Should Google Be Worried By Bing?

 With Bing looking more and more prominent in the search engine world it is safe to say that people are starting to notice it when doing their everyday searches. This is the most important thing to remember when it comes to search engines. It doesn’t matter what us SEO think, what bloggers think even, but the normal people that do their everyday searches, they matter.

If this changes hands then so does the search engine game plan and everyone has to adjust accordingly. Of course with all of this in mind is Bing really going to be a threat to the giant that is Google?

Bing It!

Microsoft are really about getting people to recognise their “decision engine” as a brand now and are really going for it in terms of pushing in front of people’s faces.  Any of you out there that happen to watch the rebooted series of Hawaii Five 0 or Castle will know this already. In case you haven’t seen either of these ads yet here is the clip from castle.
As you can see there is no doubt about what search engine or indeed what means of searching is being used here. We can quite clearly see this is a Windows 7 Phone with Bing Maps and voice recognition software being demonstrated. Although the savvy search user will look at this and laugh, don’t forget it is the everyday person that matters here and phones would have likely been purchased in their thousands after people saw their favourite television characters using them.

Internet Explorer

Something else to consider is that even though a lot of us are now using Browsers such as Chrome and Firefox the majority of the web is still stuck using Internet Explorer. Whilst this is by far one of the poorest browsers out there you can guess what little search engine appears in the search bar at the top left hand side? Bing. With more people still using IE it would seem the Bing brand is being pushed out even further.

Windows 7 Phone

I recently purchased this phone and I have to say I am really enjoying it. Did I buy it because it is Microsoft? No. Did I buy it because it had Bing incorporated into it? No. I purchased the phone because after two years of Apple you really do need a change (Xbox Live helped the decision process too). The phones have been selling in their thousands and where does the search button take you on the phone? You guessed it, straight to Bing!

Yahoo & Bing

Although the percentage for Bing in terms of how much they own of the market is still not that great, when Yahoo and Bing combine it is said this percentage will be around 26%. Although still not as much as Google it is something that both SEOs and Google alike cannot ignore. Whilst these figures are limited to the US (Bing has roughly 3% in the UK at the moment and between 6-7% when combined with Yahoo) like everything else it would not be uncommon for this trend to move worldwide eventually.

Google Mistakes

The only way that I can really see Bing coming into the market and taking away from what Google already have is if Google make a mistake. Not a simple mistake that they can easily fix, but a really big mistake. Think Google Places, arguably a revolution in the way people search right? Look at the other side of it and web users hate it. Although they are in the minority it is important to realise that if normal users hit Google and find something they don’t like then they will be Googling an alternative, the result, Bing.
So although not a game changer right now it is a search engine you certainly cannot ignore (even if you tried). Yes the marketing tactics are cringe worthy and grey in places but you cannot argue with the fact that they are effective in raising brand awareness.

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