Saturdays at CPA Success are usually spent reviewing online tools that can help increase our productivity. Keep in mind that we do not endorse any of these services. We simply offer them up for your consideration. Do your own homework and find the service that best meets your needs.
Well, that didn't take long.
Bing, Microsoft's entry into the search-engine wars, went prime time this week, and within days it was firing shots over Google's bow.
In fact, ReadWriteWeb is reporting that in less than a week, Bing overtook Yahoo Search for the No. 2 spot in search traffic, behind -- who else? -- Google.
What's really interesting is that, according to ReadWriteWeb, most of Bing's share of the market has come directly from Google. Since Bing's release, traffic to Yahoo and AOL has remained steady, while Google's traffic is down almost 6 percent.
Don't get your death-to-Google shorts all in a bunch just yet, though. A good deal of Bing's traffic undoubtedly is due to opening-week curiosity. And, oh yeah -- Google still dominated the stats with nearly 72 percent of the market.
Still, I couldn't help but notice that Bing sent more than a few visitors to CPA Success this week. And after trying it out myself, I have to say I'm impressed. Bing's results are awfully ... well, Google-like.
Will that ultimately be Bing's downfall? Time will tell.
My first try with Bing was disappointing. I needed to move my Zune music library to a new computer so I searched "transfer zune library to new computer". The Bing results mostly related to the iPod and none were helpful. The Zune is a Microsoft product, so Microsoft should be embarassed that its own search engine provides nothing but iPod results when searching for Zune info.
All the Google results were relevant and the 6th result was to Zune.net (Microsoft's own website!).
If Bing can't even get the Microsoft hits correct, why bother?
Posted by: Matt Wilson | June 06, 2009 at 11:03 AM
I look at it this way. New restaurant opens... foods ok but its new so they have a wait list. Soon everyone goes back to their old favorite.
Also, I don't just use Google for search. I use Picasa, Web Analytics, Google Checkout, Google Toolbar, Google Docs, Groups, Maps... i'm not walking away from all that to replace Search this is already great. Sorry MS, concentrate on Windows 7, your doing well there already, don't screw it up!
Posted by: Byron Patrick, CPA.CITP, MCSE 2003 | June 09, 2009 at 02:35 PM
@Byron Patrick
Yup. Having all those web apps and investments locks you into Google -- not unlike what Microsoft did and still does.
Evil Google following evil microsoft.
Posted by: wigglesworth | June 17, 2009 at 02:42 AM