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Bing Search Overtakes Yahoo 169

Posted by samzenpus from the climbing-to-the-top dept.
SharkLaser writes "Microsoft's Bing search engine has overtaken Yahoo for the first time. While both Bing, Yahoo and a bunch of meta-search engines like the privacy-oriented DuckDuckGo use Bing's back-end, it clearly shows Yahoo's declining market share. comScore has also released its search data for 2011 — overall, Bing gained 3.1% of market share while Yahoo lost 1.5% and Google lost 0.7%. Yahoo's new CEO Scott Thompson has lots of work to do."
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Bing Search Overtakes Yahoo More

Bing Search Overtakes Yahoo

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  • Yahoo? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    That thing still has a search engine?

  • I believe I've also contributed to Bing's rise... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bogaboga ( 793279 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @06:44AM (#38672090)

    Here's how I have contributed:

    I used to employ Google for all kinds of web searches, but over the last few month's, I realized (by accident), that Bing's video search returns were better presented (but not necessarily more relevant) than Google's.

    Particularly, I have come to love Bing's playing of the videos when the mouse is hovered over them. Google has nothing close! Google should watch out.

    • Re:I believe I've also contributed to Bing's rise. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DCTech ( 2545590 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @06:49AM (#38672096)

      That's a great feature in Bing, actually. Especially if looking for more adult material. Another thing is that Google has really crapped their design lately. It relies heavily on javascript and they've gone and hidden the cached link in the side panel that opens when you hover it. It's slow and clumsy. Same thing happened to their image search. It's sad because Google always took pride in providing clear, useful interface, but not anymore. I guess they get more ad clicks by frustrating users who use the normal search.

      • Re:I believe I've also contributed to Bing's rise. (Score:4, Interesting)

        by MyFirstNameIsPaul ( 1552283 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @06:58AM (#38672132) Journal
        I like the image search, too. I started using Bing when Google+ came out and every website wanted to have me report to Google through a javascript tied to google.com, but blocking google.com meant search became really lame, so I started using Bing and sandboxed Google into Chrome. I find Bing's results to be better on obscure searches where Gooogle hasn't had someone pick out the best result already, but for most searches Bing is not quite there, but it is getting there. On a side note, I had never used Chrome before, so in 2011 I contributed to the increase in users using Bing and Chrome, however, Firefox is still my regular browser and I use Google and Bing about equally.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I believe the way the cache links and hover to view a preview are now there like thatto so google can say it takes user action to get those to show up so google is not technically infringing copyright, the user is requesting it, etc. Kinda annoying really.

      • Re:I believe I've also contributed to Bing's rise. (Score:5, Funny)

        by gbjbaanb ( 229885 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @10:32AM (#38673336)

        That's a great feature in Bing, actually. Especially if looking for more adult material.

        so Bing is the porn search engine of choice?

        gives "let me Bing that for you" a whole different meaning.

        • so Bing is the porn search engine of choice?

          - don't be so dismissive of the killer application for the entire Internet.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by thetoadwarrior ( 1268702 )
      Getting the astroturfing in early.

    • I've contributed as well, but unwittingly as a result of msn.com's misleading "Feature Story" links. Each link is not really an article, but rather a pre-canned Bing search. This sort of practice has got to be skewing results, since people who click these links did not necessarily intend to use Bing.

    • "I have come to love Bing's playing of the videos when the mouse is hovered over them."

      If only Yahoo! News could incorporate that so the videos, that are always "no longer available", show that message instead of users having to wait through an advertisement and 12 cookies. Sadly, advertisements and cookies are the only 2 things that seem to work properly on Yahoo! any longer. IMHO of course.

