Search Engine Battle: Google v Bing v Yahoo

“Web Search”; what does this phrase bring to your mind? I know your answer will be nothing else than “Google.” Yes, Google has rendered such an awesome search experience to the users that the very name has become synonymous to web search. In this monopoly of Google, there are certain other search engines that are trying to stand out by struggling hard. No, I am not talking Altavista, Dogpile or Mamma. This article is only about Google, Yahoo and Bing search; in fact it is a comparison. All these three search engines are trying their best to appear as the most functional one, with various sets of features.

• The Home Page:

Starting from where the search starts, let us talk about the home pages of Google, yahoo and Bing. Google has white background with the word Google written in typical colors; blue, red, yellow and green. There are times when we see various kinds of paintings around this word. Images, News, Groups, Books, Scholar, and Gmailare the main tabs on the top left. A lot of other features are there in the “more” section.

Yahoo search home page, on the other hand, is simpler than Google’s. It has plain white background with Yahoo written in red and options like Web, Images, Video, Local, and Shopping on the top of search bar.  More options are available in the “More” section.

Now, Bing is a bit attractive than the previous plain white pages. With Bing written in white, a search bar and options like Images, Videos, Shopping, News, Maps and Travel, the search engine is equipped with beautiful backgrounds. These backgrounds are usually photos of different parts of world, with small highlighted sections that tell a story about the location. Go to MSN, Windows Live and Bing Travel straight from this home page. In terms of appearance and looks, Bing home page is certainly on the top of other search engines.

• Search Results:

As far as Bing is concerned, the search results are comprised of two categories; on the left hand side there are quick tabs to centralize the search, and a central array of categorized search results.

Yahoo has a main array of categorized search, plus a right hand column of sponsored results. On the top, similar search phrases are also provided.

Do I need to tell about how Google search result page looks? It is almost same as the Yahoo result page in looks, with categorized search mainly on the page, and a right hand column of sponsored search. In terms of quality of search results, this is obvious that Google has no match.

• Airfare Search:

Regarding airfare search, Bing is the winner. It has included the Faircast Technology in Bing Travel, which shows recent history of airfares, as well as predicts likely future modifications in the rates. Yahoo comes second with providing the facility to compare aerial fares. Sadly, Google renders no such service. So, with all honesty, Bing is given the trophy for best airfare search.

• Hotel Search:

Again, this is the department of Bing and Yahoo, only. Google does not offer a travel service. Bing uses the same technology for hotel search too. Search for accommodation in a specified area, and Bing will show the historical rates of hotels along with the current ones, and will tell you whether the current deal is good to have. Yahoo Travel tells the searcher about ‘Getaway Sale’ pricing for hotel rooms in case such pricing is being offered. ‘Good Deal’ tag is displayed with a result when such discount is being made as a part of promotion offered by Yahoo. Price range search is also part of Yahoo search. Here, Yahoo deserves to stand in the middle block of victory stand.

• Refining Search:

When it comes to search refining; Bing stands out from the other search engines. Its Explorer Pane is present on left side of every search, so the refinement is just a click away. As far as Google and yahoo are concerned, an extra click is needed to show the options in Yahoo as well as Google. Therefore, Bing again gets the award in refined search.

• Video Search:

At last, here is something interesting. When you search for “Akon” in videos on Bing, you will get a whole lot of video results. Interestingly, almost 90% of these videos are by AOL or MySpace (of course, YouTube is powered by Google!). Choose one of the videos and you will get it paying on the top of results. Also, these results can further be refined by length, screen size, resolution etc.

Google shows the results as the user chooses; in grid or in large thumbnails. One can filter the results by duration and source. Clicking a video will play it in the upper right corner of the window.

As far as yahoo videos are concerned, it offers “Official Videos” option. It either plays the videos at the down side of the window, or takes to the server. Best among all these three in video search department is indeed Bing.

So, each of these three is specialist in certain areas and their expertise differs in various departments of search. Seriously speaking, Bing seems to have enough potential to threaten Google’s monopoly. Anyways, the fact is that whenever we have to make a search about something, we “Google it”. I suppose Bing has to go a long way in order to make its phrase!

Source: pcworld

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Tags: altavista, bing search, msn, shopping, videos, web search, windows live, yahoo