Bing + Yahoo = Search Success?
By Ed Oswald | Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 10:48 am
While at first some of us (myself included) may have looked at Microsoft’s deal last August to power Yahoo searches with skepticism, the move may finally be paying off–and could be eating into Google’s dominance in search.
Hitwise found in March that the two sites combined now account for 30.01% of all searches in the US, up about a point and a half from the previous month. Google on the other hand dropped, moving from 66.69% to 64.42%, indicating that the people who weren’t using it were likely headed to Bing.
What’s behind this change? It could be that Microsoft’s algorithms are doing a better job at finding what searchers want. Experian Hitwise — who provided this data — found that on Yahoo and Bing, about 81 percent of all searches resulted in a visit to a website. Compare this to Google, which is significantly lower at 65 percent of all queries.
Could it really be that Bing just has a better handle on search? Sounds like Internet blasphemy (Google even accused Microsoft of stealing its search results) but that really could be the case. Microsoft has been hard at work behind the scenes making changes, and it’s clear it’s serious about becoming a player.
I’m still a Google guy, but hey technology changes fast, and that might not always be the case. Go ahead Bing, impress me…
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April 12th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Error. "it's" should be used both times: "…it's clear it's serious." Error. "it's" should be used both times: "…it's clear it's serious."
April 12th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
I've made the move over to bing since google's big bing sting, it started off as curiosity since one website mentioned that the sting was possibly due to google being worried about their loss of dominance in the market, I didn't necessarily believe the conspiracy theory but it got me to give bing a decent shot. Since the move to bing apart for some small complaints I am very happy with the swap. I find better results with bing, especially when it comes to looking for definitions of words, reviews etc, with proper inline results that have the information I want at first glance. I also like how the 'images' 'shopping' 'videos' tabs move around according to what I search for with the most relevant to the search item being bumped up. I could keep going, but I figure I sound like enough of a fanboy as it is.
April 12th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
"Could it really be that Bing just has a better handle on search?"
Based on my tests over the last ~4 years, Bing is consistently better at pulling up relevant material that is dated >2 years old. By a factor of 10 in some cases.
April 13th, 2011 at 5:35 am
It's about that Javascript exploit on the front page of Yahoo.com. It has nothing to do with search algorithms. You go to type something in the URL bar or Google search bar when you are on Yahoo, and you get hijacked to Yahoo (Bing!) search. I resent stupid tactics like this. I am getting increasingly pissed off at Yahoo, as the company seems increasingly rudderless and user-hostile. Bring back Yang!