    • Re:I believe I've also contributed to Bing's rise. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by jgtg32a ( 1173373 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @09:54AM (#38673006)
      And even more importantly those videos come directly from Bing so they bypass webfilters.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by caseih ( 160668 )

      Google's pulled a lot of dumb moves recently. It used to be that if you disabled instant search you could get your search bar back at the bottom of the search results page. Now it's just gone permanently. You have no choice but to scroll back to the top of the page to change your query. Google says this is by design; they want you to use instant search, so you can just hit backspace and edit your search query string from anywhere on the page. But half the time I can't remember exactly what I typed, so

  • The results still suck (Score:5, Informative)

    by Monoman ( 8745 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @06:51AM (#38672108) Homepage

    MS is making inroads through partnerships, interesting presentation of search results(like video searches), and putting using Bing as the default in their OS (just like they did with IE). However, I still get better results with Google over Bing even when looking for stuff on microsoft.com. It really becomes frustrating when you are on a MS site and can't find something (that you know exists) because the site's search tool is powered by Bing. Yes, Google needs competition but Bing isn't it. Sad for MS but true.

    • Re:The results still suck (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DCTech ( 2545590 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @06:59AM (#38672138)

      Yes, Google needs competition but Bing isn't it. Sad for MS but true.

      At this point there won't be anyone else than can compete with Google either. Now a days search engines rely heavily on datamining and especially keyword data supplied by users when searching. It's also the reason why Google datamines so much. With their market share they get significantly more data than Bing, especially long tail keywords and keywords people search less often.

      Google also relies on looking which result users choose and if they return back from that site. If user chooses a particular search, it means the user thinks it's relevant and could be good. But if he quickly returns back from the site, it means he didn't find the information he was looking for from that results. That is also data that Google gets much more just because they have so much more users.

      So all in all, if it wasn't for Microsoft, we would only have Google. No one else can compete with them at this point. Interestingly, Google is failing in Russia, China and South Korea where local companies got the market share before Google, and they can't really do much about it. Google tried to play dirty tricks in Russia by disabling the initial search engine choice dialog [posterous.com] and defaulting to Google instead of Yandex, but they were quickly called of it and had to stop that practice.

    • This. This is where Bing fails. It almost sucks as hard as the "Fast" search engine they push for companies and organizations' internal website search tool. My university (which partially spawned Fast, so they probably got a good deal) uses it, and it is utter crap. Going to google and using "$searchterm site:$myuniversity.com" consistently yields better results: more relevant, less duplicates, and often things that the Fast engine does not even find. I cannot believe that they continue to spend money on a

  • Wow...That was difficult. [/sarcasm] (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Tehrasha ( 624164 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @06:53AM (#38672120) Homepage
    I think the only thing keeping Yahoo in the Search market are the various software packages that try to push the Yahoo Toolbar during install, and ISPs that use it as the their default Homepage during setup.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DCTech ( 2545590 )

      I think the only thing keeping Yahoo in the Search market are the various software packages that try to push the Yahoo Toolbar during install, and ISPs that use it as the their default Homepage during setup.

      Google is changing that though, as they're been heavily pushing Chrome with software installs, OEM's and ISPs. So instead of Yahoo toolbar or Bonzi Buddy, you now get Chrome when you install some software. How delightful.

  • And in other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 12, 2012 @07:09AM (#38672182)

    Sales for the Zune have overtaken sales for the Sony Walkman.

    • "sony walkman".

      I'm on file as a sony hater, these days. I boycott sony for many reasons.

      but in my youth, when walkmans first came out they were *excellent* machines. well built, good design, good sound, reliable mechanism. the non-sony clones usually sucked and it took 5-10 years before the others learned how to make phones and cassette 'drives' that small be hi-fi and reliable.

      sony is crap now. at least their consumer divisions are (sony pro audio and video is entirely different, but we never touch tho

  • ...people who use Bing to find Yahoo! before doing their search, or people who use Bing to find Google to find Yahoo! before doing their search?

  • Yahoo and Bing search results aren't all that diff (Score:5, Interesting)

    by knuthin ( 2255242 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @07:25AM (#38672226)

    Cross post for a pic from reddit.com [imgur.com]

    There's always a reason why people still prefer using Google. The only reason why I can see people using Bing or Yahoo is because that's the default engine on their web browser or something like that.

