Bing has been gaining ground ever since it was released a few weeks ago. I was curious to see what the product was about and how it differs from Google, the dominating search engine. So, I used Bing for 2 entire days and switched back to Google. Here are a few pros and cons:
Pros:
- Details: Often times, users go to a website just to get the most basic information. For example, if someone is searching for an average movie rating, they enter in the movie name in a search engine. Then, they click on the IMDB page to determine the rating. However, Bing presents that information on it’s initial search page.
- Consistency: I often need to refer to stock quotes and use the shortcut ‘quote SYMBOL’ to determine the current stock price. Thus far, Bing has always delivered the stock quote, including a chart. However, Google doesn’t always show a chart. Sometimes the first result will be the company website or another site that relates to the corporation. The following image represnts a search listing for Citigroup, Inc.
Cons:
- Cluttered interface: With Google, users are familiar with the clean interface. On the other hand, Bing tries to impress users by using fancy imagery and graphics. For a search engine, this isn’t necessary.
- It’s not Google: I’ll admit it — I couldn’t stand Bing after using it for 2 days. Why? Because I’ve been using for a long time. And, consumer loyalty is going to be Bing’s single biggest challenge in growing it’s user base. As a search engine — it does a fine job
