In recent news, Bing has actually surpassed Yahoo! for the number two spot in search engines. According to the Nielsen company, Google is still dominating the field with 65.1 percent of the market share. Bing, with its 13.9 percent market share, beat Yahoo! (13.1 percent). So what makes Google such a force in this industry? Let’s compare the two big players: Bing and Google.
Google Overview
Prior to the advent of Google Search in 1996, a variety of search engines existed. These search engines operated mostly on the premise of keywords, but not in the same way you think of keywords today. In the past, pages were displayed based on the amount of times a search term was found on the page. So if you searched for “hair salon,” a page that displayed “hair salon” 547 times on the page would show up before one that only had it 236 times. Relevancy was not taken into account.
Thus, the invention of Google came about. Google creators, Larry Page and Sergey Brin came up with a new algorithm, named PageRank, that looks at the number of human generated links. This takes into account that important and relevant information that is linked to a popular website is more likely to be important, as well. Over the years, Google has come up with other parts to their algorithm. But, for the most part, this is why Google’s popularity increased exponentially.
Bing Overview
Formerly known as LiveSearch, Bing is Microsoft’s “decision engine” released in 2009. Bing was Microsoft’s effort to re-brand its web search engine. With “Live” still in the name, Microsoft feared that users would still associate it with the old search engines. To completely rebuild their image, the search engine was renamed Bing, with many other features and interface changes.
Bing advertises itself as the “decision engine” rather than a search engine. This gives users the idea that Bing will not only give you results, but it will help you make an informed decision. This gives Bing the angle that it’s more than just displaying results for you, but it’s also there to help you.
Google > Bing
The Google corporation offers many different services other than a search engine. Many people nowadays are looking to Google for translations, web analytics, email accounts, and online calendars. Their most popular services include Google Maps and Google Docs. Although there may be a Microsoft alternative to some of these products, there’s no doubt that the Google name itself has more of an impact. The popularity and reliability of the Google name plays a big part in choosing your go-to search engine.
Google prizes itself upon the speed of their searches. They know that efficiency is key today in anything and everything humans do. So let’s not waste any time when we’re looking for something either. Type in your query and at the top of the results you’ll see how many seconds your search took. Recently, Google Instant was launched, giving users instant results without even finishing their query or hitting enter. How much faster can you get?
Relevancy is also key in Google’s reign over the search engine industry. It was the very reason why Google was created, to give searchers what they are really looking for. There are even search shortcuts to get your exactly what you want. If you’re looking for the weather, simply type in weather and then your city and the weather report shows up. No need to filter through links that will take you to a weather site where you’ll have to type in another search.
My favorite part of Google searches is the integration of social media. It’s a big thing these days and Google makes it easier to find related social media pages for your searches. When you type in your search, the sidebar will give you different filters, such as blog and updates. This allows you to find relevant blog posts and Twitter updates about your search.
Bing > Google
With Google’s dominance, Bing’s growth is amazing. Essentially being so much younger than Google, Bing is putting up a good fight. A reason for this may be the uniqueness of Bing’s categories. Google does this as well with images, videos, blogs, and so on, but Bing seems to have more of a grasp on this. Under each search category, Bing gives you even more options. For example, in Google Images, you can only do one search. With Bing, your options are further broken down into searching for black and white pictures or computer wallpapers.
Bing also has many unique features that stand apart from Google. One of the major differences is the look. Google sticks to the plain white page with a change in their logo every few days. However, Bing has a new background image everyday. Want more information on that image? Simply roll over the image with your mouse and information boxes will pop up. Another unique feature I’ve found is the display of related searches. On the results page, Bing will also list relevant search queries that may also be of interest.
Bing also provides many of the search shortcuts that Google has. It may even do it better. Type in “weather” and, using data provided by Intellicast, it will guess what city you are in and display the weather right in the search bar. Although it may be off as to your location, you have to admit, that’s pretty cool. Take a look at Bing Images, Bing Maps or Bing Video. How do you think these pages rank against Google?
Personally, my favorite part of Bing is the travel section. You can easily look up flights and Bing will compare different travel sites for you. It will even predict if fares will increase or decrease in the future. This way, you’ll know when it’s the right time to buy your plane ticket. This is especially convenient in today’s society where every penny counts.
Your Decision
I’ve stated my opinion on both search engines. It’s time for you to decide. Check out both of these search engines. Compare for yourself. Who wins the fight – Google or Bing? Tell us your thoughts by commenting below.