On June 3rd, Microsoft launched its new online search engine, Bing. It’s spending an estimated $80 million -$100 million on a campaign to position Bing.com as a “decision engine” for consumers. Did Microsoft finally develop a legitimate contender to threaten Google’s Web search dominance? Or is this a great deal of Microsoft hype with little substance?
The Bing search presentation is very impressive. It uses technology from a company that Microsoft purchased by the name of Powerset. This technology allows for smartly displaying of refined search information down the left side of the page. Let me give you an example, I searched for “mortgage rates” on Bing and Google. Google did a nice job of presenting pertinent search results. Bing provided good search results, but in addition provided a menu on the left of “mortgage rates” which included news, basics, calculators, compare rates, lenders, lowest rates and videos. It also provided “related searches,” that included 30 year mortgages rates, mortgage rate forecast, fixed mortgages rates, national mortgage rates, additional news and more.
Bing’s main search box features suggestions as you type, which is very helpful when you are unsure of the exact spelling of your search. Another feature that I found extremely helpful was when you roll over a specific search result a text box pops up with a quick excerpt of that result. That can be a big time saver if you are not sure if that was what you were looking for in your search.
In searching for “loan modification” again both search engines provided useful information. I thought Bing did a better job of presenting videos on loan modification. Google presents them one at a time with a limited number of actual video’s presented per screen, whereas Bing presented over thirty on one page with the ability to scroll over for a quick snippet again to determine if this is what you were looking for in your search. Microsoft is also promoting Bing’s use of images, news and maps updated with real time traffic information.
While Bing provides some nice new features and is a significant upgrade from Microsoft’s live search is it enough to be a legitimate threat to Google? Google has become the defacto stand in searches. People don’t search they “Google”. Just like Coke or Kleenex, the word Google itself has defined a category.
Can Microsoft generate enough buzz to get people to try Bing? Is there enough substance to Bing to keep people hooked instead of going back to what has been tried and true, Google.
I, for one, believe that Microsoft’s Bing will definitely grab market share from the other less used search engines. I also welcome the competition in this segment and hope that it pushes Google to deliver some true innovation to this category that they have dominated for over ten years. The verdict is still out as to whether Bing will be a legitimate threat to Google.
So have you tried Bing yet? Are you willing to give it a try or are you set with Google? If you did try it what did you like from Bing and where does Google still have the advantage? Share with us your thoughts and experience with Bing.
