Overshadowed by Google for many years Microsoft invested $80 million dollars to develop a search engine that would rival the current search king. With roughly 60% of all searches in the U.S. carried out on its platform, Google is no easy target. Surprisingly, Bing stands out from the pack as a real contender.
I have been a supporter of Google since the search engine made its start many years ago and the reason has always been convenience and reliability. Microsoft realizes this fact and attempts to expand on it with Bing. Just like Google, Bing relies on a very simple interface without a lot of extra clutter but after using the search engine for a couple weeks I have to say they have made some improvements.
Bing Search Engine
As seen in the image above the search results for Bing look very familiar but manage to incorporate additional information. As seen above our company listing displays not only the description text for our website but also the introductory paragraph and our contact number. As an added bonus the listing also includes a sitemap of some of our top pages (on demand support and 24/7 monitoring). While this may be overlooked by some it offers ease of access without the need to leave the search results.
Further test reveal that Bing puts more emphases on the phrase of a search instead of particular words. Because of this relevance of searches is much higher since it is unnecessary to include all keywords. For those that are unclear in what they want to find Bing also supplies an organized related searches option to guide users to the correct location. With better organization and more search options Bing pulls away from Google in many areas.
One problem remains however. Google has become the standard for so many years that people go to it instinctively. Even though Bing offers many beneficial new features the questions remains; is Big different or enough of an improvement to encourage people to switch over?
If you are a Google user what would it take you to convert?
– Richard Keene
IT Computer Support of New York
Design and Optimization Department
As mentioned, I am not a die hard Google advocate, however this is a little much. The page looks exactly like a Google page, with exception of the Bing logo and links at the top. It is the same font, the same coloring, the same website links under the first return search…Based on principle alone I am not a fan. From the view of the average person, it is almost a direct replica of Google. There is no reason why the average websurfer would go out of their way to find out more about Bing, when they are already used to Google. Generally people don’t like change, and will stick with what they’re comfortable with. Didn’t Microsoft look at this from a sales point of view? They spent enough money to have done so…
You’re forgetting the clout Microsoft has just by the fact that they are the industry default. The majority of the world still uses Internet Explorer and it has nothing to do with quality. Most people use IE because it comes preinstalled on every Windows computer. If every future windows computer uses Bing by default the majority will use it just because they don’t know any better.
I see what you’re saying but you’re talking about an entirely different level of convenience. Yes, internet explorer comes installed on every computer and that is likely to prevent people from switching over to something like firefox. However typing google into the search field is an entirely different issue. People already do that every day. Yes, convenience will probably cause many to simply type something in because what does it really matter. But for a long time now people have been using google as a default. People often click in the search field and type in google without hesitation.
I tried Bing when it first came about and didn’t find it any better or worse than Google but my email, stock portfolio and Blog are all on Google though so it I see no reason to switch.