Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
eWEEK.com
Search
eWEEK.com
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cloud
    • IT Management

    Microsoft Bing Beats Google but Users Stay Loyal to Google

    By
    CLINT BOULTON
    -
    June 26, 2009
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Microsoft’s new Bing search engine beat Google in design and search results, but Google has fostered enough comfort and loyalty to retain users, according to a small study conducted by Web design firm Catalyst Group. See the study slides here.

      Eight out of 12 subjects who were regular Google users and had never used Bing said that Bing’s design was more attractive than Google’s presentation, and that Bing’s initial and refined search engine results were more useful than those found on Google’s search engine.

      More users felt Bing’s features, such as the explorer pane and related searches options, were organized better, and that it was easier to find and use Bing’s refine and shopping results sections.

      However, those who elected to remain with Google said they ultimately would stick with Google because the search results were similar. Further, the users were already familiar with Google’s Web services and Bing’s “decision-making” and visual improvements were not enough to sway them to Microsoft’s $80 million effort to take search engine market share from Google.

      “Bing generates interest, but it’s hard to take me away from Google because I’m so comfortable with it,” the subjects who chose Google told Catalyst researchers. “The differences are very small [between the two search engines]. They’re too small for me to switch to Bing.”

      Catalyst said users were split into two groups of six people, with one group performing a hotel search and the other conducting a shopping search for digital cameras on Bing and Google. Catalyst had the two groups run both searches on one site and then do the same queries on the other site to mitigate any bias effects. Results in the study hail from the first search each group did.

      For the camera ad, the six users spent an average of 4.9 seconds looking at the top ad on Bing, compared with only 2 seconds looking at the top ad on Google.

      Microsoft Has Long Road vs. Google

      Catalyst said all users looked at the top ad area, but only half of these users looked at the right ad, considered a secondary ad. Those that did look at the right ad glanced at the right ad on Bing for an average of 1 second, compared with an average of 0.6 seconds on Google.

      However, the second group doing the hotel search yielded markedly different results among users looking at the top and right ads. Those who did a hotel search on Google looked at the top ad for an average of 2.7 seconds compared with just 1.7 seconds for those doing a hotel search on Bing. Again, three of the six users looked at the right ad, to the tune of 2.9 seconds for Google, and 1.5 seconds for Bing.

      What does this prove? Not much. Bing did better than Google on the camera search, but Google beat Bing on the hotel search. The camera and hotel ad results were a wash.

      Similarly, in a classic case of different strokes for different folks, several users liked the photos used as the background of the Bing homepage, but others found the photos distracting and thought that it made Bing feel like a travel site, according to Catalyst.

      That may ultimately not be such a bad thing. Microsoft envisions users doing searches and getting directed to e-commerce sites to make purchases, whether it’s buying cameras or booking hotels or airline flights. If Microsoft can generate lots of cash from advertisements and help consumers make purchases (and make money themselves from Bing Cashback), the company will have a valuable proposition.

      Greg Sterling on Search Engine Land sees how both Google and Microsoft can take comfort in, and be wary of, the Catalyst results.

      It is true 12 people is hardly a solid foundation on which Google or Microsoft can build a case for which search engine is better. Does it matter? Google’s search engine market share is a daunting 65 percent.

      According to the 2-1 ratio in the Catalyst study, that’s a lot of users that remain comfortable with not only Google search, but its other Web services, such as Gmail and Docs. Unless more users begin to get uncomfortable with Google, Microsoft has a long road ahead of it.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      CHRIS PREIMESBERGER - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      CHRIS PREIMESBERGER - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      EWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      ZEUS KERRAVALA - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      WAYNE RASH - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Info

      © 2020 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×