Yahoo, Google or Bing: who delivers?
21 July, 2009
Prashanth Kumar, Director, Digital Strategies, WundermanHow does Bing -- the new kid on the search block -- compare with old timers Yahoo and Google? And my vote goes to... - Prashanth Kumar
A colleague sparked off an interesting thought the other day when she asked for my ‘professional’ opinion on the hype surrounding Bing. Come to think of it, my initial reaction to the news of Microsoft’s search engine was probably the same as that of any other digital/search marketer -- healthy scepticism. But when asked to evaluate the search engine from a user-centric perspective, I discovered some surprising nuggets of useful information.
I have been using Google to search and implement search marketing campaigns since the very beginning. As such, I am automatically (and with good reason) heavily biased towards the engine. Thus far, Google has given me no cause for complaint. Be it Larry and Sergey’s (Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google) meteoric rise from broke students to corporate moguls (the stuff of legend), the radical new spin to online advertising (AdWords), the inclusive monetization network concept (AdSense), a fantastic analytics solution (Google Analytics), their innovative beta products (Google Labs) right down to their quirky mission statement (Don’t be evil!). Everything about Google screams ‘interesting deviant’ and what makes all these acceptable is the excellence and reliability of their core service – search.
They got the basic premise right and followed it up with excellence in delivery. They developed an excellent analytics platform and gave it away for free. They also brought a certain degree of transparency to the often murky world of affiliates and publishers. Users worldwide clicked their approval giving the search giant a near monopoly of most markets. The comScore figures for the month of June 2009 reveal that Google’s position remains unchanged at 65 per cent (of the US internet market). Even in India, Google.co.in and Google.com occupy the top two slots in the list of top 100 sites. Searching on the web has become Googling and the near-global acceptance of the term speaks volumes about how Google continues to lead the industry.
But Bing is proving to be a resilient engine. (No doubt, the upwards of 100 million dollar cross-media advertising budget is helping move the needle!)The same comScore data reveals that Bing, which went live on 3rd June 2009, is slowly but steadily grabbing the market share, at least in US. But since market share is a zero sum game, whose share they are eating into is the big question. Google remains fixed at No.1 and doesn’t seem to be moving downwards. That leaves Yahoo in 2nd place with a distant 20 per cent market share. If all the money and muscle of Microsoft is targeted at beating and/or replacing Yahoo, then their earlier attempt to acquire the company seems more strategic.
Be that as it may, Bing is resonating with user needs. No doubt, people are impressed with additional features like the left hand navigational quick tabs to facilitate assistive search, video previews while hovering over screen capture, the inclusion of Farecast Technology for airline and hotel search and the up-front nature of the search refining tools, called Explorer Pane. Sure, these are all great features and contribute tremendously to usability. And packaged as it all is, in a slick, appealing interface, it is surely bound to succeed.
In this battle of the search engines, it seems to me that Yahoo is going to be the big loser. Bing is new and offers users the novelty factor. And search-wise, it does a fairly decent job although the usual Microsoft tendency to fully load it up with bells and whistles rather than basic functionality does manifest itself. And Google isn’t quaking either. Even as the software company, better known for its operating system, got into the search engine arena, Google, a search engine company, has upped the ante by launching its own operating system -- Google Chrome OS -- slated for release in the second half of 2010. Google already offers a suite of free, web-based word processing and spreadsheet software, all of which are open source. And Microsoft is on the verge of unleashing its Windows 7.
Err... is it just me or did you too notice how all the latest news and information pertains to Google, Microsoft and scores of other companies, without as much as a whisper about Yahoo? I could be wrong, but in the fight between David and Goliath, everyone else remains a mere spectator. With its cluttered homepage, myriad services, not-yet-there search and wars with the affiliate/syndication networks, Yahoo is trying too much, too quickly and too hard. Needless to mention, Bing is eating into Yahoo’s market share while Google is busy basking in the limelight.
