Bing Gains 10% Marketshare 514
samzbest writes "According to ComScore's qSearch, Microsoft's retaliation against Google search, Bing, has gained significant market share, now facilitating close to 10% of US searches. That's a gain of two large points in five months."
Who would've though? (Score:2, Interesting)
With such a retarded name I didn't expect Bing to reach such popularity.
Being the new default doesn't hurt either (Score:4, Interesting)
It probably doesn't hurt that IE 8 updates make Bing the default search engine if you go the 'express' route. Even adding google as a search provider is weird - you can't just select it, you have to go to a web page and download the search engine provider package or whatever.
Shocked (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, I know the numbers may be valid but when a company is reporting on another company, with whom they are partnered, I find it hard to invest any credibility in the report.
The Deal Seekers Are Probably Partly Responsible (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, from what I read, your mileage may vary. Meaning you got anywhere from $20 to $30 off the price but you still paid $200. It was just recredited to your paypal account. It happened/happens with other large retailers like Amazon so I found myself periodically using Bing to squeeze 10% off a purchase here or there
I'm not sure how this was orchestrated. I mean, I thought commodities like DVDs and CDs and XBoxes were already shaven down to the some of the lowest prices online
So in the end, I apologize for causing all that cancer. You are correct to direct your slurs at me but I assure you that as soon as those deals dry up I will stop using Bing.
Market Share Gains (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm not sure I believe those numbers (Score:5, Interesting)
Google 18020 pages (linked to from Google)
Google (Images) 976 pages
Bing 226 pages
And from Google Analytics:
Top traffic sources:
Google 26,738 visits 85.24%
Yahoo 676 visits 2.16%
Bing 346 visits 1.10%
Admittedly the site is not about shopping or entertainment - it's mainly about technical topics which maybe colors the results.
Re:Who would've though? (Score:3, Interesting)
No, Bing [wikipedia.org] is a law professor known for having translated several good science fiction books to Norwegian long ago, and now being completely out of touch, in particular by having spectacularly un-enlightened views on copyright enforcement the need for IP law reform.
Worst thing is, Microsoft actually paid good money for his domain name.
Re:Is it trickery? (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't think Microsoft sponsored this article. I believe it just one of many periodic reports on search provider market share.
And personally, I don't think Bing is crap. It actually has some innovative features. I just don't have any incentive to switch from Google, especially with gmail and personalized home pages.
Would you care to tell me why you think Bing is a "piece of crap"?
Well...it's my homepage anyway (Score:5, Interesting)
Reason? Much against my expectation, I found I liked the daily pictures rather than the blank of Google. I fully expected to prefer the clean look of Google (after all, it was that rather than quality of results which made me move from Alta Vista to Google many years ago.) but instead I found it was time for a change and I like the different appearance and the tagging they do I find interesting.
Search quality results - variable. Some good, some not so. It's no effort to just click the search box top-right and start using Google instead however, so effectively by having Bing as the homepage with a quickly accessible Google search I've got quick access to two potential sets of results.
So yes, I switched over for the pretty pictures. Yes, that's a shallow reason. It's doing no harm however, and I like it.
Cheers,
Ian
I wonder what happens when you Google Bing (Score:2, Interesting)
Ok, lets try:
http://www.google.com/search?q=bing&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a/ [google.com]
Now the other way:
http://www.bing.com/search?q=google&go=&form=QBRE/ [bing.com]
Does anyone actually trust Bing?
Sun... (Score:3, Interesting)
Bing...
Re:Surprising... (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, MS is pushing out updates via OS updates.
I discovered the other day that IE on my XP box had suddenly decided that Bing was its default search engine, despite the fact that I'd previously set it to be Google.
I'm not saying I agree any more with the bundling of such things when you install other software (I don't), but Microsoft has an even more privileged access to my system in that they can push updates and I don't even get asked (other than agreeing to a cumulative security update with a long number and no real explanation). I certainly wasn't asked if IE could change its default search engine or to become the default browser (which has happened on occasion).
I have no doubt that a significant amount of their new-found market share was automatically set for users without their knowledge.
Cheers
Re:Is it trickery? (Score:4, Interesting)
(That is, you buy a product through a bing search, and you get a certain amount of money returned to you)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Is it trickery? (Score:4, Interesting)
I love your comments. It proves ( at least in my eyes ) corporate evolution. In order to make money, you must improvise, improve and use less resources.
Google, the king of using less resources and improvising, is winning at this time. Microsoft, whom has the resources, is now investing in that side of the business, making themselves better and more productive.
for the end user, this is important, being able to choose whom you want to do your searches with is always a benefit. Now the real question is, the quality of the search results.
I would really enjoy if another search engine would join this field that was as innovative as Google, or had the resources of Microsoft, then a real good fight could happen, and the winner would be the end user.
I'm not surprised (Score:3, Interesting)
Why, I did a Bing search myself just the other day. I was using IE for the one thing at work that requires it, and I didn't know that Bing was the default in IE.
It only took me about 15 seconds to change it, though.
Seriously, though, other than the fact that it's the Evil Empire's search, I think this is mostly good. Competition breeds better products.
Re:Market Share Gains (Score:2, Interesting)
What the...seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously? I don't personally know anyone that uses Bing, and I even know a few people that aren't even aware of its existence.
I know that who I kow is a very small slice of "everyone", but still...where are these legions of people using Bing? Could the fact that many Windows Mobile phones use Bing as their default search engine be contributing to this number?
