Is Bing More of a Threat to Google Than Facebook or Apple?

[harryboon]

Have a read and lets discuss it here

 

[crossdaz]

Have a read and lets discuss it here

Bing is the proper competition although I doubt it's that much of a threat.
I have been told for the last 2 years how important social media like twitter and facebook really is but have not seen one shred of evidence to support this view.

 

[Colin Parker]

Google has such a massive market share of search over Bing that Bing IMO would need to develop a phenomenal game changer to challenge Google.

In the short term I can see Bing and especially Facebook benefitting from Google's current clear out of PPC affiliate advertisers and also those advertisers who Google is now arbitrarily deeming 'untrustworthy'.

Google - it appears - is also increasingly favouring established, larger businesses, in both SERPS and Adwords as it seeks to deliver search results only from 'trustworthy' businesses. PPC advertisers who are not savvy are also being increasingly penalised with low quality scores, high click costs and low impression shares.

In short, Google has the market dominance to be able to dictate more than any other search engine who it does and who it does not want appearing on its pages. Google believes quality of search will be the biggest factor in retaining Googlers ie., they are focusing on what the customer (the searcher) wants.

Facebook especially - on PPC - are focusing on generating revenue and are allowing any tom, dick and harry advertiser. How long before FB users get fed up with this? As I said earlier, Bing needs a game changer to challenge Google. Does one exist?

Colin Parker

 

[garyk]

I think mobile will become larger over time and whilst bing is a challenger to the mighty G I dont think it will present any real competition. Add to that m$ are getting mobile soooo wrong and G will be prevalent across all devices and platforms then I doubt they are worried about m$.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Facebook isn't a threat to Google search. It may be a threat in the sense that it has a large part of a market Google might want to move into. (Social media.)

Bing might be a theat of sorts, but there's something that no-one is talking about: Google makes so much more money per impression than Bing do.

If they use that money to compete, then they should be able to blow Bing out of the water.

So, unless Bing sort out all the major problems in their dogshit PPC system (and there's a lot of them), I suspect they're always going to be a bit player.

Steve

 

[I, Brian]

It's long been suggested that Microsoft search might compete seriously with Google, but so far it's never happened, despite being rebranded to Live and then Bing.

Bottom line is that it offers nothing Google does not already, so there's no reason to change.

And from a SEO perspective, Bing seems to be filled with the exact same flaws as when it first opened as Microsoft search. No progress.

Millions spent on wasted advertising that would have been better invested in quality contol and development.

 

Bit different in the US.

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/bing-overtakes-yahoo-as-the-2-search-engine/

Earl

 

[GNU]

Facebook may have overtaken Google in terms of traffic... it may be the site people visit most, many people may have it set as their homepage etc etc... but it cannot hold a candle to Google or any other search engine in terms of income.

1 million users who want to "chat away for free" are an overhead, a cost... a negative.

1 user who wants to "buy cheap car insurance" is worth a couple of quid per click.

 

[nitro23456]

I think Bing will start to take an increasing share from google in the coming 2-3 years. Bing is advertising on TV and it looks like microsoft is giving it a decent budget to try and compete.

As a side note I also like the way their algo works, similarities to big G but without the bad bits.

 

[eventdomain]

Bing cannot touch Google? Do people realise just how much cash Microsoft has - technology IS their domain, they developed IE for heavens sake......

Microsoft could buy Google twice and still have cash in reserves..... But aren't people forgetting something - Apple??????

Technology-wise, Apple could compete easily by starting up their own search engine, go innovative like A9 has, and bingo another competitor for Google to worry about.

Dont discount the might of Amazon either, or the other major niche engine operators. But for General web search, I think Bing is the only serious competitor at the moment, although I heard ICI were getting into the game.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Bing cannot touch Google? Do people realise just how much cash Microsoft has - technology IS their domain, they developed IE for heavens sake......

Microsoft could buy Google twice and still have cash in reserves.....

I very much doubt that.

Google's market cap is $168bn and MS' is $214bn.

Steve

 

[GNU]

Bottom line is that it offers nothing Google does not already, so there's no reason to change.

Flip that on its head, if Google does not offer anything Bing cannot do, and FF / Chrome do not offer anything better than IE, then users have no need to change the default setup of their PC.

The issue for MS has been they shipped a terrible browser and had a weak SE, but Both Bing and IE are a lot better than they were. Also G is getting more bad press and are probably on a par with MS in terms of negative publicity lately, so I dont personally think their brand or reputation is much better than Microsofts (which it once was).

Personally I think G will lose market share, but they are already pushing heavily on mobile devices now... trying to make sure their OS and browser are the defaults, as MS are on the PC.

 

[harryboon]

Talking about some serious money - I guess it all depends on whether Bing really wants to push Google out of the way.

I think Bing need to come up with a very nice USP to pull people away from Google.

I very much doubt that.

Google's market cap is $168bn and MS' is $214bn.

Steve

 

[eventdomain]

I very much doubt that.

Google's market cap is $168bn and MS' is $214bn.

Steve

Somehow I doubt that, and the figures thrown about the web on company cash flow will always be subject to guesswork and cannot be taken seriously.

If you think thats all Microsoft has, think again - companies like these always have a stash tucked away somewhere in some foreign bank. But they dont really need to buy Google, when they can make Bing unique/different to entice advertisers in.

Its not just MS, Yahoo etc - there's hundreds of companies out there with heaps of cash and business brains that could set up a great competing engine to Google, I firmly believe this as Ive seen such companies doing this on the niche side already, plus they own 80 odd portals sites and job sites too.

