Forum Moderators: open
Microsoft’s Bing search engine maintained momentum in July and gained a bit on both Google and Yahoo.Google wound up with July search share of 64.7 percent, down from 65 percent in June. Microsoft was up to 8.9 percent in July, up from 8.4 percent in June.
Yahoo ended up at 19.3 for July, down from 19.6 from June.
Agree, heavy advertising and the gain is likely noise. Not good for Bing.
Wait for the Google counter-attack. Inevitably it will occur.
Maybe we also have to wait for the MS contingency plan? I doubt that they threw all of this money at Bing without having one.
You should try Bing or Yahoo solelly for a week and see how you get on. Enough adding sand to Google's truck, is not all that!
You should try Bing or Yahoo solelly for a week and see how you get on. Enough adding sand to Google's truck, is not all that!
From a purely "human" point of view, I can't disagree with you. The results aren't bad - I find what I need in about the same number of clicks (on average) as I do in Google.
The problem comes when you look at how embedded Google has become in the web. It's my default search box in Firefox, and when I'm just quickly looking for something, that's what I'm going to use. I'm not going to bring on the drop-down unless I want to hit a specific SE or service, like IMDB, Wikipedia, EntrezPubmed, etc.
Also, Google is embedded in Ubiquity. If you use Ubiquity, then you know what that's about, if not, then... Well... It's a "command line for the web" is about as simple a way of putting it as I can.
Also, the Google APIs mean we have all kinds of automated queries going out server side, (and no, your site will never know it was hit by my automated query - it randomizes useragent string and a few other tricks).
And how many sites have the Google search bar?
My point is, overall, that it's no longer a matter of user habit. Google is embedded into the way people use the web in ways they no longer even realize.
For Bing to gain traction, they have to change not only user habit, but developer habit, and they have to convince site owners it's worthwhile to change to a different embedded search tool. Those last two are going to be the hardest to change. Developers and site owners aren't likely to fix what ain't broken. If it's an even result between Bing and Google, why change code that ain't broken?
The problem comes when you look at how embedded Google has become in the web.
IMDB, Wikipedia, EntrezPubmed, Google APIs, Ubiquity, Command line, Useragent, embedded search tool
There are few people in the developer community who are familiar with all of these terms (I'm not) and a negligible number of John Does.
It's the John Does who will decide what search engine they are using. That means I have to disagree with you. :)
It's the John Does who will decide what search engine they are using. That means I have to disagree with you.
Actually my point was that often, John Doe doesn't decide what search engine they use. Sure, when they consciously go to a search engine, they decide there. But when they type something into a search box on a website, that decision has been made for them.
It would be interesting to find out what percentage of search traffic actually originates from Search engine front pages, and what percentage originates for website search boxes, and automated searches generated by other means.
And wecolme to WebmasterWorld!
