Posts Tagged ‘Insight’

Some Insight Into Bing and Why You May Actually Like It

Not all search engines are made equal, if they were Google wouldn’t have over 60% of the world’s search market. But is Bing a Google killer or just another search with a few gimmicks?

At first glance, Microsoft’s msn.com replacement looks surprisingly familiar. It has a search box in the middle of the screen, some links along the top to sign in or start an account and other links that access “images, videos, shopping, news, maps and travel.” So, upon first look, it seems that Microsoft spent 100 million dollars to start… Google! But this is really where the similarities stop.

Bing is livened up by a bracing background persona that links to some fascinating facts and videos about the pictures when you rollover particular areas. Clean, but it is not exactly going to make Bing the search engine of choice.

So how about their search results?

Search results are showed in the same format as Google and even their results are similar. When I searched for “Kyocera Kansas City” Tekniq popped up as #1 on both search engines. But on Bing I was able to hover my mouse over a small symbol to the right of the results and see a text preview of the page and what the page links to. This small feature could be handy, but with high speed internet it’s probably just quicker to click and go to the site to see it yourself.

So where does it really excel?

Bing may be similar in appearance and functionality to Google for searching, but where Bing really dazzles is with its other programs.

1. Bing Images

Bing allows for better persona searching and showing. You can customize the layout of the images and there is no flipping through pages to see more results, simply scroll down and more images appear.

Bing also has a “Show similar Images” link on every persona. This is fantastic for finding the type of persona you want. So if you want an persona of a person talking on a phone, you can type in “phone” and then find the persona that you want and click “Show similar images” and you will see more like that persona.

2. Bing Videos

Bing has a searchable video service that has video’s from YouTube, ABC, BBC and other sites. It also has a quick preview feature where you can roll over the video and it will start streaming it immediately so you can preview the video before even clicking on it.

3. Bing Shopping with cashback

Perhaps one of the best features that Bing has is their shopping feature. It is simple to use and similar to Google shopping but they have a cashback program that pays you up to 10% for buying from particular vendors.

Some of their prices seem to correspond to the incorrect products, but one can only assume that it is because the service is new. If they fix this then why would you ever shop online any other way?

4. Bing Maps

Bing’s mapping feature is leftover from live.com. But if you have never checked it out, I reckon you may be impressed. It has fantastic satellite and areal imagery that let you view your household from all four angles instead of just a bird’s eye view. It also has a plug-in that you can install to access right 3d mapping.

Though it doesn’t have an answer to Google Streets, it is still a nice tool and excellent in its own right.

End

Bing really does deliver some impressive features without losing what most like about Google. If Google doesn’t respond to some of these features by making changes of their own, then Bing may be a touch to reckon with. My estimate is that Google responds in a huge way and is able to leverage their name to once again increase their market. But for now, Bing may be the search engine of choice.