Bing Is No. 2 in Search, Yahoo Down, Google Next

[+LogicalApex MVC]

How the hell do you "compare" the results?

I always wonder the same thing lol. I mean you can run "test" queries but that doesn't really say anything.

I think the only way to know is to just use the engine for a set period of time and see if you're taking more or less time to find stuff. That's what I'm doing with Bing and so far it is actually a lot better than Google.

Less "trash" and that snippet preview it pops up ensures I only click through to stuff I'm interested in and not keyword filled junk.

[Xerxes]

It's probably all the porn.

Bingo! (bad joke I know :p) I'd say is was because of the porn. Personally I find Bing isn't really that good (plus I hate the choice of name) anyway and I'm not giving up Google for it anytime soon.

[spenser.d]

To be fair, it's probably just the fact that a load of people are testing it out because it's new, that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to stay no 2 for very long, it'll be interesting to see where it is in a few weeks/months time. (Bing does seem quite good though, so it may well stay in #2)

To be fair, Microsoft may have actually created a great search engine :p I gave up google for Live Search a long time ago, and Bing is far better than Live Search was. Like you said though, it'll be interesting to see where it is in a month or so.

-Spenser

[Argi]

How the hell do you "compare" the results?

As in, I ran a query for which I knew what the "actual" desired would've been. That's just my far-from-scientific opinion. I'm also not entirely sure how much of an impact my search history with Google is having on the results.

Sounds like I might need to revisit it.

[Sartoris]

It's just not Google. They focus on one thing and do it best, unlike Microsoft who do thousands and end up with 2 good products - Windows 7 and Office 2007. Meh. It'll wear off.

That is quite an ignorant comment there. Microsoft has way more than 2 good products and Google's focus is all over the place, not just on one thing. It couldn't be more opposite.

[BoDEAN]

Google will dominate for the next 10+ years. Why use anything else, really.

[zhangm Supervisor]

Google will dominate for the next 10+ years. Why use anything else, really.

Because its not Google.

Dominance is not equivalent to best.

[Doli]

Google will dominate for the next 10+ years. Why use anything else, really.

So the others should just stop?

[Growled Member]

I don't think this article is quite true.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10258576-2.html

Search Engine Land checked in with Comscore, Nielsen, and Hitwise, and found that over the past week in the U.S., Yahoo Search did about three times more traffic than Bing, roughly the same level where it was the week before when Microsoft-branded search consisted of Live Search and MSN Search.

Nielsen figures show that there was indeed a surge in interest among U.S. Web surfers related to Bing on June 1, the first day it went live. But that's not all that surprising given natural curiosity surrounding something new and shiny, and Bing's surge appeared to neatly replace the corresponding drop-off in traffic to Live Search and MSN Search.

CNET data suggests a similar story. For the first four days that Bing was live, the new search engine accounted for 2.2 percent of all session starts across the various CNET sites, including News, Reviews, Download, CNET TV, and CNET Shopper. Yahoo searches accounted for a little more than twice as many session starts, or 4.5 percent.

[Calum Veteran]

I've tried it and it's surprising good. I think you will see Bing's fortune continue to rise. Google is still my #1 though, as I still get better results with it.

Really? I get better results with Bing, so far. I've found everything I've needed and very quickly.

A lot of people say "I get better results with Google" but I don't always believe them because I know most people are just jumping on the bandwagon. I think people need to use Bing as their search engine constantly for at least a month before they decide. They can't just do a couple of searches and then decide which engine gives them better results.

i switched to bing too. never cared for live search before. :)

Also Bing is being posted and advertised everywhere. Today at work instead of saying google it. we said "bing it" :p

its cooler to say lol

That's really good to hear - it's catching on! :p (Y)

It's just not Google. They focus on one thing and do it best, unlike Microsoft who do thousands and end up with 2 good products - Windows 7 and Office 2007. Meh. It'll wear off.

I'm sorry but that is such an unfair statement. How can you say Visual Studio is not a good IDE? How can you say Windows Live Messenger is not a good IM client? Windows Live Mail, not a good email client? How about their web products? Windows Live Home and its 'What's New' feed, bringing together stories from all kinds of websites like Facebook, Last.fm, Digg, your own blog (even Neowin)? Microsoft have many more than just 2 good products.

Bing is fantastic. You should really try it out for a month or so before judging it. For starters, it's still minimal but looks gorgeous compared to Google Search's homepage - the high resolution background photo goes really well with the grey and orange.

Secondly, Google don't focus on one product. Search may be their priority, but their focus is on all of their services and software - look at Google Chrome for an example. Chrome has been out since september and version 3 is already in development. They are focussing on Chrome a lot, as well as Gmail and other online services of theirs. They recently added DOCX and XLSX support to their Docs and Spreadsheets online service.

