New Microsoft Search Engine

[ctabuk]

Very Googleish - they are spening $100million on advertising

Bing

What are your thoughts please?

[kgun]

David, so you did not note this (wait to the link redirects to post #9)

Google::: You can still sleep well.

post.

[crankydave]

I guess my question would be as to whether or not it's the same search engine with a different skin.

One thing I do find interesting is the drill down suggestions and providing results for those suggestions.

I don't like the hover popups on the homepage. Annoying.

Dave

[JohnnyV]

well, this seems as good a place as any to post the editor's note for today's newsletter...

At the end of last week, I poked fun at the name of Microsoft's latest search engine, Bing. While I still think it's a goofy name, after taking the search/decision engine through its paces I'm a bit more optimistic.

I'm not saying I'm going to be using Bing as a verb anytime soon. In fact, I can safely say I never will (damn you Groundhog Day). However, I think Bing has a fighting chance to carve its own little niche in the internet. At its core, Bing is a search engine, but I can play along with Microsoft and say that it is a bit more than that.

The first thing you'll notice, and I believe the coolest thing about Bing is the front page. It looks as though every day, Microsoft will have a different background image presented on the front page. Spread across the image, are little fun facts relating to said picture. For example, today the topic is about a small province in Turkey. There's actually some interesting history to be had if you decide to take the time and explore it. I have a sneaking suspicion this could turn into advertising of some sort. Let's just say if there's a huge Nike swoosh slapped on there one day, I probably won't find it as quaint.

Once you get past the front page, and into the actual search you won't find anything too special. Here is where I must start comparing Bing to Google. Honestly, there's nothing in the web search portion of Bing that will steal you away from Google. I believe the layout of Bing's results just don't seem to flow as well as Google's results. The related searches section of the page is in the sidebar which is out of place, because if you scroll too far down you have to scroll back up to click on them. Also, Bing appears to be too smart for its own good.

If you type 'Ford' into your search bar, you don't just receive a list of sites with ranking based on the word Ford. Instead the results are divided into different categories: Ford Dealers, Ford Parts, Ford Parts. This might seem smart, but it could potentially be a nuisance if you really are just searching for one keyword. Hopefully this is something Microsoft will remedy in the future.

As always I've written way too much, and there's still aspects of Bing I want to discuss. Therefore I will be spilling my review/impressions of Bing into tomorrow's newsletter. What have your impressions of Bing been thus far? Is there any part of the site that will keep you going back?

[macgizmoguy]

I already like the Categorical breakdown of Related Searches in the sidebar. I'm also fond of the pop-up preview on the right-side of result listings. It can give a very good sense of whether you want to find out more not. And SEO's would be well served to ANALYZE how Bing decides what to display in these snippets - cuz you can control a great deal of it with onpage optimization...)

I note Bing Search seems to have 'Forgotten' about Yahoo Videos that used to be in Live listings. (Are those two fighting... again?!) But it would serve you well to study which video sites Bing does like as you choose where to upload your content.

One annoyance is how Bing's video results AUTO-PLAY if you merely move your mouse over them on page. Can be quite loud and jarring if your speakers are on. But it's great how the clips preview 3 segments of a video and fade out of as each snip of a clip plays back. Love it! Again, you can get more of a sense of what a video's REALLY about - and not just it's opening lines.

Which leads us to what we all need to be bracing for: Smarter Search that is gonna help users 'PRE-decide' whether your site, video or product is worth clicking through to - or not. Bing Search may not take over the world, but it's a fresh wake-up call to SEOs who had gotten a little too comfortable...

[Dinghus]

Notice you can "preview" porn right there on the site without any age restrictions? This will probably get all the corporate firewalls blocking Bing.

I also noticed something interesting. Paid ad at the BOTTOM of the page too. What was interesting is I went for one of my keywords that I pay for (yes, I make money off of it) and I was the ONLY 1 listed at the top. Scrolled down and I was the ONLY 1 listed at the bottom. So I got 2 listings vice the 1 that Google gives. Of course that must mean my ad was ranked #1 for that paid position because there were others on the right side.

Something to keep in mind if you are doing PPC campaigns on MSN.

[williamc]

Originally Posted by Dinghus

Notice you can "preview" porn right there on the site without any age restrictions? This will probably get all the corporate firewalls blocking Bing.

I noticed the same and came to the same conclusion. Just a matter of time on the lawsuits and blocks.

[avera]

Hi Guys,

@JohnnyV - Great email today!

