Coast Digital Blog

We've all become quite familiar with Bing since its arrival in BETA mode at the end of May. However, Microsoft has now rolled out a UK version - meaning its results will come under the microscope of the online marketing world.

Heavy investment from Bing to get the UK's SERPs right means the following features are now available (they're the same as in the US):

• Real time Twitter updates
• Visual Search
• Hover Mode
• A tie in with Wolfram Alpha - the computational search engine

One thing you can be sure of is that Microsoft will support the new product launch with heavy profile marketing. Plans for marketing campaigns on radio and across digital platforms mean we'll hear a lot more of the Bing product.

It was interesting to read what Ashley Highfield (Managing Director of Microsoft's Consumer and Online Divisions in the UK) had to say about Bing's aggressive positioning:

"My objective is to get Bing up to a 10 per cent share of the search market. I'm not expecting to take Google's pre-eminent position overnight, though obviously, that's a long-term ambition.
 
"This is not going to be an overnight fight – this is trench warfare. People will use both Bing and other search engines, and hopefully switch totally to Bing, because it's an easier, simpler way of searching the web. Bing is a better place to hang out."

Realistically, though, things can't get much worse for Bing. With an estimated market share of just 3% I guess the only way is up.

The news nicely coincided with a recent Bing experience of mine. Having bought a new laptop with the latest version of Windows, I found the browsers were set to Bing. I had no choice but start using the engine to get other browsers and settings in place.

To be honest the experience wasn't that horrific, and I can see how the engine appeals to regular users. But, having used Bing to do genuine searches, here are the reasons I won’t be switching over anytime soon:

• I work in Online Marketing – everyone follows the big “G”
• I do not value the Bing tools – whereas others such as Google Maps are market leading
• The algo still doesn’t give me confidence – based on a recent test case where a ‘no index/ no follow’ website can still appear in position 3.

I am all for healthy competition. So, if Highfield’s statements ring true over the next year, it will make it an interesting arena. If Bing can make it a better place to hang out then they will be a step closer to Google.

This week, Microsoft released a new search engine called Bing. Its purpose is to revolutionize the way we use search engines.

Well, that’s what they hope.

Every now and again these new products enter the market, causing a bit of a stir and hoping to give Google a run for its money. Last year we had Cuil, and there’s now a constant stream of talk about the way social networking sites will become our hub for searching.

To be honest, Google is still pretty unscathed.

Bing looks interesting, mainly due to its ‘back to basics’ homepage.



Even when Google updates its front page artwork, people take an interest. Bing is almost certainly going down the same route with these photos.

When you start using Bing, the subtle differences introduced to the search pages are quite good. I like the extra content that gets dragged in when you hover over the orange dot that appears to the right of individual results.

Bing still manages to keep the results pages clean, clear and simple. Based on Google’s success this is clearly the recipe for getting people to use a particular search engine.

That said, I do wonder how long Bing expects to stay on a search engine page? The system is built to deliver lots of information on just one search and keep you on the page as you dig around and use different videos, images and posts. Realistically most of us using a search engine will simply go for the result that looks most relevant and – bing! – off we’ll go.

Research show there’s incredible dip in visitors for results below position 3 in organic or paid advertising, so if Bing is looking for you to spend more time analyzing the results pages then I can see its success to be short lived.

Google are much cannier because they keep you using all the products in their armoury, such as Google Maps, Gmail, Google Shopping and Google News. Unfortunately Bing doesn’t have this, if you click ‘Shopping’ you get farmed off to a partner product, not ‘Bing Shopping’.

Wrapping up, I think Bing’s success – or lack of it – will boil down to two factors.

• The quality of results – this will be more to do with algorithm rather then pretty pages. If visitors start to trust the results and value it for its quality then this will help it compete with Google.
• Brand recognition – I can’t imagine any other search engine taking any of Google’s market share without heavily investing in online and offline adverting to push the product.

It’s best if Google doesn’t monopolise the search engine market, so I am happy for newcomers to compete and make it interesting. Unfortunately, I feel that Bing still looks and feels like MSN live – even if it is much prettier.

Following yesterday’s update from Google about advertising online gambling, they’ve issued some further advice. To apply to advertise your online gambling aggregator site with Google AdWords, you will need to:

• Contact Google to create a new Google AdWords account solely for your gambling campaigns (this applies to both new and existing advertisers).
• Fill in the application form and legal declaration. This link is for gambling sites, but you can also find a link to the aggregator application form on this page. Please be sure to submit your new AdWords Customer ID, located at the top of any of your account pages.