  • Due to Google Instant and other crap? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Hyperhaplo ( 575219 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @07:55AM (#38672326)

    So, how much of this swing away from Google is due to the seriously annoying things they have done recently including, but not limited to, Google Instant (seriously annoying), Google Preview (irritating and annoying) and screwing over the gmail interface.

    As for the third, in this day and age there is no excuse.

    As for the first two... I use other search engines in places where I can't disable google instant and google preview. I find both of them so annoying that I waste more time disabling them than actually using the search engine. The interface gets in the way of the function. Yes, there are ways to ignore and bypass these irritations.. but why I am wasting effect on doing so?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by smash ( 1351 )

      here here. and i suspect that plus integrated search results will only pollute what i am looking for.

      I've been using bing more often simply due to mistrust of google and its honestly not THAT bad. I think its necessary to give the competition a chance, if only to keep google on their toes. Not that I like to support microsoft, but they're currently the only competitor in a position to keep Google honest.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mcgrew ( 92797 ) *

        I've been using bing more often simply due to mistrust of google

        You trust Microsoft? Why?

        And using an inferior product just so the superior product has competetion doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Microsoft has historically only competed when they've been forced to; look at the clucterfuck IE was after Netscape died. It never got any better until Mozilla and Opera. If they can get users even with an inferior product, why would they be compelled to improve that product? MS had search long before Google, ba

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by smash ( 1351 )
          I'm not saying I trust microsoft any more than google. However if there is more than 1 player involved, there's more incentive to fuck users over less than the other guy.

    • So, how much of this swing away from Google is due to the seriously annoying things

      My off-hand guess is that it's approximately 0%. I'd bet most of the reason people are moving to Bing is that people have bought new computers with Windows 7, and Bing is the default search. Also, Microsoft changed the selector to set a different search engine provider, and it's ultimately a bigger pain in the butt to change providers.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by iserlohn ( 49556 )

      As a heavy gmail user, the new interface is great. There's nothing not to like about it - it's more flexible, has more features and better implemented than the old interface.

      • I take your opinion on board.. but it doesn't match my current experience with gmail. I have reverted to the old interface 4 times now. Every time I have submitted a report with issues with the new interface.

        So... you don't find the new interface to be an eye strain?
        No issues with the new message layout?
        The themes are not screwed up for you? (I am going to miss the ocean theme)
        You don't find having a huge red button blaring at you annoying?
        You like icons with no labels? You don't find yourself subconsciousl

    • "screwing over the gmail interface" this.

      If only I could lay my hands on the scoundrel that does this. First, they annoyingly push it to you, which I consistently decline, then they just force it onto you.

    • I use '1' and '2' in Opera to move between tabs, and Google's interface keeps taking focus and putting whatever I type in the search box, even if I removed focus from it. I disabled javascript for google. Their interface is really irritating, and thankfully I can use the 'g' shortcut in the address bar of Opera to search, and don't go through Google's page directly.

  • High Five Territory For Microsoft (Score:4, Funny)

    by HangingChad ( 677530 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @08:33AM (#38672462) Homepage

    That's a high five moment for Ballmer right up there with the Zune out-selling one or two unbranded, generic mp3 players.

  • Unsustainable (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I doubt even MS can keep this up - they have to buy vast quantities of their traffic. Whilst there's probably a bit more left in the budget (which of course they hope will take them to the tipping point where it becomes self-sustaining), if they aren't careful, they'll run out of money and be back on the decline.

  • I know this isn't the whole shibang, but: http://www.xbox360digest.com/2010/09/22/earn-microsoft-points-with-bing/ [xbox360digest.com]
    might have helped a bit.

