Bing versus Google?

There is a lot of talk about these two some say major search engines. The problem with anything especially on the web is it is all down to whose opinion is more widely read. Folks rarely do their own research because the web is full of opinion often paid for sometimes not. A lot of which is too difficult to trawl through not least because of the jargon associated with it and of course to some of us dinosaurs the “youth” dialogue can be another language altogether unless you are down with the kids. I have here a few points that you might not know but you should.

Google covers roughly 70% of ALL worldwide searches. This means if you want to find something then google if it hasn’t already, is probably going to find it because most people are on google talking about what you are looking for, searching for what you want or delivering what you want using google as their starting point in terms of visibility. Are you still with me?

Bing on the other hand cover about 21% of searches. It bolsters up to around 28% by adding the Yahoo searches too as it is now part of the same conglomerate. Another interesting fact about Bing I heard the other day is that Windows 10 the microsoft operating system now fully rolled out, uses Bing as its default search engine. Why does this matter to you?

Well it means by using Bing and not Google which is who the other 70% are using you could miss some detailed searches as Bing isn’t reaching the corners Google clearly can. Another odd fact is that according to data many users type into Bing and ask for Google!? So they are wasting time asking a search engine to find a search engine so they can use the search engine to search for what they need. And why are they doing that? Because everyone knows Google is still the place to search the web. If that sound convoluted it was meant to in oder to demonstrate the process your mind went through to find what you want if you do what I’ve just described.

Most of us that surf don’t even use a search engine. We literally type into the addy (address) bar at the top of our browser whichever page it is set at and search that way. It’s quicker although more often than not returns google searches.

In terms of actual returns Bing and Google look and feel similar each have positives and negatives many of which are down to personal preference. Google being here longer has developed a much better “smart traffic” search although Bing has also adopted this and returns there too are stacking up well. One area google is better is at specifics searches particularly if what you are looking for is buried in a website or blog. Bing has other qualities if it is video you’re looking for Bing searches and displays them in a simple and user friendly format. Finally Bing Rewards is also worth a mention: if you sign up for this service, you can rack up points for every search you perform on Bing, which you can eventually redeem for gift cards to Amazon, Starbucks, GameStop, or even donate to your favourite charity.

Other browsers you might like to try are:

  • Tor
  • DuckDuckGo
  • Safari (Mac)
  • Internet Explorer
  • Opera (Apple)
  • Firefox
  • Microsoft Edge

There are many more to choose from. It is your decision which one you use but if you are still on Ask Jeeves … you may be missing a trick although they are piped through google too.