What do you think of Bing, Microsoft’s new search engine? I just completed a seven-day test of Bing as my default search engine. I was impressed, and will continue to use it for image search and occasional product research. I’ll also continue to check back over time to see how the Bing team innovates and improves following its big June launch. But for now I’m sticking with Google as the default engine in my Firefox toolbar (which is where I execute most of my search queries). Here are the primary reasons I’m sticking with Google:
- I know how to use Google and know what to expect. Moving to Bing requires too much learning and behavioral change — with questionable gain, I simply don’t have time or patience right now.
- A key requirement of search is comprehensiveness and timeliness, including fresh content from news sites and social media. Google’s far from perfect, but it’s the best there is at bringing news and social media content together with other Web content. I rely on Google Alerts as well, which I subscribe to via my Google Reader.
- I work in the search industry where the majority of consumer behavior and commerce takes place over Google. I believe it’s important to be highly sensitive to Google’s performance and mechanical changes, minute-by-minute. There’s no better way to do this than to make it your default search engine.
Despite keeping Google as my default search engine, I’m encouraged to see continued investment and innovation in search, from the likes of Bing and others. Indeed, I believe search is in a prehistoric phase. In another tens years, I’m sure it will be much different and better than it is today. Moreover, the Internet’s performance and reliability can only benefit with more choice. What do you think?
Finally, I encourage you to check out Clickable’s gritty analysis of Bing.
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