Business | Technology
Microsoft means business in its Google challenge
Google is king. Yahoo is second. Cuil just isn't. Live is dead. So what makes Microsoft think that Bing.com, the heavily promoted and newest challenger in the search engine wars, stands much of chance?
- By Scott Shuey, Chief Reporter
- Published: 23:05 June 19, 2009
- Image Credit:
Dubai: Google is king. Yahoo is second. Cuil just isn't. Live is dead.
So what makes Microsoft think that Bing.com, the heavily promoted and newest challenger in the search engine wars, stands much of chance?
Microsoft seems to be hoping that search engines in general just don't understand what people are looking for. The Washington-based company has been trying to separate Bing from the rest of the crowd by calling it a "Decision Engine", ie, it can help you make buying decisions, plan trips, do research or find local businesses.
I read these descriptions with a certain amount of scepticism. Since the late 1990s, I've seen a number of search engines promise new and wonderful results only to fail to produce anything of value. The most recent of these was Cuil, which looked nice and shiny when it launched, but over the past 11 months has failed to make any progress in terms of market share.
With this in mind, I sat down and decided to give Bing a try. It's often difficult to know just how to test out a search engine, since how they work is a closely protected secret. I started my search with something obvious: US President Barack Obama.
Bing produced 320,000 results while Google found over 112 million. Don't read too much into those numbers. Most people who work with search engines believe that regardless of how many results you get, you'll probably never get past the second page. However, the difference does raise some eyebrows.
Next, I looked at Microsoft's claim that Bing was good at finding local content. I searched for "travel Dubai". Bing turned out an impressive looking 15.2 million results, while Google turned out 7.7 million. Despite the seemingly glaring difference, the results were hardly distinguishable. Seven sites appeared on both lists. Both provided an ample list of "alternative search" suggestions and sponsored links.
There were a couple of dogs in both lists, too. Google gave a link to a business story written in 2002, while Bing linked to a site that Websence blocked as "malicious".
Both sites also allow you to narrow your search to get regional results. With Bing, you can restrict the site to search in the rather vague category of "Arabian countries". Google gives you the ability to narrow your search to just the UAE. The results is a list of very different, but equally useable sites, with Bing offering 362,000 results and Google 117,000.
I then decided to try something a little more obscure: My name, which is fairly uncommon, but far from unique.
I started with Google, which returned 62,300 results. At the top of the list was my Facebook page. Seven of the top 10 articles where related to me, either referencing a social network I belong to or a story I'd written last year. The remaining three sites referred to other Scott Shueys of the world.
Next I went to Bing, which returned 72,300 results. At the top of the list was a link to my LinkedIn.com account, which I visit about twice a year, at most. Oddly enough, LinkenIn was the only result to appear on both lists. The other Scotts of the world made up the majority of Bing's results. Other than LinkedIn, the only results relevant to me in the top 10 were links to two stories I had written, again, last year.
What do these results mean, other than Bing is the best place to look for other Scott Shueys? Not much, because if you scroll through the rest of the results, you begin to see that both eventually produce the same results, they just present it in a different order.
Bing certainly can find information - possibly on par with Google in some areas - at least based on my few hours of highly unscientific testing. However, its promise of being a decision maker is far from proven. Exactly what "decisions" it's trying to make are far from clear. Maybe further refinements will make this easier to understand.
However, in the few short weeks Bing has been available, it's shown just how serious Microsoft is about competing with Google, and it may finally have the tools to make it happen.
Inital reports from comScore suggest that could already be happening. Sixty-five per cent of searches made in the United States in May came through Google while Microsoft scored only eight per cent. Bing launched on May 28. During the week of June 8-12, Microsoft's percentage jumped to 12.1, although it's common for traffic figures as users' interest a new site wears off.
Share this article
More from Technology
More from Business
Popular in Business
-
XPRESS
Way to go this DSF
A fun-filled route to guide you to all the happening dos in town
Business Editor's choice
-
Tight security for air show
Police announce measures to keep people and property safe
-
Nokia aims for 300m customers by 2012
Core focus will be on messaging, maps and navigation, music and applications
-
Court orders freeze on all Saad assets
Many UAE banks exposed to troubled conglomerate
