Google and Bing are Destined to be Designed and Used for Different Purposes

After reading many content-heavy reviews on 'Google vs Bing: The Epic Rivalry-To-Be', I've found that nearly every single one concluded with a paragraph stating something like "Even with it's many features, Bing is not yet a Google Killer," or, "Bing is on the verge of creating something better/more useful than what Google has to offer." Neither of these conclusions are completely correct, however. Google is like the dog who, when you ask it to fetch something for you, grabs it and returns it with speed and accuracy. Bing, however, is like a dog who is sometimes inaccurate, but is capable of taking what it fetches and laying it out in front of you in certain ways. However, learning how to tell this dog how you want to organise his findings is a pain and very confusing, unless you ask him to fetch one of the (so far) few things he specialises in in the first place. Bing isn't trying to beat Google at Google's own game, but instead is trying to create a new engine designed to display more results more convenient to the consumer. Due to this, you can't really compare Bing and Google head-on because they end up serving relevant, but different, purposes. When Bing develops into an even better engine, it'll be up to the consumer to decide which of these 'engines' will better serve their needs on a given search.

First of all, I'm going to flat out declare Google the clear winner in the "Search Engine" category. We all know that giving you the results accurately and quickly is what Google specialises and shines in (and by Google, I mean the search engine, not the corporation). Microsoft thought that with a few helpful features added to their new search engine, Bing, consumers would be more satisfied with Bing than with Google. However, in adding a recommendation and search history sidebar on the left, Microsoft ended up cluttering the page, creating a more confusing interface, and losing the simplicity of it all that Google is praised for. To be honest, when I want to find a walkthrough for Fallout 3, I wont search for 'Fallout 3', see the sidebar's 'Fallout 3 Walkthrough' and be like, "Oh, that's exactly what I wanted!" I'll just search for Fallout 3 walkthrough directly if that's what I wanted in the first place. Even the most computer-illiterate user knows what they want, and doesn't need a sidebar to make searches with additional information even they already knew. As for the search history, the browser history normally serves just as well. I don't need it on the sidebar all the time, because chances are I'm not going to need it at all. Luckily, those features can be turned off. The preview tool is kind of helpful, but to be honest, I'm perfectly fine going to the page to see what it on it. The pages at the top of the search results are usually there for a reason, being the most accurate. In other words, it's a nice tool, but doesn't enhance the experience at all. Finally, through many trials on BlindSearch, I've found sometimes Bing's top results are inaccurate and sometimes unreliable.

Where Bing succeeds is, uncoincidentally, in an area that Google hasn't ventured: retrieving and processing data. Like the dog example, while Google only retrieves, Bing processes and lays out data, complete with graphics, statistics, prices, and more (all when applicable), but only on specific subjects. The best presentation comes with airlines, restaurants, and shopping. These are the most polished services because Bing bought out several established services and applied them on Bing. The only established feature that wasn't part of a buyout was the review section, which shows reviews on most products or other profitable services when you search for them. Bing collects these reviews and displays them accordingly. Bing Cashback is another feature where you receive 10% back on your purchases made through Bing. It's neat, but obviously a gimmick that only exists because Microsoft profits off of it. A huge fail (so far) is Local search,. You can tell Bing put a lot of effort into this section, but results are simple wrong and misleading in many, many cases. Overall, while there are great ideas, they are currently poorly executed overall. Changing options and displays to optimise your experience is very complicated and time-consuming to set up. Bing lost all chances of being simple with it's extremely confusing interface. Moreover, there are so far only a few services Bing completely optimises and pays special attention to right now.

You can see that Google and Bing will inevitably be designed for different purposes when all is said and done. The commercials are half-right: Bing actually is a Decision engine, but it's not "more" than a search engine. When Bing is perfected, I'll search for information on local Italian restaurants or buy my plane tickets on it, accompanied by charts and numbers. But for regular, everyday searches, from common to obscure, I can always rely on Google. In the end, the reason no one will switch to Bing is because you don't have to. Chances are, in a couple years, we'll find ourselves using both Bing and Google for our needs.


Questions? Comments? Concerns? E-mail me at revyuu@gmail.com, or post anonymously in the comment section below.