I am personally a big fan of Bing. The results page is much clearer and it easier to navigate to various other aspects of the search (e.g. images, videos and other related searches). It is also similar enough to Google for the way it operates to be familiar.
However, I do not feel that it has enough benefits (yet!) to be worth switching from Google. The fact that I have iGoogle as my home-page means it does not make sense to use anything else. In time this decision may change, if Microsoft introduces some of the features available in the US to the UK version.
The Farecast option in Bing is a great tool that lets you compare flight prices. It also has historical data that allows it to predict when the ticket price will be at its cheapest. This allows you to decide on whether to buy the ticket straight away, or hold off a few more days/weeks!
I do not seem to be the only one that feels this way. The Catalyst Group have carried out a study to highlight how users interact with Google and Bing. The PDF of this study can be viewed below:
Catalyst Group Bing V. Google Usability Study
The main points to come out from the study were:
- Most users preferred Bing visually and felt the organisation was better.
- Both engines were deemed to provide equally relevant search results
- When searching for a digital camera, Bing attracted 150% more user viewing time to the ad space above the natural results compared to Google.
The overall sentiment towards Bing was that it was very nice to use, but it wasn't enough to switch the user away from Google. It may provide encouraging reading for us Search Engine Marketing folk, though.
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