Could Bing seriously challenge Google?

[Brave7]

King Kaufman is a sports writer who says he reads Scripting News to learn about football. That's one of the highest compliments someone can pay me, cause I often think in terms of football analogies when it comes to tech.

So here's a football analogy! ...

Google and Microsoft are playing a game of football in a stadium called Search. My guess is that Google doesn't think they're actually playing a game, or if they do, they aren't worried about Microsoft gaining any significant yardage. Kind of like the way Alabama beat LSU earlier this week.

They might be right, but Google is letting one of Microsoft's wide receivers go uncovered. You'd think if Microsoft was smart they'd throw the ball to him and see if perhaps it might turn into a touchdown.

Here's the deal. Google's search is getting cluttered with pointless crap. I think they forgot that when Google launched all the existing search engines were similarly cluttered, and they offered two things. 1. Something really nice called Page Rank and 2. No clutter.

Now I'm pretty sure that Google thinks their magic, whatever that might be, will keep people using Google no matter how much crap they shovel onto the search page. Maybe that was true up to a point, but Google is now over the line. A search engine that did two things would get me to at least seriously try it (and nothing has been able to do that for me since Google rolled out in 199. Here are the two things.

1. A super-clean bare-bones interface.

2. A bonded promise that it will stay that way forever.

The bonded part is important. I don't think anyone should switch or even think of switching unless the move was irreversible. It has to be that way forever. We could agree to some small amount of advertising on the search results, in the right margin, and clearly labeled. But beyond that, nothing but search results and whitespace.

The bond would have to be something that hurt if they gave it up. A lot of cash put in escrow to be paid to the ACLU or NASA or split among 15 universities. Something like that. A very large amount of money. Otherwise we'd be crazy to give them a chance, they would just bait and switch us.

I wonder if Microsoft has ever done a study to see how many people switched from Windows to Mac because of all the shovelware and malware that was inundating Windows? I bet it was a lot of people. I promise you that's why I switched. I don't think the Mac is any easier to use. Except there are no viruses. My Windows machine was impossible to use because of all the crap.

Google is now in the same place. Enough is enough. Is anyone going to step up and take advantage of their mistake?

http://scripting.com/stories/2012/01...yChalleng.html

Do you think that google made a mistake?

[stephengfm]

Like professional Baseball, they are the only game in town.

[webcosmo]

ms too late in the game.
google is way ahead not only on pc search uses but also on mobile.
not to mention google android dominates the mobile os market; whereas ms just started in the mobile market.

[stephengfm]

Originally Posted by webcosmo

whereas ms just started in the mobile market.

where as Microsoft just bought into Nook?

[David.Pagotto]

Google puts Bing to shame. I don't think there is a company that will seriously challenge Google for years to come.

[Deepikawalecha]

i don't think so that Bing has potential to challenge Google. Google is far far ahead in race of search engine ranking so it is impossible for now for any search engine to challenge Google

[jjmcd82]

If Google keeps pushing out updates that reduce the quality of search results, it won't take that long for people to start looking elsewhere. Bing isn't great competition because their product is just as bad, but it really seems like the market is wide open for a new competitor.

[stephengfm]

Originally Posted by jjmcd82

If Google keeps pushing out updates that reduce the quality of search results, it won't take that long for people to start looking elsewhere. Bing isn't great competition because their product is just as bad, but it really seems like the market is wide open for a new competitor.

Not as a point of contention, but where would you look elsewhere?

Google appears to be the only game in town, no?

Does anyone else offer a search engine result that actually updates regularly and that is comprehensive across even odd searches.

IMO: Most people don't use Google to find something that they already know about, they use Google to find something that they don't know about.

And if they do use Google to find something that they know about, then they already know the NAME and ANY search engine can truthfully find that website/blog.

[jjmcd82]

Originally Posted by stephengfm

Not as a point of contention, but where would you look elsewhere?

Google appears to be the only game in town, no?

Does anyone else offer a search engine result that actually updates regularly and that is comprehensive across even odd searches.

I don't know how accurate Compete's numbers are, but it looks like Bing-powered search engines are about a third of search traffic and rising slowly.

If Google's results keep getting worse, and if they annoy people too much with the + thing, and if the FTC slaps them hard in these anti-trust hearings... Google would have a lot of things going against it in the search biz.

