Have you check out Bing.com yet – the new search engine from Microsoft?
Currently it is in Beta mode in the UK which means that it is lacking full functionality and also there is a danger of bumping into some US results when looking for local UK ones.
However, what is already clear is that Bing is one of those most unusual of offerings – a Microsoft product that is receiving largely favourable feedback – both from users and advertisers.
The user interface is beautifully designed; not too fussy on the one hand yet, equally, it has changing background images that add real visual appeal. And this is just one of the areas where I believe, for the first time, you can say it actually has the edge over Google.
The sheer simplicity of the Google interface was a breath of fresh air when it came onto the search scene. It gave the user the information they were looking for in as simple and uncluttered an interface as could be imagined. But after close to 10 years of this ‘austerity’, could it be that users are starting to feel just a touch bored by all that white space?
Obviously, the Google brand is arguably the strongest in the world and generates massive amounts of good will from a great many people. In order to dislodge that, Bing is going to need a few more tricks up its sleeve. And does it?
Well, the short answer is that it actually might do.
When Microsoft took a stake in Facebook last year, they gained access to the single best source of social data available on the net. Put those two together and you potentially have the the arsenal to create the next generation of search engine – the social search engine. And this has got to worry Google. Google’s famous, and constantly updated search algorithm does a great job of scanning the web for the most relevant content. However, it does have one obvious drawback – it is not human but computer generated.
Social search would be the equivalent of asking your friends ‘has anyone seen a good film recently?’ or ‘can somebody recommend a good hotel in LA?’. The results you received would, in some way, be influenced by either your direct friends or a trusted network of human advisers. The exact details of how this might work are yet to be established but we will be looking into in a future post.
Intersting times lie ahead in the world of search. Everyone loves an underdog and these days it’s not Google.
i am a user of Microsofts BING search engine and it is as good as google for static webpage search. for searching blogs, i think google gives more relevant search results compared bing.
BING search engine is just as good as Google. In my own personal experience, Google does give more releveant search result than Bing but the difference is very small. **
i am using both Bing and Google and i think both search engines give relevant search results. i would still prefer Google though, because it gives a little bit more relevant search results than Bing.
Bing does give search results much like Google but i would have to say that Google still gives more relevant search results
Bing search engine gives almost the same search results as Google. Looks like Google will now have a tough competition when it comes to search engine technology.
Some people are even saying they are MORE relevant and better presented….
i have been evaluating the search results of Microsoft Bing compared to Google and they are comparable. Bing gives almost the same relevant search results just like Google.