A DIFFERENT TYPE OF AGENCY

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_{June 1, 2009}
Badda-Bing! _{By Ashley}

I have spent the entire day playing with Microsoft’s new Search Engine Bing (previously Live Search) and reading tons and tons of reviews and opinions on the site. It should be told that I never once used Microsoft Live Search so I can’t really touch on the differences between the old and new versions.

My initial reaction to going to Bing.com was, “Ugh, this is just not Google” (BING = But It’s Not Google??). But I gave it a shot and was pleasantly surprised. I will start with what I loved about Bing. For my “case study” sake, I did a comparative search on both Google and Bing with the search term “cupcakes” (I was hungry at the time).

Image Search – While the  search results themselves were nearly the same, the Bing results page is extremely intuitive and easy to use. The left sidebar produces ‘related search’ terms and the option to search by size, layout, color and people. Google offers similar options at the top of the page but is not as convenient.  In addition, when  you scroll over an image on Bing, it slightly enlarges the picture and gives details of image size and the option to see similar images to that one in particular. Google provides the image information underneath the picture, and when comparing the two side by side, Bing is much more visually pleasing and easy to navigate. Lastly (and the coolest part), there is infinite scrolling, meaning the more you scroll the more images populate the page.

Video Search – It’s pretty neat! On Bing, when you scroll over the image a 30 second preview starts to play.

Maps- Bing automatically populates the map with local bakeries opposed to Google, which starts nationally and requires you to narrow your search down. Other than that there isn’t too much different between the two engines.

Now down to the meat and potatoes, the actual search:

Microsoft calls Bing the “Decision Engine”, even previewing the site on www.decisionengine.com. There has been a lot of criticism in the first few days. Specifically about Bing returning a kind-of biased search result. And if this is true, then the arguement becomes, is Bing making the actual decision for you? And what does this mean for trends? Some go as far to say that using Bing is seeing the Internet through Microsoft’s eyes. While I see the arguement in that to some extent, I do believe it’s a little (ok, maybe VERY) over-the-top. Let’s look at a few of the facts:

• Bing brings the “best match” to the top, not the most popular. (Which in theory, if Bing is making decisions for us, wouldn’t the best and most popular eventually be one and the same?)
• When I watched the demo video,  Home Depot was entered in the search, the alternatives to the left produced Ace Hardware and Walmart. I have read several blogs arguing that since it doesn’t suggest the “Mom and Pop” shop, its going to mean the demise of local shops as we know it. (I couldn’t help but laugh at this since I think this is highly doubtful)
• “Bing’s health results bring together resources from the top medical sources in the world, including the Mayo Clinic,” Microsoft says in the demo. The alternative health suggestions are buried deep down in the world of Bing. In order to find alternative medicine results, you must get very specific with your search term.
• In my cupcake vs cupcake results, not much was different except that the ‘related search’ on Bing is shown on the left side of the page, which personally, I prefer. The results, and order of them, were extremely similiar.
• Search history is shown on Bing, in the almighty left sidebar.

Final thoughts: I actually really like Bing. While I probably won’t use it for basic search, I will, however, continue to use it for image searches and shopping (very well done and I can see high conversion rates because of the way it is presented). I don’t think Bing will be making any decisions for anyone anytime soon. It will provide suggestions, just as Google does, and we will choose what suites our query best.

Michael Arrington,of TechCrunch hits the nail on the head though:

Whether Microsoft ultimately succeeds or not in “winning” the search war, the competition is very good for the rest of the Internet. Google needs to be pushed to try innovating new things (not this). And search marketing competition will ensure that Google doesn’t get too greedy.

If Bing catches on, which I am surprised to hear myself say that I think it will, then Google will be forced to evolve. In the end, that just makes it better for the end-user. For now, Google is Google and will likely remain the powerhouse… but a little competition never hurt anyone!

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Filed under: Media News — Tags: bing, Google, live search, microsoft — @ 7:08 pm

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