I wonder exactly how much it would cost for a new competitor to get started...

[stephengfm]

Originally Posted by jjmcd82

I don't know how accurate Compete's numbers are, but it looks like Bing-powered search engines are about a third of search traffic and rising slowly.

If Google's results keep getting worse, and if they annoy people too much with the + thing, and if the FTC slaps them hard in these anti-trust hearings... Google would have a lot of things going against it in the search biz.

I wonder exactly how much it would cost for a new competitor to get started...

Do you know why Bing gets search traffic?

They pay for it. They give out gift cards every month or so for people to search 20 times a day. There are millions of moms doing that all the time each day.

So who knows exactly what the REAL traffic is for Bing?

[jjmcd82]

Originally Posted by stephengfm

Do you know why Bing gets search traffic?

They pay for it. They give out gift cards every month or so for people to search 20 times a day. There are millions of moms doing that all the time each day.

So who knows exactly what the REAL traffic is for Bing?

Haha, wow - ok, that is pretty sad after all. It does take like 4 months of max daily searches to even earn one $5 gift certificate though, so they're buying really REALLY cheap traffic. I wonder how much they're making off ads on those searches, though?

[RyanWasHere]

If bing have a chance or not does not really matter. A competitor, no matter how small is a competitor nevertheless. It would be wise for google to keep a close eye on bing.We run a webshop selling packaging machines and packaging materials for strapping and wrapping etc, we optimize for all existing search engines including yahoo and Ask.

[Ghost Eyes]

It's all about perception and habit.

Google is the only one that can beat Google. Not because they are the best but because they are "search" in the minds of the public. Bing has tried advertising that their search gives better results and still they have barely scratched the lead Google has. Why? Because they can't beat Google for search in the minds of the public.

When you search for something you "Google it" - that perception is impossible to beat unless you can present something different that the public wants which to be honest in a search engine what could that be? You want it to search and the public perception is Google is search.

I don't think unless Google really screws up, Bing will ever pass them, Google is a habit.

Far from scientific analysis, I'll give you an example from my "far from computer savvy" dad. He mentioned the other day how he hated Google search results lately because he couldn't find an answer for something he was searching for. He shared with me his solution for the problem...he now starts on page two on Google we he looks. He gets better results that way.

Google still wins.

[snakeair]

Originally Posted by RyanWasHere

If bing have a chance or not does not really matter. A competitor, no matter how small is a competitor nevertheless. It would be wise for google to keep a close eye on bing.We run a webshop selling packaging machines and packaging materials for strapping and wrapping etc, we optimize for all existing search engines including yahoo and Ask.

Google been keeping an eye on BING for many many years. Remember Bing search engine was MSN search engine. They changed the name to start fresh basically.

Yahoo and Bing share search results because of there deal they signed. Don't worry about Yahoo because there company is going down the crapper and thanks to there new CEO.

[GMT]

Unfortunately I don't think bing is a real threat to Google, is no secret Microsoft has lost billions trying to get it popular and haven't really succeeded. Also while Google is ruining results behind the scenes, the average consumer doesn't know and doesn't care, google has been brainwashed into them as the goto for search. Yahoo is bing powered these days but that hasn't helped bing a whole lot, also it's rumored Microsoft tried to sell bing to Facebook but they didn't want it. Sad part is bing is better than google with some things.

[Brave7]

Bing Now Powers Over 30% Of U.S. Searches

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/11/hit...-u-s-searches/

[Frank Spooner]

I agree that Google is an untouchable, but I have been using Bing more and more when needing to find Images and videos. As a production artist, I sometimes need more (or different) results than what Google ranks as their top results. Plus Bing does not favor youtube when doing a video search, which is always an adventure discovering other sites than Google owned links.

[TizzyTazzy]

I could see Bing being something Google should watch out for. The main thing is they both have a great name for a search engine.

"Just go google it"
"Just go bing it"

Yahoo I'm afraid is out.

"Just go yahoo it" -- sorry but no.

[DatingExpert]

I dont see Bing competing Google. Google will always be the best.

[stephengfm]

Originally Posted by DatingExpert

I dont see Bing competing Google. Google will always be the best.

Did you "see" Microsoft overtaking IBM?"

Did you "see" Google die-throwning Microsoft?

Did you "see" Toyota overthrowing "the Big 4"?