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Bing Now Powers 30% of US Searches
- pitdesi 15y agoIt only lists Yahoo and Bing here to come up with that 30%, what about Facebook search? Is that not counted (or counted separately)? It's "Powered by Bing"
- peregrine 15y agoPersonally I am not a big fan of Facebook search. I can barely ever find links I've posted or any non-person/group/game/widget content.
- wtallis 15y agoNot too surprising. Just yesterday, I found that Bing had managed to get itself back in the list of search engines in my Firefox installation. I use a Mac! The only thing I can think of is that I must have updated the Flip4Mac WMV codecs, but I didn't even let it install Silverlight. If Microsoft is trying this hard to push Bing in so many ways, I'd be surprised if they couldn't manage to hit 30% while the competition is resting on their laurels.
- Stormbringer 15y agoMuch respect to Firefox for being the torch bearer in the darkness and all that, but their secret auto-updates in the background are why I don't use them. I use a Mac not because I'm some techno-illiterate neo-lithic throwback, but because I'm a raging control freak. On the Mac I feel like I'm in control. Programs that go and do random weird stuff behind the scenes break that fragile illusion. :D The worst was when Firefox's stealthy self-updating broke itself. I don't remember which version that was (sometime in 2008? 2009?) and it might have been on a work machine (Windows? Vista?) but there was basically no going back (couldn't use previous versions because of stealth updates...), and no going forward (wasn't gonna sit around waiting for them to patch it).
- msg 15y agoAll a little off topic, but... menu Preferences -> Advanced -> Update seek to "When updates to Firefox are found" check "Ask me what I want to do" Now you have your control again.
- podperson 15y agoContinuing off-topic -- I hate programs that think updating is more important than whatever I had in mind when I launched the program. I prefer programs that update/download in the background while I get stuff done then let me update at my leisure when they've finished downloading.
- stoney 15y agoI was just thinking the same thing - why doesa Firefox insisted on installing updates just when I open it to use it (which really is exactly when I don't want it to be doing it). Why not do the updates when I close it down?
- yaix 15y agoFor programs that are permanently online, it is a good idea to have updating as a high preference. At least when your operating system is not doing the updating off all installed software automatically.
- natmaster 15y agoBing is included as a search engine in Firefox by default. Did you start a new profile?
- pitdesi 15y agoThis doesn't foot with the traffic to our site. Would be cool to have our own little unscientific survey, as I'd like to see what experiences other folks on here have... can you fill in the following? 1) Domain 2) Audience 3) Google/Yahoo/Bing % of traffic 4) Notes
- pitdesi 15y ago1) http://feefighters.com http://feefighters.com 2) SMB focused site that helps companies reduce their credit card processing fees 3) Google was ~88% of our search traffic, and Yahoo/Bing were ~5% each. 4) Numbers for past 30 days. We are ranked far higher on Bing for our key terms "Merchant account" and "Credit card processing"
- thecoffman 15y agoFar too small of a sample set to make a conclusion but on my personal blog Google beats Bing 2:1 in incoming traffic over the past three months. That actually corresponds roughly with a 70/30 split which would seem to corroborate the story However, my blog has far too few pages and way too little traffic to represent anything approaching a reasonable sample size.
- theDoug 15y ago1) http://ama.ab.ca/ http://ama.ab.ca/ 2) Auto club (similar to a AAA club in the US) (see 4b). 3) Google: 89.29%, Bing: 6.2%, Yahoo: 3.4% (see 4d). 4a) Numbers from the last 30 days, so this is relevant. 4b) We have members in ~1/3 of all households province-wide, so we feel our traffic represents an average online user well. 4c) 350,000+ Unique Visitors monthly (search + organic). 4d) Search-specific traffic.
- ratsbane 15y ago1) Can't say (client site) 2) ecommerce 3) Google: 90% / Yahoo: 5% / Bing: 3.25% (last 30 days; search traffic only) 4) Bing's capture rate is .2% more than Google's but average revenue per visit is about 30% less.
