You’re probably familiar with the two search engines already, but just for a refresher, here’s what we’re talking about:
Google: By far the most used search engine in the world, Google Search has been around since 1997 and is constantly improving with new smart results, advanced features, and integration with other Google products. As of February of this year, Google currently has 64.5% of the US’s search market share.
Bing: Bing is the latest name for Microsoft’s search engine, previously called Windows Live Search and MSN Search. Bing brands itself as a “decision engine”, aiming to present results with more real-world context than just finding text on a page. Bing also powers Yahoo’s search, which, coupled with Bing, serves 32.6% of US internet searchers.
Basic Layout and Search Features
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screen layout google versus bing
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- Bing’s video search is significantly better than Google’s. This is the biggest difference between the two (and why Bing has a bit of a reputation as “the porn search engine”). Instead of giving you a vertical list of videos with small thumbnails, it gives you a grid of large thumbnails that you can click on to play without leaving Bing. For some videos, it’ll even give you a preview if you hover over.
- Bing gives more autocomplete suggestions than Google does in most cases. Google only gives four, while Bing gives eight. This is particularly useful if you’re using autocomplete to find alternative products or to get wildcard suggestions.
- Google’s shopping suggestions show up more often than Bing’s do, and they’re generally much better. So if you’re trying to find out which stores carry a certain product, or where to find the best price online, Google will be better than Bing.
- Google’s Image Search interface feels a bit smoother when you use it, though Bing has one or two more advanced options like “Layout” (which lets you search for portrait or landscape images). Bing’s image search also lets you remove certain parts of your search term with one click, which is kind of cool (I wish it did this for all searches).
- Bing puts related searches and related image searches to the right of your search results, while google puts them near the bottom. This isn’t really a good or a bad thing; it’s just a difference.
Google Versus Bing Stats 2015
In short, it's a lot like Google. Not the Google of today, but the Google you fell in love with, the one that put your search results above its financial ones. The Google that delivered.