My personal preference is for a search engine that gets its main job – searching – done as fast as possible and with minimal fuss or distraction. On this count, Google continues to remain my staunch favourite. Sure, Bing looks good, but when you really want for critical information and especially if you happen to be on a slow connection, I would bet those cool graphics and images won’t look so good after all!
The other thing is that if the only way a search engine can offer a comprehensive solution is to become an aggregator of smaller vertical search engines -- shopping, travel, health etc. -- wouldn’t you rather access those niche engines for specific queries? Since they are focused, they obviously would do a better job. Kayak has already sent Bing a legal letter asking it to stop copying them. And a Wolfram Alpha hangs around ominously, threatening to change the dynamics of search engines by offering ‘definitive answers to factual queries’.
Anyways, that is a development both Bing and Google (and Yahoo, if they intend to stay in the game) will have to watch with interest. Bing has only been around for a month now and the initial data can hardly be called a trend. While users continue to experiment with the health, shopping, travel and hotel search add-ons (yes, that is what I believe they are; still aeons from being an integrated part of the search functionality) once the buzz is gone, they will get back to familiar Google.
For those of you still unconvinced (after all, this is solely my perspective) maybe, just maybe you can have the best of both worlds! With Yagoohoogle you can search both Yahoo and Google while Bingle and Stringy mash-up Google and Bing. If that still proves insufficient, maybe you want to visit Azokan. Although, based on the Google engine, this site allows you to search through Wikipedia, Ask, SourceForge and half-a-dozen other sites from a single interface.
If that doesn’t satisfy you, I sure don’t know what will! One final loophole (in my estimation) is that nearly all these search majors cater predominantly to the Western Hemisphere. The world’s largest internet population – China – has its own quixotic search engine: Baidu. Over 298 million users swear by it and it is possibly one of the few countries where Google has an insignificant market share. But then that is a topic that deserves its own write-up!
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and are neither endorsed nor subscribed to by his current employer.
Well, google seems to be Larry and Sergey seem to be getting it right in every niche they enter or companies they acquire..I wonder if is it possible for someone to predict Google's doomsday! :D
Its Google Google all the way! very difficult to change that habit. Its a part of my brush and bathe routine!
I guess Google is the undisputed king of the search landscape. Even though Bing is giving it tough competition with its new features, I dont see it running ahead in competition. After all its just a matter of time before Google adopts the same features.
Yeah.. Wolfram Apha has good potential!
You are right hangbag,
At present Bing is not as popular as Google that’s why we receive very less visitors from Bing.
Again, excellent post!
bing is not so good. their bot most crawl my website everyday but i got fewest visitor from bing.
I will have to agree with you. I have been using Google for years and yet cant have enough of what they offer. The services are not at all stagnant. they keep innovating, offering new products and so on so forth. Bing is still a baby and it will take some time before we can actually compare them logically.
The key for monetizing is to create value for the user.
by any means i believe that google is the best. there are many search engines but none could ever and wouldn't ever beat the success and popularity of google.
Both delivers, it is just that Google has mass and bing is still niche in search volume. Google is a clear winner by shear search volume.
Actually, I think Bing is terrible. I have hundreds of pages indexed, and I get 0 traffic from it, even though I rank for plenty of keywords. Google gets me a couple hundred, Yahoo fetches me 1,000+, and I get a couple thousand from referrers.
No doubt that Google is by far the best in delivering numbers to any advertisers. Bing or Yahoo doesn't have search traffic to make any impact on the reach of Google. When Indian consumer first starts its journey, he thinks of Google. Young generation is digital native citizens and Google's strategy works best for digital immigrants as well digital natives. Yahoo/Bing are primarily copying what Google does.
There is no doubt that Google has redefine Internet Search and has become a synonym for "Search" and "Search Engine" and that's because of their new innovations and ideas. Yahoo and MSN (Bing) only replicate what Google innovates. I dn't think there would ever be any search engine that can really compete with Google.
