with a single Asia index - a home for news stories from and about the region as well as features and analysis from our correspondents and content from some of our unrivalled language services.

For those who want specific news and analysis from the world's two most populous countries, we will also create named country pages: first China and, later in the month, India. 

The change in layout is accompanied by increased coverage in the region as a whole, allowing us to report even more stories from a region that stretches from Afghanistan to Japan and Pakistan to Australia.

We will be able to bring you more of the news as it breaks in the region, with greater speed and in greater depth than ever before.

In the coming days users in Asia can also expect some further changes to the bbc.com homepage which will deepen the breadth of our coverage with more bespoke content for audiences in different regions of Asia.

We hope these changes will make our site more relevant to users in Asia, and make it easier for audiences in the UK and the rest of the world to understand this vital region.

UPDATE 4 NOVEMBER 2011: Thank you for your comments on this post. I wanted to reply to some of your questions.

Australia and New Zealand are not part of the Asian continent, but they are part of the Pacific region and increasingly look towards Asia. We think, therefore, this is the best regional index for stories from the two countries.

To Piet Boon and others who asked about country-specific pages: it's under review, we may be offering more in the future.

Jake Smith - please rest assured, we are not reducing coverage or restricting it to the larger countries. We will have more articles from across the region. The difference is that the Asia page will be updated more often.

We are also looking at adding South Asia and Asia Pacific sections to the new Asia index.

Nathalie Malinarich is world editor of the BBC News website.

Nathalie Malinarich is world editor of the BBC News website.