- bigiain 15y ago1) rather not say 2) gambling 3) 92%/2%/7% 4) Mar 12-Apr 11, ~46,000 visits. Other interesting numbers to jump out: Google's bounce rate 17%, Bing 28%, Yahoo 36%. The relative numbers haven't changed much going back to Jan - I'm not seeing any growth in the Bing or Yahoo numbers.
- sbochins 15y agoThat seems to be a large increase. I was under the impression that Bing/Yahoo made up 10 or 15%. Wonder what the change has been.
- nod 15y agoI did the same double-take. They both make up between 10 and 15% -- when MS bought Yahoo's search traffic, they effectively doubled their traffic and jumped to about 24-28%. So that's the number they've grown from recently.
- chaosmachine 15y agoThese numbers are bogus, as far as I can tell. I help run a popular music forum that gets over a million pageviews every month, and our search referral numbers show Google at 98.7%. The numbers are similar across 10 other domains I own. I challenge anyone to show me a site that gets 30% of their search engine hits from Bing. Seriously, if your Bing stats are even close to 30%, please share with us.
- forgotusername 15y agoThat could happen for many other reasons, e.g. your relative ranking in either engine for particular keywords, the types of user that visits each engine, and so on. As ever, statistics published by the likes of Hitwise can only offer a partial view of the truth, and have been shown to be grossly inaccurate in the past.
- DaveMebs 15y agoIts certain that these are only estimates, however, Bing has been growing in market share consistently for quite some time now. If memory serves correctly, they have had month over month improvement for at least the last 6 months, if not longer. Bing was around 6% when it "launched." Not sure exactly what Yahoo! was at then, but it didn't sum to 30. Initially, Bing grabbed share primarily from Yahoo! searches, but more recently it looks like more has come from Google (though it hasn't been that significant). Interestingly, Bing even grew in January when it was accused on "copying" results. Point being, while doubting the accuracy of the numbers reported is reasonable, I find it much harder to dismiss a trend.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- Sakes 15y agoOne explanation could be that your users are highly technical when compared to the average pc user. I would bet the ground google lost went to new pc buyers that are happy using default apps/settings. These kinds of people probably wouldn't visit your site.
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- bkhl 15y agoI've been using Bing since I found the Bing Rewards (http://www.bing.com/rewards http://www.bing.com/rewards), which gives you a point per 2 searches and lets you redeem the points for something later on. I have not found myself going back to Google, yet.
- r00fus 15y agoSo each point is worth between $.007 and $.01 (based on the gift card conversions). Assuming you make 50 searches per day, you'll make at most $.50 - is it really worth it for a half dollar a day?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- bkhl 15y agoI don't know... $0.50 (Bing) vs. $0.00 (Google). What is better for me when I can still find whatever I need to find in both?
- mcantelon 15y agoWeird that you find them comparable. I've compared the two and Bing's results are just kind of weird (old results and non-related results come up). It's worth 50 cents a day for me to have decent results.
- DaveMebs 15y agoWhen did you do the comparison? In the summer of '09 when Bing launched I gave it a shot, but just did not like it as much as Google. A few months ago I went back and tried it again, and have not gone back to Google since.
- mcantelon 15y agoI've tried it a few times since it launched and just did a quick try doing a self-Google. Again, less useful results than Google.
- Stormbringer 15y agoGoogle's search is bad (spammy advertising), but Bing's isn't any better. Recently at work I went to do a search for something innocuous like "what words can you put s in front of and still have a word" And the number 2 result was something about anal sex. I'm like WTF??? I'm at work! How they can tout themselves as a major search engine in 2011 and not understand the concept of NSFW I do not know. ---- My predictions: 1) So long as Microsoft keeps throwing money at it, Bing will continue to improve. 2) So long as Google's main source of revenue is advertising, they will continue to try to find that "sweet spot" of bombarding us day and night with ads, but not quite enough to make us switch. It's like a choice between new evil and old evil... either way that ain't a good thing.
- Cushman 15y agoWell, Apple seems well on their way to making their own curated internet, so don't give up all hope.
- guywithabike 15y agoWhat makes you say this?
