The Tendo View

I originally sat down to write about how much I disliked Bing. But as I explored it further, all of my arguments fell apart; I found myself coming back to “but it’s not Google” again and again. And while I applaud brand loyalty, my job is about using the best tools and technologies for the job—whatever the job is. So, “It’s not Google” isn’t really an argument—that’s just being resistant to change. Which I’m not. Or, I shouldn’t be…

My initial reservation was that Bing just wasn’t that good at, well, searching. It’s billed as a decision engine, and it definitely slices and dices information in new, sometimes helpful ways, but before it helps me decide something, it should give me the best possible choices from which to decide. Yet it didn’t find the results I needed for pretty simple searches. For example, I wanted to know more about an information architecture company called EightShapes. Last week, a search for “eightshapes” in Bing pulled up lots of results on mathematical principles, but no company website. This lack of results was repeated with several other simple searches—so I switched back to Google, which gave me the EightShapes site as the top search item. Just for fun, check out Bing vs. Google to compare search results in each engine.

Today, however, if you search for EightShapes (or any of the other search items I tested) on either engine, you get roughly the same results. So, perhaps Bing, like HAL, is learning… The bottom line is that Bing gives you the ability to search text, images, video, news, maps, and shopping. So does Google. Bing helps shortcut your search by linking directly to specific pages within companies. So does Google. Bing provides sponsored links. So does Google. One nice feature that Bing has that Google doesn’t, however, is the ability to save and share search histories on Facebook and email.

Where Bing really excels, however, is by leveraging the awesome marketing power of Microsoft. The Redmond giant’s ability to develop and coordinate a truly impressive array of marketing and promotional campaigns is awe inspiring.

It’s not just the standard deals to make Bing the default browser on HP and Dell PCs and Verizon smart phones. Here in San Francisco, not one week after Bing launched, DJs on every Viacom-owned radio station in the city suddenly stopped using “Google” as a verb and began using “Bing.” As in, “We should Bing that to see if it’s true.” Coincidence? Probably not. And then there’s the Bing Cashback program, which rewards shoppers for purchasing products on Bing by giving them a percentage of the purchase price as cash. Sweet.

Is Bing a better search engine? The jury’s still out for me. Is Microsoft better at marketing and promoting the product? There’s no contest.