  • What are bing and yahoo? oh wait... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Rooked_One ( 591287 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @09:46AM (#38672938) Journal
    I can google that. Nevermind! :P

  • How many of those users actually selected Bing? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Gumbercules!! ( 1158841 ) on Thursday January 12, 2012 @10:05AM (#38673096)
    No one chooses Bing (ok some do but not many). People use Bing because their WindowsUpdate updated their browser from IEx to IEy and it changed the default search engine to Bing and the user never even noticed. I say this because, as an IT professional, every single user's PC I have ever seen with Bing as the default search engine, the user still thinks they're using Google. They simply don't pay attention to anything that's going on in front of their own eyes.

    Bing is not gaining market share by being good - it's gaining it because MS is using their OS monopoly to "trick" users into using Bing. I say this as someone who generally likes Microsoft, too. When it comes to someone changing my browsers settings - any of them - without asking me, I get really pissed off.

    • then change them back using group policy to force Google on everyone.

      http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-7/61275-ie8-default-google-search-via-gpo-some-other-method.html [edugeek.net]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rakishi ( 759894 )

      I know people who use Bing because google search results, for the queries they do, are so flooded with spammer sites as to be useless.

      For example if I search for "ipad 3 release date" on google most of the sites are clearly spammer sites designed to catch that particular query. On Bing only two of the results are those sites and the rest are from actual tech coverage of the question.

  • I wonder if Bing's increasing market share is due in any way to their increasingly maddening lock-up of IE's search behaviour in Windows 7.
    I helped my father-in-law get a new Dell machine up and running over the Christmas break and was seriously astonished at how many steps are required now to make Google the default search agent in IE rather than Bing. A novice user has effectively no chance to avoid using Bing.
    I'm a bit surprised there hasn't been more backlash against it, but I guess this shit is less
  • Clearly as the same search back end is being used by both bing and yahoo it has nothing to do with the search results. Back in the 90s I stopped using yahoo. There were a few reason and one was the main search page was cluttered an ugly and googles was not. I think this is still true. Bing's growth probably has a lot to do with being the default search in MS products and the yahoo search page looking like it came from1996 doesn't help matters. That yahoo logo is a piece of junk that looks like it was made

  • And, to compete against Bing, "lots of work to do" means to create an OS running on the vast majority of the world's workstations, bundle a web browser that's used by default and "can't be removed from the operating system" and make their search engine the default in the search box or if you make a typo in the address bar.

    Make no mistake, I'm not fan of Yahoo but the rise of Bing is certainly not due to the quality of its search results, real or imagined.

  • Does this really have anything to do with the quality of Bing search results and people choosing it or, as I suspect, is this just a side effect of Bing being the default search engine in Internet Explorer?
    I've also noticed that it's harder than it used to be to change IE over to Google as the default search engine.

  • After long ago abandoning Alta Vista for Google, I've recently found myself compelled to return, for one simple reason; Google try too hard to tell me what I'm looking for.

    What I mean is this, Google are not content to let me tell them what I want to find. Their search algorithms now completely discount my use of quotation marks to group words, or to try to indicate that I really want whatever unlikely word I enter. Many of the old tricks for hinting to the search engine that you mean what you say are now

  • I upgraded my wifes vista laptop to IE9, the only download for I was a Bing/MSN branded one. Her homepage got changed to msn.com. The search box on msn.com is bing (obviously). Before the upgrade it had explicitly been set to yahoo

  • With all the recent G+ shenanigans [searchengineland.com] I'm going to change my browser's default search to Bing for a week and see how it goes. I'll add a link-bar shortcut to Google in case I'm not happy with any particular search, but I have the "go to the search box" keyboard shortcut so totally ingrained in my muscle memory that it'll take conscious effort to use Google.

    I'm not saying I'll quit Google forever, because what if MS does something sleazy soon, but competition is supposed to make things better for all of us, so

  • Wow. I guess after you dig past all the "news", "email", "groups", "ads", and "other crap" they still have search.

    How Quaint.

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