How the hell do you "compare" the results?

There are ways. Most people don't "compare" like they think they are and jump on the badnwagon, unfortunately. They don't realise that in a lot of situations, Bing's results are more relevant - possibly in most situations. Many people also don't realise that it comes down to the terms people are searching for and the different people when measuring relevancy. One isn't more relevant than the other for every single person out there. For me and many others (if they gave it a chance), Bing is more relevant.

This website? will help you compare. Search for something and results for both search engines will be shown, side-by-side :) I recommend searching for "The Killers" and if you have your Bing market set to "United States (English)", you will see just how powerful Bing is, just how many new, improved, features it has over Google Search and just how relevant the results can be for many queries with Bing :)

Google will dominate for the next 10+ years. Why use anything else, really.

Because Google is horrible to use and extremely ugly? Because Bing displays more relevant results for many queries? Because Bing looks fantastic and is a joy to use? Because 'Bing' is not an ugly name like 'Google'? Because Bing is more of a catchy name than Google and so is the resulting phrase "Bing it!"? Because Bing has video previews when you hover over videos? Because Bing handles Image searches much better - you don't have to go back to the results, you have a sidebar to select each image from? Because Bing displays a nice page with a load of images bought together when you click on 'Images' on the 'United States (English)' version? Because Bing has a very nice, high-resolution background image on the background on the home page which changes daily? Because Bing displays the different search options in an elegant way, with the 'Explore' bar, down the left side, on the homepage? Because Bing uses PowerSet technology to bring Wikipedia articles (and other things) into the actual search results page on Bing for easier access and easier changing of search queries, within a query? Because Bing can show the symptoms of a condition/disease/illness straight away, as soon as you have searched for it, within the results page? Because Bing has a helpful sidebar on the search results page, which changes with every search allowing you to see different categories relating to that query, with the results specifically related to that category (for example, if you search "Brandon Flowers" you may get links, straight away, labeled "Interviews", "Reference (biography)", "Posters", "Merchandise", "Images", "Videos")?

Those are just a couple of reasons why I use Bing, over Google Search, BoDEAN.

Why would I use something (Google) when I can use something else which is 10 times better (Bing), for me?

If everyone had that same attitude of "Why use anything else when Google is the market leader and will be for a while", then people would not be using what is best for them and the best products would be extremely under-rated. Also, these better products would then never gain the higher market share they deserve. Look at Internet Explorer, for an example. That has always had a much higher market share than Firefox or Chrome and back with Internet Explorer 6 and 7, no-one could argue that it was better than Firefox at rendering web pages to web standards. No one. Because it wasn't. It had a higher market share, but there were better alternatives. Just like there is now a better alternative to Google Search - Bing :)

Edited June 6, 2009 by Calum

[Umbrello]

The games in Club Bing (formerly Live Search Club) really help as well with keyword searches.

[BoDEAN]

Really? I get better results with Bing, so far. I've found everything I've needed and very quickly.

A lot of people say "I get better results with Google" but I don't always believe them because I know most people are just jumping on the bandwagon. I think people need to use Bing as their search engine constantly for at least a month before they decide. They can't just do a couple of searches and then decide which engine gives them better results.

That's really good to hear - it's catching on! :p (Y)

I'm sorry but that is such an unfair statement. How can you say Visual Studio is not a good IDE? How can you say Windows Live Messenger is not a good IM client? Windows Live Mail, not a good email client? How about their web products? Windows Live Home and its 'What's New' feed, bringing together stories from all kinds of websites like Facebook, Last.fm, Digg, your own blog (even Neowin)? Microsoft have many more than just 2 good products.

Bing is fantastic. You should really try it out for a month or so before judging it. For starters, it's still minimal but looks gorgeous compared to Google Search's homepage - the high resolution background photo goes really well with the grey and orange.

Secondly, Google don't focus on one product. Search may be their priority, but their focus is on all of their services and software - look at Google Chrome for an example. Chrome has been out since september and version 3 is already in development. They are focussing on Chrome a lot, as well as Gmail and other online services of theirs. They recently added DOCX and XLSX support to their Docs and Spreadsheets online service.

There are ways. Most people don't "compare" like they think they are and jump on the badnwagon, unfortunately. They don't realise that in a lot of situations, Bing's results are more relevant - possibly in most situations. Many people also don't realise that it comes down to the terms people are searching for and the different people when measuring relevancy. One isn't more relevant than the other for every single person out there. For me and many others (if they gave it a chance), Bing is more relevant.

