Microsoft is slowly carving a path through Google's search engine market share with it's new engine, Bing. I have to admit, I didn't think much about it at first. How could a word like "Bing" become a household name like "Google?" Plus, it is a Microcrap product and, as you can tell, I'm not very fond of their products anymore, save for Word (which I heard was ruined for Mac users in the latest version).
Of course, I thought the same about Google several years ago. Now, I'm not sure what I'd do with out it in this love/hate relationship I share with the online behemoth (which is becoming a monopoly like Microsoft was). Since I don't like that kind of dependence on a product - or a monopoly in any one industry, it forced me to test out the new search engine.
I have used Bing and definitely get different results from Google. Fact is, my vanity rankings are usually better on Bing than Google because my name is so generic, a ton of us are competing for the top slot - and everyone and their sister is optimized for Google. (Someday I WILL knock off the doc now resides at No. 1!) Of course, I still don't really like the order the results come to me, and eventually go back to Google or Yahoo, which are still the two top contenders for search with 74 and 16 percent marketshare respectively, according to Hitwise.
However, it has been said that Bing is much better at tackling longer searches. With Google, I have to take baby steps to get results for specific topics - which takes way more time than I'd like.
What does Bing mean for you? Well, it would be wise to start talking to your Web designer about optimizing for Bing and just how important that is. Can you optimize a site for both Bing and for Google? Should you create a blog and have it specifically optimized for Bing to see a comparison?
Some may not feel the need to do this immediately, but you just never know when an online venue is going to truly take off. It is much better to be prepared beforehand - at least with the knowledge of what to do - than to get caught, naked in cyberspace, without the right search engine optimization.
Here are a few interesting articles about Bing's progress from Online Media Daily:
I've tried it a couple of times and it doesn't totally suck. I too am skeptical because of it's parentage, but I am all about efficiency and there is the slightest possibility that it can make my life any easier, then I will reconsider my options.
I agree on Google and the short searches. Perhaps today is my Bing test Drive day.
Karen Syed
http://klsyed.com