- patrickk 15y agoIt's important to note that Google made 88% of it's revenue outside of the US in 2009. Here's is a paragraph describing how Google legally dodges tax: "The Dublin subsidiary sells advertising globally and was credited by Google with 88 percent of its $12.5 billion in non-U.S. sales in 2009." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/google-2-4-rate-shows-how-60-billion-u-s-revenue-lost-to-tax-loopholes.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/google-2-4-rate-sho... So it seems a bit silly to focus solely on US searches. These are global markets we are talking about. EDIT: link
- andos 15y agoThis is just how revenue is collected, no? I believe the Irish subsidiary must have a lot of american clients.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- staunch 15y ago> It's important to note that Google made 88% of it's revenue outside of the US in 2009. I don't think that's accurate. I read that article as saying that 88% of the $12.5 billion it made outside the US was booked in Dublin. Not that 88% of their revenue is from outside the US.
- jsnell 15y agoI think you misread the quote. 88% of the non-US revenue going through Google Ireland doesn't in any way imply 88% of the total Google revenue being non-US. Bing results are total garbage outside the US at the moment, so it's no surprise that their share would be low. And likewise it makes sense for MS to concentrate on reaching a critical mass in a single market first, and only worry about the rest of the world later.
- patrickk 15y agoIndeed. Thanks.
- awa 15y agoAccording to Statcounter the number is closer to 20%. http://gs.statcounter.com/#search_engine-US-monthly-201103-201103-bar http://gs.statcounter.com/#search_engine-US-monthly-201103-2...
- xutopia 15y agoReally? It says 8.72% for Bing for April 2011.
- citricsquid 15y agoYahoo is just bing search, so they're combined I assume.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- famousactress 15y agoSorry. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious but can someone explain how I'm expected to resolve these two statements as something other than contradictions: Yes, Bing-powered search ...clocking in at 30.01% Google in the same time period dropped .. to 64.42%, ceding that ground to Bing. [Edit: Oh, sorry. yeah, I'm a fool. It reads That was a rise from its February tally of 28.48.. So Bing was already almost 30%. I get it now. That said? No Way.]
- famousactress 15y agoThis just really isn't sitting well with me... so, warning. Total conspiracy-theory cynicism ahead. These numbers are from a company that at least in part appears to generate revenue from supplying analytics, and helping other companies tune their search results. While that may put them in a good position to tally these kinds of numbers, it also strikes me that it puts them in a good position to benefit from a redistribution of search-engine market share. I'm not making an accusation at all. I'm far from informed enough to do so. That said, I'd love some insight on this angle from someone who's more familiar with the space that Hitwise is in.
- kenjackson 15y agoHitwise has been around before Google. I've never known them to be in the middle of a controversy. It's always possible, but application of Occam's Razor wouldn't look favorably on your theory.
- brudgers 15y ago"They're making money" is often the simplest explanation - not that I'm advocating a conspiracy theory.
- warkaiser 15y agoCurrent numbers for the past 7 days for TheNextWeb: 95% Google. Hitwise snorting?
- sinaiman 15y agoMicrosoft inflates their search share statistics with sites like this: http://www.clubbing.com http://www.clubbing.com Where they bribe people to play games that "search" on Bing in exchange for points they can use to buy things. Additionally, this site is really easy to automate bots for (there are whole communities that work on this) in order to automate the prize winning process. Even still, that's all good for Microsoft as far as I can tell, since even playing with bots brings up their share in the search market.
- sinaiman 15y agoFor anyone that can't tell what the site is about at first glance: it's a collection of word-based games (think text twist) and every time you guess/figure out some word correctly, a search to Bing is fired off in a separate frame. The reasoning behind this Bing-fueled gaming experience is so that you can "research" words as you play...or something. It's all very shady/hilarious.
- kyp 15y agoGoogle is doing the same thing with A Google a Day: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383379,00.asp http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2383379,00.asp
- natmaster 15y agoI'm not sure if hitwise includes this, but there are separate metrics tracked that do not include this (including it is silly). An interesting point however, is that the clubbing traffic is small, and never really goes up. So the basic idea of the article - that bing is still growing in share - is true, regardless of clubbing.
