Microsoft’s Bing is now the fastest growing search engine according to a recent Nielsen report. Through the month of august, Bing is processing 10.7% of searches, just short of yahoo! at 16%, which Microsoft recently partnered with. Google still has 64.6% share of searches, however month over month growth is only 2.6% versus Bings 22.1% M-O-M growth. Bing has some new and unique search functions that are a real hit with its users, including:
- Visual search- Bing provides a superbly modern UI users to begin a search using pictures rather than words. They have 30 or so categories for users to select from including iPhone apps, sports teams, U.S. Presidents and more.
- Travel research and insight- Bing has integrated farecast technology into their airfare price projections giving the buyer insight into the best time to purchase tickets and whether or not prices are expected to rise/fall.
- Personality- Bing brings life to the search experience with an aesthetically pleasing interface, new background image every day along with trivia questions and teasers on the home page.
- Enhanced Search- Gives users the option to see a snippet of the link they’re about to click to get some insight before they take the next step.
- Cash back rewards- Bings cash back rewards program provides buyers with anywhere from a 5% to 30% cash back on purchases made through an approved cash back retailer.
- Bing Tweets Beta- Bing Tweets will give users the ability to search for indexed results simultaneously with trending topics from Twitter.
There is also something to be said for the simplicity of Google. Many prefer the easiness of Google’s search process and the simplicity of its design and interface.
