A screenshot from Microsoft's new search engine, Bing. New data shows that yesterday Bing overtook Yahoo in the search engine race, claiming second place, behind Google. Some bloggers have heralded the news as groundbreaking, although the traffic could just be a result of high levels of web buzz.
(Microsoft)Photos (1 of 1)
For a moment, Bing edges ahead of Yahoo, but this race is far from over
By Matthew Shaer | 06.05.09
It was the news that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had been hoping for: Yesterday, Bing, the shiny new Microsoft search engine, took another (small) step toward knocking Google off its perch at the top of the fractious search heap. According to figures released by StatCounter, an analytics service, for a brief moment on Thursday, Bing edged ahead of Yahoo, to capture second place behind Google, the reigning powerhouse.
The figure, which had Bing at 5.56 percent of searches conducted in the US – over Yahoo’s 5.17 percent – was temporary, and was far outstripped by the 71.99 percent share claimed by Google. Furthermore, by Friday morning, Yahoo and Bing were scrapping again – one figure, published by PC World today, put Yahoo back in second place with 10.75 percent of US searches, over Bing’s 10.08. When examined on a global scale, Bing had fallen even further behind – 3.73 percent to 5.55 percent – Yahoo in user searches.
Bing was first unveiled on May 28, at the All Things Digital Conference. Microsoft promised it would be live by June 3, but the service went online two days early. This week, Microsoft unveiled a major multimedia advertising campaign, comprised of banner ads, video spots, and interactive displays on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The ads position Bing as a “decision engine” – a tool more dynamic and friendly than Google. Early reviews of the service have been largely favorable.
Still, the race is far from over. As other bloggers have pointed out, it’s very possible that yesterday’s spike is a result of the buzz surrounding Bing – and the flood-the-zone advertising campaign. “I think Microsoft may be on to something with Bing, but the decision to battle Google on their own turf seems questionable to me,” writes Lance Loveday on Search Engine Land. “Even if Bing ends up being a “better” search engine than Google, the availability of an incrementally better Search Engine isn’t going to cause a massive shift in consumer behavior patterns.”
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2. Spino Prime | 06.05.09
Nothing is happining to google Jonathan. This is just another choice to do your searching. No one is forcing you to use it. It is far supperior to live search in every way making it not a bad option for searching. The increased competion might urge google to do some cool new things with their search engine so Bing’s apperance could be a good thing and I do not understand why you would want to delete it.
That said I still like google more for its cleaness and features. Bing still has a long way to catch up with the giant.
3. Van | 06.05.09
Microsoft is getting more pathetic by the day. All their products are starting to look like imitations with little innovation. Bing is like Google, but slightly tweaked. Even if they try to introduce the phrase, “Bing it,” that will never replace “Google it.” Sorry, but that only works when you make something gigantic in scope and innovation. I find it disgusting how much they also copied the Google layout. Loveday was right. Microsoft is trying to fight Google on their own turf, more than they actually came up with something completely new.
They keep insisting that internet searching is “sick” when most people seem happy with it. I tried Bing for a test run, and it was inferior in many aspects. It always comes up with fewer results than google. Not as comprehensive. There are some interesting quirks, but nothing big enough to move me from Google.
I used to be such a die-hard Microsoft fan. But that company has changed so much. They may still be making billions and billions, but they’re not at the top of the game anymore. They’re getting dominated in almost every playing field. Back to google for me.
4. Dorosinto Dollinsona-Kingerston | 06.05.09
bing is cool. it is safer and more livelyy than google. google has inapropiate pictures…
5. LEGOAdmin | 06.05.09
I personally like the user interface of Bing better than Google, as Google is somewhat bland. This however doesn’t even come close to compensating for the less comprehensive search results that Google provides. Overall, the only thing that Bing is doing is copying Google and all the other search engines out there, and claiming it to be theirs.
6. Srikanth | 06.05.09
I am happy to have Bing around. For a fact it is certainly comparable with google in terms of search returns. The NEWS section of Bing needs some work. I am using Google and increasingly using Bing. I have defaulted to Bing on my firefox extensions and seem to like what I see. Search is not perfected yet, so the only way to ensure innovation is to have competition.
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1. Jonathan Blair | 06.05.09
Who publishes this propaganda? Bing is rubbish, none of us asked for it and I can’t get rid of it in my browser. Bring back Google.