This website? will help you compare. Search for something and results for both search engines will be shown, side-by-side :) I recommend searching for "The Killers" and if you have your Bing market set to "United States (English)", you will see just how powerful Bing is, just how many new, improved, features it has over Google Search and just how relevant the results can be for many queries with Bing :)

Because Google is horrible to use and extremely ugly? Because Bing displays more relevant results for many queries? Because Bing looks fantastic and is a joy to use? Because 'Bing' is not an ugly name like 'Google'? Because Bing is more of a catchy name than Google and so is the resulting phrase "Bing it!"?

Ugly to use? You need something bloated/fancy to look at to search for something? Oy Vey.

I've used Bing's image search for a bit and I'm pretty disappointed. Google's image search seems to read my mind and know exactly what I'm looking for. Bing gives me a bunch of useless irrelevant results.

As long as there is no PicLens support for Bing, I don't see myself ever considering switching.

[Petvas]

I am using Bing as my default search engine and until today I had set the country to Germany where bing is still in beta. I switched to the US version today and I am getting much better results that are most of the time on par with Google.

I don't like using Google because of privacy concerns I have. I trust Microsoft more than Google...

I just hope they will release the German version soon. I will of course keep testing bing and comparing it to Google...

[Calum Veteran]

Ugly to use? You need something bloated/fancy to look at to search for something? Oy Vey.

When did I ever say that?

I said one of the reasons I prefer to use Bing is because Google is ugly and therefore horrible to use. Bing is beautiful and therefore nice to use :) It's simple - if something looks ugly and awful, you're not going to enjoy using it are you? Imagine if Windows was just plain white with an awful shade of blue on every link and just a logo in a horrible font, with every letter a different colour, as the desktop background. You aren't allowed to change this desktop background or change the colours of anything - Windows is just plain white everywhere (taskbar, start menu, Windows Explorer, all included). Would you be saying then "you need something bloated/fancy to look at when all its doing is running your software?"?

Bing isn't even bloated or fancy :s Not one bit. It just has a nice interface, with a good background image. The search results are still extremely clear and easy to recognise. What you, Google and others don't seem to realise is that something can look pretty, but still be minimal, functional and user friendly. That is where Google fails and Bing wins.

Finally, as I said, the look is just one of the reasons I choose to use Bing over Google and recommend the same to others. Did you see and think about the many other reasons I mentioned? :)

Edited June 6, 2009 by Calum

[DELTETHISACCOUNT]

You know Google is bound to copy Bing's video search and use YouTube to take advantage of it.

[ATGC]

I switched over to Bing recently since it fits better with the look of win7.

[Ayepecks]

You know Google is bound to copy Bing's video search and use YouTube to take advantage of it.

If they do, someone should bring up some monopoly allegations ;)

[Kondrath]

Bing is doing well because of the stupid name. "Live Search" was the only search engine with a proper sounding name, so it failed. But now it fits in with the more odd sounding names, such as "Google", "Yahoo!", etc.

Hahaha....

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Bing

Is

Not

Google.

Makes perfect sense for a name..

On-topic: I've toyed around with Bing. I like it, its results are on par or even better than those of Google, it has features Google doesn't have (the video search for one) - yet I can't bring myself to switch completely to it. Reason? It's difficult to break with old habits.

I've been a Google user since 1998. Like for many others Google equals internet search for me. Silly as it may sound, but using any other search engine just feels wrong in a 'OMG I'm voluntarily using IE 6!' kind of way.

Time to break the habit.

[Reimroc]

The results are good, but I happen to like the look of Google.

That, and the results I get on Google happen to be better IMO.

[Mike415]

Im really digging Bing actually. The name is kinda dumb but the results, how it displays things, the image finder and the video search so far is top notch.

[MrChainsaw]

This is a lie...

http://alexa.com/topsites/countries/US

[Calum Veteran]

This is a lie...

http://alexa.com/topsites/countries/US

That website also says that Windows Live is a "Search engine from Microsoft." and that the website for Windows Live is "live.com". That information hasn't been accurate for 1 or 2 years now...therefore, I wouldn't trust the website you linked to.

live.com has housed Live Search for the past year or 2 and that was a completely different brand to the Windows Live brand.

It's like comparing MSN to Windows Live.

Perhaps this is a more accurate link?

[guru]

meh! googlw still give the best results for my searches... mostly sql related... i'd have thought Microsoft indexed technet better, considering its their own. turns out google's lot better.

edit: even for simpler searches like "book ticket terminator salvation" the results of google are a tonne better

[MrChainsaw]

That website also says that Windows Live is a "Search engine from Microsoft." and that the website for Windows Live is "live.com". That information hasn't been accurate for 1 or 2 years now...therefore, I wouldn't trust the website you linked to.

live.com has housed Live Search for the past year or 2 and that was a completely different brand to the Windows Live brand.

It's like comparing MSN to Windows Live.

Perhaps this is a more accurate link?

http://gs.statcounter.com/#search_engine-w...090529-20090604

Its miles away from google...