Microsoft has been actively promoting their Bing search engine with commercials on TV. They make a claim that blind users prefer the results provided by Bing two-to-one over Google. Average users are at a point where they need to decide if Bing is now advanced to the point where it is a threat to Google.
Current Aspects
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One thing about these search engines is they both have various strengths and weaknesses. Both are really fast and provide quality search results. They also include integration to various social networks. Comparing them side by side is the best way to see how they stack up against each other.
Relevant Information
This is one category where Google provides results that are more information to search queries. There have been recent changes to Bing that have improved search results, but Google is still far superior for relevant information. Many times Google will have multiple listings for a search result while Bing may only have one relevant listing.
Social Integration
Integration with different social networks is often achieved better with Bing than Google. Microsoft is benefiting from contracts with both Twitter and Facebook.
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This provides Bing with data that Google is not able to access. Google will primarily be integrated with its own Google+ network. The results in Bing are also less cluttered than those found in Google.
Instant Search
Both search engines are able to provide instant search results when typing in the search box. However, Google does a better job of offering relevant information than Bing and more quickly.
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Many times the keywords or phrase needs to be fully entered into Bing to see a relevant result. Google will have many more relevant results displayed by the time a user types half of a keyword or phrase.
Results Pages
Google recently updated their search results pages to remove many features that were not useful for an average user. This includes +1 buttons and other annotations. Bing never had any of these features and simplicity has always been a key aspect of Google. This may be the reason Bing and Google have the same look for their results pages.
Image and Videos
Google recently changed the way images are displayed based on adult filters. However, there are more results for search terms in a Google search than a Bing search. This may be due to Bing not indexing a site as often as Google. If a user is looking for a particular video, then Bing may have a result that will be different than Google. One reason for this is many videos are on the Google-owned YouTube.
Connected Products
Google has many more products that can be used to get more information for searches. Users can see information from YouTube and Google+ appear in search results. The issue for Bing is the user has already adopted many of the products offered by Google. However, Bing will allow users to link up to their Facebook account. This means sharing information with friends is more convenient than Google. At the end of the day the war between Bing and Google will be determined by user preference.
This article was contributed by Brian S. from the SQL Solutions blog team. Brian lives in Florida and has passion for writing that is second to none.
My Say says
very informative !! I am yet to take Bing seriously . I understand , I should 🙂
VISHAL VERMA says
Add your website to bing webmaster tools and monitor all factors and metrices..
Although I don’t rank well in Bing as compared to Google..