Syracuse Web Design, Website Development, Hosting, Offsite Data Backup

Bing vs. Google

When Bing was first released, a lot of people thought that it had been designed as a “Google Killer”, the first real competition the search giant has had since taking over the search industry. Bing offered blended search results (videos, pictures and content), and you could search by the type of site you wanted in the sidebar, two things that Google didn’t have.

Shortly after Bing’s release, Google began offering the same two features. Both search engines took the very best that the other was offering, and found a way to offer those features themselves. There have been a few times (like when Google added in background images, a Bing feature) that the two search engines seemed nearly identical.

Is Bing going to be the end of Google? No. Google finally has some real competition, though, which is making them up their game a bit. They’ve had to make some quick improvements to keep up.

Is one search engine better than the other? That depends on what your looking for. If you are a casual browser, you’re probably not going to see much of a difference. Both search engines offer the same information. Bing more user-friendly, with a list of trending topics along the bottom of the screen and a list of suggestions in the sidebar. If you aren’t entirely certain what you are looking for, Bing might be your best bet.

For hardcore web users, though, those who want a search engine that fits in with everything else they’re doing, Google wins. Between Gmail, the web analytics program, and the other free services Google offers, there’s no real competition. At least, not yet.

From an SEO point of view, each search engine has a different set of algorithms it uses to index sites. So, when you are creating content for your site, which search engine should you try the hardest to please? Google? Bing?

Neither. According to both, site quality and usefulness are what should be concentrating on. Make a site that meets the needs of web users, build trustworthy links by being an authority on the topic, and high rankings will come naturally.