Bing A Good Alternative To The Search Giant

The search engine battleground is not one for the faint-hearted. Nobody can say that any company who has the ever-advancing global monster that is Google as a competitor doesn't have nerve, at least, especially after ten long years playing catch-up behind the multinational technology company.

Though Bing isn't as big as Google – can we say yet? - the search engine can claim a record 1 out of 5 searches made on desktop computers in the U.S., and although this is of little significance when you consider mobile search and desktop search worldwide, when it comes to competing against Google, no achievement, no matter how small, should go ignored.

Is Bing A Good Alternative To Google?

The debate over whether Bing is a good alternative to Google is still very much rife. At one point Google was clearly a better search engine – but now the lines are somewhat blurred. Although it has less than a 20th of the traffic, Bing is Google's leading search rival worldwide, and the 4,000-person team behind the company has no plans to stop innovating.

Derrick Connell, a Microsoft vice president who brings his work home with him to research and improve the search engine, commented “we want to be the best," “we believe in our technology."

They have gone from being the butt of the joke – with humorous, irrelevant results ranking highest - to becoming a tool that's actually pretty comparable to Google's in terms of its technology, and that's something worthy of note. Considering that Bing only began officially six years ago in 2009, in comparison to Google which was first established in 1998, Bing has passed a sea of other hopefuls to get where they are today.

In the beginning, they approached Google about a potential partnership or takeover, but Google pursued a public stock listing instead. Bing, of Microsoft's creation, first began with MSN Search, then a year later, Windows Live Search, before finally the team settled with the name Bing. Despite its somewhat difficult start, calls to shelve the business or sell it to a competitor have quieted.

Is Bing Finally Catching Up To Google?

According to recent figures, it's clear that Bing is very much behind Google in terms of search volume. Since 2014, Bing had climbed to earn a share of 19.7 percent of all searches, which is great, even compared to Google's 65.4 percent holdings. Microsoft's earlier search engines didn't often get above 8%, so there's considerable improvement.

There are some differences between Google and Bing, most notably their page design and layout, which makes use of the entire page. They have a huge advantage in comparison with Google with their paid advertising platform too, as they offer more niche advertising and lower prices, which is great news for small businesses in particular.

So what do you think, is Bing a good alternative to Google?