- sinaiman 15y agoHopefully it's separate. I'm not sure how accurate compete.com is, but here are the stats for clubbing.com: http://siteanalytics.compete.com/clubbing.com/ http://siteanalytics.compete.com/clubbing.com/ They were pulling over 1 million uniques/month until January (not sure what happened in January). And now their traffic is indeed insignificant at about 200k for February 2011 (who knows how accurate this is). However, if you factor that many of those unique hits are playing a game that fires off between 10-100 searches per play, well that's a lot of searches, especially if people play more than one game. Or maybe I'm wrong, as this is a bunch of guesstimating on my part. Of course, I can see your point...in the grand scheme of things, Club Bing is probably just a drop in the bucket.
- Dramatize 15y agoI manage a site with 61.92% of users using Internet Explorer Google = 92.66% Bing = 3.65% Yahoo = 2.03%
- hardtke 15y agoThe most important number is search advertising revenue. The entire online services division (which includes Bing) has revenues of around $2 billion per year. Google's AdWords brings in about $15 billion per year. Microsoft is nowhere close to 30% of the search market, revenue wise. For individual ad clicks Microsoft gets about as much as Google, so clearly Microsoft is not doing 30% of "real" searches (actual people looking for actual things and occasionally clicking on an ad.)
- brudgers 15y ago>"The most important number is search advertising revenue." The effects of that kind of thinking at Google is why I often use Bing - too often Google's results appear to be skewed toward ad impressions rather than usefulness.
- Groxx 15y agoYahoo search uses Bing? I must've missed the memo... that could help explain the 30% value - Bing's site usage is still a percent and a half below Yahoo's. A question, if anyone out there has an answer / speculation: >Yahoo! Search and Bing achieved the highest success rates in March 2011. This means that for both search engines, more than 80 percent of searches executed resulted in a visit to a Website. Google achieved a success rate of 66 percent. How much of that is impacted by the ridiculous number of queries Instant generates?
- sorbus 15y ago> clocking in at 30.01% in March according to Hitwise. That was a rise from its February tally of 28.48%. Google in the same time period dropped from 66.69% to 64.42%, ceding that ground to Bing. So Bing gained 1.53% while Google lost 2.27%. Where did the other 0.74% go?
- shadowfox 15y agoddg perhaps
- randfish 15y agoImportant to keep in mind that when Hitwise/Comscore/Nielsen/etc. measure "Microsoft/Bing powered searches" they're including a LOT of searches that never leave MS/Yahoo's sites. If you do a search on MSN Autos or Yahoo! News or in Facebook's web search, for example, those are all powered by Bing and count toward their share. Contrast with Google, where very few searches on Google's entire network lead to another page on Google (most of that traffic goes out to other sites like those we own/control). Thus, while 30% of web searches may be Bing powered, the Statcounter numbers are the ones I'm much more inclined to look at as a comparison. 8% for Bing and 11% for Yahoo! seem like plausible figures for outbound traffic sent from those engines.
- ooorrr 15y agoRand, I thought one of the providers (Hitwise or Comscore) started to separate out internal v. external links. Perhaps those were just pure links, like when a link at MSN.com went to a search results page? I also don't get the Facebook reference. Google has distribution deals - Google searches in Firefox still count for Google, for example. Is it just the fact that web results are at the tail of the page?
- randfish 15y agoI think you're correct that Comscore controls for/removes links to searches (like Bing's news links) but not for the queries done "in network" (at least, not that I'm aware of).
- patrickc 15y agoPeople just use Bing to search for porn so Google can't see that. Then they use Google for pretty much everything else, which is not much.
- amurmann 15y agoI suspect the same. It would be really interesting to see an analysis of search terms on Google vs search terms on Bing. Bing's video search also lends itself to porn searches.
- lisperforlife 15y agoRight... the majority of the searches involve terms like "download firefox" and "download chrome". :-)
- known 15y agoWhat % on non-windows?