The Arrival of Bing.com

Has Bing already lost its luster? On June 4th, StatCounter reported that Bing had surpassed Yahoo! as the #2 search engine and possibly causing a chink in Google’s armor. However, on June 5th, Yahoo! and Bing were even again, and Google was on the rise. June 6th, it appeared world order was restored, as Bing traffic dropped once again to third. Was this it for Bing? All of this hard work and advertising spend for just one day in the sun?

MSN should know better than anyone that it is extremely difficult to change the searching behaviors of Americans. In a country where cell phone internet usage is just beginning to catch on, Bing has a difficult task of proving that they provide consumers with better answers than Google, the engine that defined search. It’s going to take more than just a flashy interface to prove this, it’s going to take better content.

Birds Eye vs Google’s Street Map: Edge Birds Eye.

This was a difficult one, however the edge goes to Birds Eye because I have yet to find a location not available, while Google’s Street Map has many gaps, limiting us to just the archaic satellite view. Everyday more and more locations are being added by Google, so unless Bing has something up its sleeve they may quickly lose their edge.

Google Local vs Bing Local: Edge Google.

Both engines allow me to find a thai restaurant near my office, however Bing opens a new window when I click. Because of this annoyance Google wins. If it was just a new tab, this battle would have been closer. Bing’s partnership with Yelp to provide a detailed review does add great value, however the overall navigation is a bit clunky. If they add a partnership with OpenTable to book a reservation I may be convinced to change my mind.

Google vs Bing: Edge Google

The real battle lies in the content. Bouncing around both Bing and Google, performing various searches across categories ranging from health to travel, Google just has better results. Bing has a clear partnership with MayoClinic, as they are the first result on every health search performed. This seems a bit forced. Not saying that Mayo is not a great site and it does offer great content, but it blurs the line between paid and natural, which is a battle that can give consumers a bad taste. As for the other results it was close. The “Related Searches” on Bing has proven to be a great feature and has helped reduce the bounce rates of websites, according to Coremetrics. Getting searchers closer to the content they want makes for a satisfying user experience, something Google learned before MSN even handled their own search results.

The American public is picky and smarter now, ironically, thanks to Google. Simply spending more money on advertising is no longer enough to convince consumers, as it was before Google. I am pulling for Bing and hope that they can make a run at Google and really hope that June 4th was not their moment in the sun. This battle is far from over, and both will undoubtedly continue to improve and refine their results, however first impressions mean a lot and I just hope that users haven’t already given up on Bing.