Dont forget newspapers who are also major players in certain search fields eg: Trinity Mirror for one...... and their publishing experts already.

Its going to be fun during the next few years.

 

[eventdomain]

Talking about some serious money - I guess it all depends on whether Bing really wants to push Google out of the way.

I think Bing need to come up with a very nice USP to pull people away from Google.

yes, a nice USP would probably get a lot switching to Bing. Some added extras are needed too, especially for the advertiser.

 

[nitro23456]

yes, a nice USP would probably get a lot switching to Bing. Some added extras are needed too, especially for the advertiser.

how about almost every new PC ships with Internet Explorer with the default page as Bing.

A lot of people wont bother changing it.

 

[umbrella-technologies]

I dont think bing can give a very tough competition to google.

But I feel google will get a competition from someone who is not in this domain.

Its like the mobile phones which made alarms clocks disappear from the market. Something similar to this as Google is smart enough to stay ahead from direct players but products or services which are going to indirectly affect them.

 

[harryboon]

But they will have to put one hell of a USP out of their.... to get people to move away from Google.

I was listening to my kids the other day fighting about something and my youngest (4) just told his brother to go Google it - talk about branding that a 4 year old knows about Google

yes, a nice USP would probably get a lot switching to Bing. Some added extras are needed too, especially for the advertiser.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Somehow I doubt that, and the figures thrown about the web on company cash flow will always be subject to guesswork and cannot be taken seriously.

Both figures were taken from Yahoo finance. Google finance have pretty much the same numbers (numbers will change from minute to minute as the American exchanges are open).

Given that market cap is easy to calculate (you just multiply 2 numbers), I'd be incredibly surprised if they're wrong.

If you think thats all Microsoft has, think again - companies like these always have a stash tucked away somewhere in some foreign bank.

I didn't say this is what Microsoft "has", I said it's what the value of the company is.

If you wish to think that a company that has more than $336bn lying around (the cost of buying Google twice) can be worth only $214bn, then that's up to you.

However, it would suggest that the rest of the company (the stuff that isn't cash) is worth -$122bn.

Doesn't really make sense.

Steve

 

[eventdomain]

how about almost every new PC ships with Internet Explorer with the default page as Bing.

A lot of people wont bother changing it.

Yep - I'd go along with that feeling. Besides technology 'extras' all the search engines do pretty much the same sort of searching - so unless general search dramatically alters in a unique way, not much to choose between them.

The main fight will be about delivering targeted users to the sites that pay. This will all be about matching buyers to sellers, and who can do it the best, it wont be about mass traffic so much.

 

[Colin Parker]

If you think thats all Microsoft has, think again - companies like these always have a stash tucked away somewhere in some foreign bank.quote]

I bet Microsoft's shareholders would like to talk to you about where that stash might be ...

Have you never heard of audited accounts?

Colin Parker

 

[jessicaloreen2]

i am totally agreed with event.... you said very well, apple ipad can be the competitor of google in future...

 

[eventdomain]

I didn't consider the Ipad, but now that you mention it, if Apple built a search engine, and made it viral through mobiles and Ipad owners, its free advertising for life.

Not saying they'd dominate, but if Microsoft and Apple joined forces, it might be enough to take a huge chunk of search share off Google. But speaking from a cash perspective, any large tech company with cash and brains could do the general search thing, and do it well - probably make it better too.

I'd say a rival engine can be built and promoted for 1 million easily, make it do some unique, clever stuff, bring down ad fees and bingo. This has been done already! these engines are out there, all they need is an investor behind them. But this search battle isn't about capability, its not about money, heck its not even about the users - its about a branding war, and ego.

This how I see it:

Google is a search engine company, with great added tech tools - but they lack an information portal.

Yahoo is an info portal service leader, which is their main service and strength - with an added search engine service, to bulk up their offering.

Microsoft is the technology leader, with the No1 browser, possibly the No1 portal owner with MSN UK and .com portals, and a serious search tool in Bing.

From that, I feel technology-wise Microsoft is the leader, but its a showdown between them and Yahoo for portal dominance. Search-wise, both lose out to Google, but its more a brand issue than a quality one. But search-wise, all 3 can be matched easily, and noone really knows what the other million turnover businesses have in mind for the search world, so its a tired and pointless argument, to keep saying who is best.

The best will be the ones who innovate and match buyers to suppliers, to increase return and add value for the users and paying advertisers out there. My bet is on the niche market players developing search engines and attracting the top 3's market away from them, not all at once, but industry by industry.

I think there will be a fourth huge seach engine competitor soon, and this will open the doors to many others which ultimately will mix the whole search bag thing up, and change the balance of market share a lot. But any new player entering the search market, will be about how badly they want to enter a brand war, and the technology they can bring to the search world, to overtake whats on offer.

 

[stephanielarry]

Google is so great that the market share of searches Bing Bing IMO should develop a turning point phenomenal sue Google.

 

[barrycryan]

teaming up with yahoo will give them about 30% of the market which will def make it worth while for advertisers to start seriously looking at using bing.

I remember when yahoo was top dog and how quickly google took over them. On the web todays super sites can quickly get taken over by the competition, just look at digg to see this in action. Also look at the ps3 and how microsoft took over them. It only takes one big mistake or update to go wrong and the tide stars turning

If google keep evolving then they should be fine but it will be interesting to see what happens with facbook and to a lesser extent twitter. as both have stated they see themselves turning into search engines down the line.

 

[chlose]

Well google send me huge traffic then any other search engines.