Microsoft has been busy these past few weeks..
Microsoft’s quiet search engine “Bing”, punched Google in the face with a measured success rate of 81.54% in January vs. Googles lousy 65.68% (via Hitwise).
You’re probably thinking what I’m thinking, “When did THIS happen?” Well, I don’t know when Bing began to assemble such great search results (although Tom might), since I don’t think I’ve touched the engine (John has used it three times). I might have to give it a spin, now.
Meanwhile, back to a browser we’ve all grow to hate, Internet Explorer 9 “is performing strongly, with Microsoft determined to make it the most standards-compliant web browser, especially for the new HTML5 web scripting language” (via ghacks). What!?! Could IE lead the way with HTML5? Only time will tell.
Right when we thought Windows mobile was out of the game, Nokia announces “that it is to adopt Windows Phone 7 as its primary mobile operating system” (via TNW). I’m anxious to see what this pair brings to the smartphone table, since Nokia has been given exclusive rights to adapt the OS to “contribute its expertise on hardware design, language support, and help bring Windows Phone to a larger range of price points, market segments and geographies” (via TNW).
All this talk about Microsoft and not a word about Windows 7? Newsweek called Windows 7 a “smash hit” and:
Windows 7, the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system, is the hottest-selling product in the company’s 35-year history.
Is is really that good? Oh, it’s good. More importantly, it’s light-years better than it’s predecessor.
Does this mean Microsoft is on the rise?
Yes, but their not winning.
The “cold war” is over. The classic tech match-up of Apple vs. Microsoft is fading away.
With more devices then ever (desktop, laptop, tablet, smartphone), and Google on the verge of getting it’s fingers in everything (Chrome OS, Honeycomb, Andriod, growing web tools & app library), the two party system is fading into the horizon and the heat of competition is on the rise.
PaulSteinbrueck says
That’s interesting. I never noticed the “search success rate” metric before. I wonder how they’re able to measure that now that Google provides instant search results.
I also wonder how relevant the number is since not all searches are intended to end with a click. When I’m at my computer, the fastest way for me to get a weather forecast is to Google “weather in safety harbor.” I also use Google regularly to find the phone number of a local business. Neither of those searches is would be considered “successful” because I don’t click on the results, but they get me the info I’m looking for.
Eric Dye says
That’s a good question.
I think ultimately, big search engines like Google and Bing are kind of like ice cream.
Pick your flavor.
Lisa says
I wonder if this is because of their partnership with Facebook?
Eric Dye says
Although the partnership started back in 2007, there has been an increase. Perhaps this has something to do with Bing’s success.
BenJPickett says
The success rate they use does measure click-through statistics. It’s not really accurate as a measure of most searches. I often do basic searches that don’t even require me to click on a link. Would be interesting to see this percentage in comparison to over all traffic on a month-to-month for just bing.com and google.com. Of course, with tool bars and add-on’s to other browsers how do we effectively check a search engines traffic?
However, the side of me that thinks business and getting hits on a website especially one that gets paid for in ad revenue, I would be more inclined to drive my SEO efforts higher with Bing if it meant I would get more traffic and more people seeing and possibly following my ads. Microsoft has always been good at marketing themselves to business.
Eric Dye says
I guess that’s REALLY what all of the search engine wars come down to: Ad money.
If you can boast better results, get more users, higher traffic, thus justify higher ad rates.
All about “the click”.