Well, the battle has heated up over the recent accusation from Google that Bing have been copying (stealing) their search results and serving them up as their own.
Last week, Searchengineland.com published an article by Danny Sullivan announcing that “Google had run a sting operation that it says proves Bing has been watching what people search for on Google, the sites they select from Google’s results, then uses that information to improve Bing’s own search listings.”
A strong statement from Yusuf Mehdi (Senior Vice President, Online Services Division, Bing Team) says that “We (Bing) do not copy results from any of our competitors. Period. Full stop.” Now, independents are weighing in to defend Bing. A recent post on econsultancy.com by Malcolm Coles staunchly refutes the allegations on Bing’s behalf and rubbishes any claims of stealing.
It’s certainly a hot topic in the search engine circles, and with Google already owning over 90% of the UK Search Engine market, it’s unlikely to do Bing’s reputation any favours over here. Unless of course, it’s all a cunning marketing ploy to drive thousands of curious users into using Bing in order to compare results… Now there’s an interesting thought ;)
If anybody would like to find out more, then I would highly recommend watching the following video panel recording featuring Matt Cutts (Head of Google spam team) and Harry Shum (Corporate Vice President of Bing). Very informative…
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As much as I like Google (and I used Google search to get here) it’s a bit dangerous for Google to own over 90% of the search engine market. Just that knowledge makes me want to use duckduckgo instead. Monopolies never turn out to be a good thing. As for Bing stealing Google’s results, that wouldn’t surprise me at all, it’s a Microsoft thing.
I completely agree, Rob. I think that is too much power for one organisation to yield considering the volume of business they carry out. I realise web searching is a ‘free’ service, but it might be time for the monopolies commission to step in and look at whether it is in the public’s interest to have the situation like it currently is. After all, they broke up BAA’s airport group and not everybody flies… EVERYBODY uses the internet (well at least a huge majority of people in the UK at any rate).
Personally, I think a more even market share would benefit everyone and encourage the SE’s to keep raising their standards.
I think it’s OK for Google to own 90% of the search engine market as long as they give quality results. Some monopolized company tends to be lax on providing quality since they are the monopoly. I hope Google does not get to that point.
I don’t think having two ‘monopolists’ battling it out will bring badly needed innovation in the SE arena or even a more open market place.
Google I recognise are clearly somewhat complacent, but is Bing really the best alternative for users, consumers and commerce?
Somehow I doubt it.
Bear in mind, Microsoft are no David to Google’s Goliath. MS are giants, masters at market domination and control – they don’t do things by halves.
And of the two, I personally trust Google way more than MS.
No strangers to anti-trust suits, MS will seek to eliminate competition in the SE market. Ideally they will want to put Google out of business, off the map so-to-speak. Certainly, I don’t see MS sharing their ‘own’ customer click data with Google or anyone else if they can avoid it.
Maybe it’s time for something or someone radically new in the SE market…
Hi Ed – I would totally agree with your sentiments here. Microsoft is one of the ultimate monopolist tyrants, who would happily suck the life out of all competition. However, I also think that the same could be said of most other SE organisations given the same resources… Wanting to obliterate the competition is just one of the unfortunate side-effects of capitalism.
It would be great to see a new player enter the SE market and really shake things up, but it’s almost impossible to imagine given the resources at the disposal of Google and MS. Still, there’s always room for a great new product if it’s innovative enough. It’s just a question of whether someone has the brains and the backing to pull it off.
The problem with this situation is clearly Who gives Google the right to decide what is quality content and what isn’t!? With the latest algorithm change I’m even more turned off by the Big G – They say they want to work on content farms for example (not their words) but if a site still provides value, even by passing a user onto somewhere else, what’s the problem? That’s effectively what google does lol!
Google’s attitude nowadays is somewhat similar to Apple’s position on Flash. They’re so big that they can tell us what is right and what is wrong.
I think that Google is such a big tool and that the majority of audience out there use it so how much of an impact will Bing make by taking their results anyway. I know that is not the point but I don’t see how they are going to benefit from it, especially if they have been exposed for doing so. I know that I have never used bing and even if it comes up I would rather find Google as I know it and trust it as its what the majority uses. I can’t explain though why this is people tend to just go with the majority, maybe it is time for a change?
The monopoly Google has could make them complacent at a time when they need to innovate their way through to the other side .I admire Google but competition is healthy .It will be interesting to see how the marketplace looks in a few years.
Francis in NYC
Rival companies are always bound to have some problems. This does not come as a surprise. Although Google is way above Bing you can never really tell who is on the wrong side. It might be true or false but in my opinion it does not change the situation so much. If you have been using either then I think this is not a reason for you to switch unless you get undesired results from one of them
I don’t think it will do Google, or the public for that matter, any harm to have some serious competition. I do love Google and I don’t think it has too much to worry about as far as Bing is concerned. Healthy competition keeps everyone on their toes!
I don’t see why it’s a problem for Google to own 90%. Let Bing compete! Let’s see if they’re as successful. In my personal opinion I think Google has always shared useful information and I’m probably not going to change over.