I have noticed Bing being tracked in Google Analytics as a "Referring Site". So I wrote an article on tracking Bing as a search Engine in Google Analytics for anyone else with the same problem.

It seems quite strange that Google haven't been on the ball and already updated Analytics.

EDIT: For some reason I can't post a link to the article?

[ctabuk]

It appears to myself and others that search emphasis is based upon the URL title first, long tailed second.

From my personal view, I hope it does OK, but that's because it appears to like my sites!

[Tubby]

Bing loves me!

[avera]

To be honest, most of our sites have always ranked well on MSN/Live Search so it's not supprising that we rank well on Bing.

I'm taking it for granted that Bing uses the same search Technology as MSN Search.

[ctabuk]

Well, if they do spend vast sums of cash on promotion and your site is MSN friendly then people will experiment with search. And my logic tells me that if Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask all return good results for your sites then it's a good job that you have learned your trade via WPW.

[bobitza]

I love the pop-up on the right of the SRs, and the new look is a major improvement. I was actually wondering why Micro$oft with all its $$$ don't invest in the lucrative SE business. Bing finally looks like a SE to be considered. Let's see now how relevant the results are ...

P.S. Shouldn't we rename the forum section title?

[janeth]

It’s just another search engine. They are still playing catch up while Google is moving ahead. Google is trying to be more like twitter and MSN is trying to be more like the old Google.

[kgun]

Originally Posted by bobitza

Let's see now how relevant the results are ...

Seems like a Se for Wikipedia even if I liked the third hit on object oriented programming, one of my favorite search terms. Another is:

Financial stability

It is still in Beta phase

[bobchrist]

$100 million for rebranding is too much!

[incrediblehelp]

Video search is pretty cool. You play videos in the SERP. A porn searches dream I would think.

[ChiefLee]

I like the popups to the side of the search results.

From my initial look seems like sames SERPs for my keywords as Live / MSN.

I'd love somebody to give Google a run. Not sure anybody deserves 80% of the market. That's seldom a good thing. Just ask users of Microsoft Windows

[williamc]

Sad day for Googles Reputation.

MattC going off on Bing publicly for minor flaws when it has some pretty amazing flaws in its own results itself. Anyone else seeing this as Google may be worried finally?

[Tubby]

I do not know?

But for a $100 million - I would have personally told everyone about bing. .

[GameFriends]

Bing is heavily influenced by ONPage SEO factors like ctabuk pointed out. I noticed they emphasized the title, url, description and probably tags more so than they should. A SE that mitigates the effects of the internet (people) linking to one another about a website is a step in the wrong direct imo; almost feels like the opposite of Twitter where it's a stagnant pseudo SE, more like a traditional Directory where the webmasters determine their categories (through their Meta data).

Google is so good because it uses the popularity vote (a link is a vote) to determine what is the popular/best result and then verifies this against the websites Meta Data to ensure the results are relevant and popular (best of both worlds).

It's easier to keyword stuff then to get the internet to link about you, so Bing may be exciting to some, but really should be a red flag to webmasters. Do we want to have to keyword stuff our titles or buy domains such as example-example1.com to rank for keywords, or would we rather optimize in a more natural sense and rely on public opinion (links) to determine where we rank?

Bing is not scaleable, it's a directory with amorphous categories setup by Meta data. It is the same SE whether 4 people use it, or 4 billion. That is not progress. I'm not married to any SE but this should be common sense. 100 million, wtf! Where is the innovation? The internet needs more competition to progress so I want this to succeed, but they are playing it safe, and it's going to cost them.I base this off some tests I have run. I searched for a term I rank for in Google on the 2nd page, but on Bing it is completely dominated by keyword stuffed titles and urls that have little to no backlinks. Yahoo also needs to get more factors in its algorithm because I see Bing and Yahoo love the ONpage SEO.

How about someone come out with a SE that is 100% based on offpage factors...that thing would at least be original and filled with some interesting stuff. Be like a Twitter on steroids. I'm so disappointed, but Microsoft is a great company and I'm assuming they will realize the need to welcome link popularity into their algorithm. After all it's still early in its life cycle..one can hope.

[innominds]

BING is definitely a good product from Microsoft. Hope this time it will atleast take on Yahoo's share.

[cw1865]

In its first week I read that msn's market share jumped from about 9 to about 11% of searches, so I suppose that is a positive sign for Bing! I guess we'll find out if its truly a success if people begin to start saying 'just bing it' in lieu of 'google it'