What’s BING? (In short, BING is MSNs Search Engine.) That’s the question my fiancée (Now Wife) asked awhile ago when she was using my laptop when about to start a search query. I’ve just changed my homepage from Google to Bing on my laptop that I use mainly for personal (non work related) reasons. Having to constantly change my search settings to not have Google Instant displayed, as it’s set to go by default was one of the factors. So anytime the cookies get cleared, its back to Google Instant Annoyance!
Anyways, I don’t talk work, SEO/web marketing with my fiancée (Now Wife), or quiz her on the top 3 search engines, I try to leave work and home life separate. The fact that she wasn’t aware of Bing being a MSN/Microsoft site was very interesting, and made me think of Bing’s popularity vs Google for the average person.
Just to see the numbers and the popularity of each, these are the monthly global searches (exact match) from Google’s Keyword Tool, comparing Google vs. MSN/Bing.
‘Bing’ Monthly Global Searches 7,480,000
‘MSN’ Monthly Global Searches 83,100,000
‘Google’ Monthly Global Searches 185,000,000
So it could still very easily get lost in the mix for the average person that Bing is MSN Search. The search volume is clearly showing us the difference from Google keywords reported search volumes.
Another interesting study that came out just recently is a study done by Experian Hitwise on the success rate of searchers finding their desired results from their searches on each of the search engines. Yahoo showed a success rate of 81.36%, while Bing showed 80.04% vs Google at 67.56%. Also, it should be noted that Yahoo is powered by Bing.
It’s good to see that Bing is coming along with improving their search experience for their users. With Google, I’m constantly annoyed of having the change search settings for each computer. It would be nice if your desired search settings could be saved in your Google profile for any computer you log into, such as a Global save for example.
Next time you think of it, ask someone the top 3 search engines, see if they happen to mention BING or MSN. See if they’re making the connection with the two.
Gerard Manning is the owner of Manning Search Marketing and has been working in the SEO industry since 2000. Originally started with Enquiro Search Solutions (now known as Mediative). Was previously a Research Assistant on Inside the Mind of the Searcher that was released in 2005.