Google is always best There maybe other sites that are competing it but no search engine is as good as google.
While Bing is a lot more improved than MSN, it's still not as good as Google though as the results shown are more towards commercial sites. It's good if you are looking to do some shopping but for information, the big G is still top.
The popularity of Bing might be growing, but looking at the current trends, it seems that Google will still lead the search sector in the coming years.
There maybe other sites that are competing it but no search engine is as good as google.You wannt to know the popularity of google..think about how many noun-terms have become verbs into our language..! Google it! Twitter it! youtube it! We never say bing it!
bing seems good but have a feeling it is going to be a fad...
sour.com !!!! what is it.
I think google is a habit with people and changing that is very very difficult especially when you are so satisfied with the product. But bing is catching up fast...however my vote still goes to google old habits die hard....
Hahaha. The guy who has commented as a 'Guest' seems to be a desperate Microsoftian. Type Ashes in Bing and you get some old Wikipedia link. Type Ashes in Google and you get the latest announcement by Steve Harmisson.
When the multiplex strike got over I looked for it in both Google & Bing. Google reported 'Multiplex strike over' and Bing said , 'Multiplex strike going strong - enters its 3rd day'
Search is not about cute pictures. If I need that I will go to National Geographic.
In my opinion 6 months down the line in US and well as india if Bing manage ( if at all manage ) to penitrate into the search market shares that will be at the expense of Google and not Yahoo! as the possibility of an evolved ,regular search audience to try bing with Google is far more than a Yahoo! bing combination or an exclusive bing only search platform - the success of bing is in grabbing a few eye balls from not so evolved users who are into entertainment and fun related search where bing can actually dent google - but this will take time and lot of startegic and communication investments from microsoft .
Microsoft positions Bing as a "decision" engine and I think that's where they have got it all wrong! No doubt, Bing is fast,innovative and has that novelty factor around it. However,it is anything but a "decision" engine.
The reason I say that is that Bing seems to be more intent on making money than helping the user make a decision. How on earth can MS justify showing at least two ads above the organic listing for any damn query ?
For a sponsored link to show above the organic listings in Google, it has to pass a certain Quality Score threshold, which basically means that the ad needs to be very relevant to the query. However in Bing's case, it seems that the top slots are virtually reserved for sponsored links and more often than not,these links have little relevance with the query. This is sure to irritate a user who is looking forward to genuine and relevant content. If this carries on, MS is bound to loose it's fledgling user base before they are able to make their "decisions".
The key for monetizing is to create value for the user. A junk site/search engine which does not help the user cannot be monetized. Bing seems to be one more of the several desperate attempts by MS to eat into Google's well oiled SEM business and nothing else.
What world are you living in? This article is out of date and the author is either out of touch of reality or lives in his own gaga land with a 24k dial up connection!
Fast Internet? Fast Search? You must be living in some remote no mans land! In this day and age of Fast Internet 2MBps to 15MBps downloads it is silly to talk about speed. USA has it, EU is getting itand Indian and China are not far behind! Having said that... Look ahead. Technology evolution is all about learing from the past and present and improving the future!
Remember IBM DOS, Lotus 123, Novell, Wordperfect, Netscape, Sun, and many more... it is a question of time when you will add Google and Yahoo to this long list in the next few years... companies who were formidable leaders in their domains are now either lost or extinct in their domains.
Talking about travel... remember who invented Expedia?
You are too consumed in the symentics of the meshing up Yahoo and Google or Google and Bing...
Wakeup! We are talking Search beyond basic Google Search... we are monetizing search... Not just ad words, but transaction money!
You snooze , you lose! Stop such trivial comparisions! There is bigger fish in the ocean of technology and the biggest is still Microsoft! Like it or not!
Good luck and best wishes!
Hey why is no one talkin about sour.com. Seemed like a good idea. Are they no where in the picture?
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