Re:Is it trickery? (Score:3, Interesting)
Reasons? Sure. Any result on things is skewed if it relates to MS. How can you call that "reliable"? There's a reason they call it a decision engine and not a search engine. Also, why do I want something that's been rammed down my throat as a default setting? I'd rather choose my own thing not have *constant* hijacking during every IE security update. Just wait for people to do bing bombs as they call "google bombs", and you'll see even more manipulation.
Also, the layout is annoying. Why not have news links up at the top? Why do I give a crap about related searches being linked at the side as opposed to next to each item? Why do I need microsoft self-sponsoring when I search for microsoft on bing? I don't get that with google. Also it sure is interesting that very few search results show up when I put the term google into bing, isn't it? [bing-vs-google.com].
I can keep searching more reasons if you want, but the end result is that the quality of results and accuracy is piss poor. Dogpile still beats results/accuracy of bing constantly.
Re:Is it trickery? (Score:3, Interesting)
Microsoft, like EA, has been redeeming themselves for the past couple of years. Much like EA realized they were screwed due to their draconian DRM, Microsoft realized it screwed the pooch with Vista. They really have been turning things around, and they seem to be making their business more nimble and listening to what their customers truly want (excluding WinMo 6.5).
A monster like Microsoft can't change direction on a whim. It takes time. Windows 7 is a decent indicator of where they are headed.
Re:Who would've though? (Score:5, Interesting)
Wow, I always thought BING was one of those geek recursive acronyms: Bing Is Not Google
Re:Is it trickery? (Score:1, Interesting)
Actually, I would expect that most people have heard of Bing already since Microsoft is advertising their asses off to get users to use Bing. Hell, my father knew about Bing since some time early last year (I forget exactly when he mentioned it to me). Even my mother-in-law, who can barely use a computer (she has to ask my wife how to reply to email!), knows about Bing. She isn't going to use it, as I have taught her to use Google.
Nonetheless, 10% appears a bit high, but it isn't terribly far off the mark. Visitors using Bing to find my site make up a little over 7% of my total traffic for the rolling month 10/18 to 11/17 (G=41.58%, Y=10.73%). For the entire month of October, Bing marketshare of total visitors to my site was 7.95% (G=38.91%, Y=12.97%). If you look at traffic generated strictly by search engines, then Bing had a marketshare of 12.84% for October, compared to Google at 62.83% and Yahoo at 20.95%.
So, the numbers aren't that far off, depending upon how you generate the statistics. I've used Bing a little to check it out and also to check where my site ranks on Bing, but I dislike it intensely. I dislike the fact that, on the first SERP, they give you results for your keyword and then variations of your keyword in blocks below that. I prefer using Google because I am able to use sufficiently specific keywords to get results I am looking for. However, I expect most people will probably prefer Bing because they aren't good at selecting keywords and so they will like the fact that they get search results for variations of their chosen keyword, since it will probably help them find what they are looking for faster.
Re:Market Share Gains (Score:3, Interesting)
I've been seeing a lot of machines lately with the Bing Toolbar installed, and the client having no idea how it got there. Automated updates on a Windows machine are nice, but sometimes you get the latest helpful tool bar offering along with it.
Do you mean Live Toolbar?
WU won't install that thing quietly behind your back. You can get "Windows Live Essentials" - which contains the toolbar - via WU, but it's an optional update, meaning it will never get installed automatically - you need to go into list of updates after the check, open the "Optional" tab there, and check the product. Even then it won't install silently - it will download and then run the normal installer, and that will ask which products you'd like to install (granted, it checks them all by default). So it's pretty hard to "have no idea" how it got there if you go that route.
Another option is - surprise - Java [microsoft.com]. That has a single, "oh yes, install this BTW" checkbox tucked away in the middle of the wizard, and it's checked by default.
Re:Is it trickery? (Score:3, Interesting)
Um... Dragon Age... EA/Bioware ... I can't play my game unless I log into my EA account to verify that my unlocked content is legal.
That's better?
Windows 7 Starter forcing users wanting a real computing experience to upgrade... limitations like not being able to change your background, sounds, or colors and not even having a media center for playing your own media [windowsteamblog.com]... really? That's not my idea. I wonder how much extra code they had to put in to disable features inherent to the actual OS.
Bing is fine, except one thing... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Is it trickery? (Score:3, Interesting)
I think the issue isn't so much one of search quality for most people as it is one of trust. In the past, Microsoft have shown no compunction about distorting their search engine results to advance their own agenda, and the recent "why is windows so expensive" debacle suggests that they will probably do so again.
Added to that, there isn't actually anything wrong with Google's results, as such. Room for improvement to be sure, but the reason I use Google is that it seemed to me to deliver better results than all the other engines at the time. That hasn't really changed.
So, lack of trust on the one hand, and no particular dissatisfaction on the other... I think MS may have a bit of a mountain to climb on this one.
Re:Is it trickery? (Score:3, Interesting)
In my experience the bing results have been reasonably fair, but the bing suggested searches have been laughably skewed.
Just look at this example of searching for "linux": http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3604/3585051300_d23a37a32e_o.png [flickr.com]
And yes, that is not a photochop, those were the real suggestions from bing. More recently they seem to have cleaned up their suggestions for Linux but who knows what other underhanded tactics they are using or what other search terms are "poisoned".