What is the best - Google/ Bing/ Yahoo

[maneetpuri]

Hey Guys.

I just came upon this website

blindsearch.fejus.com/?q=Type+your+text+here

It provides search results for all three search engines - Google , Yahoo and Bing. But yeah.. you need to enter your search query, look at the results and decide which one column of search results is the best and vote for it before you can see the actual names of the search engines.

Makes you take an unbiased decision! Check it out...

[AaliyahRoma]

Makes no sense. Google is the best because of its relevancy & quality.

[AussieWebmaster]

Hate seeing that... Google is the best - most popular yes, relevant in certain areas yes...

[cryptblade]

Makes no sense. Google is the best because of its relevancy & quality.

I agree with AussieWebmaster. That's a bold statement. Google is most popular, but cost to switch to a new search engine is ZERO for users.

I had to rip into an article writer on Search Insider (Mediapost) because of a similar "Google is God and there is no other" type of Google apple polisher. That writer at least tried to back up his (her?) statement - all predicated on faulty assumptions, but at least tried to back it up.

Bing has promise. But the key to Bing is - where can it penetrate and make a beach head in search that Google has not? And, can it use that to expand (effectively) and attract advertisers.

Attracting users is not so much the issue as it is attracting advertisers. Why has MSN failed so far? It doesn't add to the user experience, not enough users. Not enough users, not enough willing advertisers. There are some pundits who say that quality of searchers on MSN are better (think buyers not researchers), but whatever - looking for corn in crap is still looking in crap (think corn floaters...)

But, if Bing gets it right and makes a beach head, it can chip away at Yahoo. Yahoo is the one that stands to lose. Microsoft has the infinite market cap power to wage a war of attrition with Yahoo. Think of the additional amount of users and advertising dollars Microsoft can get if Bing moves to 10% market share. How much more if Bing gets 15% market share? This will all be at the cost of Yahoo, not necessarily Google.

If Bing can make all of that happen, in a few years, we'll be talking about Google and Bing as the top 2 search engines with Yahoo plummeting.

I feel bad for Yahoo since I have no ill will towards them. But serves them right for keeping Terry Semel for all these years and then bringing Jerry Yang and his own snafu with the Microsoft deal.

[jag]

Google all time, Yahoo some time and Bing no time :)


If Bing can make all of that happen, in a few years, we'll be talking about Google and Bing as the top 2 search engines with Yahoo plummeting.


If so, do you think Yahoo will be idle watching all these? :)

Best,

[cryptblade]

If so, do you think Yahoo will be idle watching all these?

That's a great debate - but obviously, cart before the horse. Bing has to make solid traction first. The next 2 quarters will tell whether there's any traction or not. Microsoft is set for a huge advertising blitz for Bing. We'll see.

As for Yahoo - IF Bing can eat into their market share, to be honest, not sure if Yahoo has much it CAN do.

Capital is a problem for Yahoo. Increasing revenue and earnings is their main necessity. They would not have needed to run to Google to try to stave off Microsoft if they were not in trouble.

The real qualified debaters here are those who know finance and stocks. Let's face it, Google, Yahoo, and MSN/Bing are all public companies and as much as we like to talk geek SEO, these companies have 1 thing in common - they answer to shareholders.

How much is Yahoo trading per share times earnings? Those figures plus others dictate how attractive Yahoo stock is. And people will scrutinized Yahoo's trading times earnings more than say Google - who proves to be a solid leader with a consistent market share hold. Not that strong in stock knowledge or financial analysis - but will come back and report on this.

But in my assessment, Yahoo is the vulnerable one and has little recourse. Microsoft has everything to gain because it has nothing right now.

[jag]

Yahoo is consistent and has its own results stabled specific to some locations and spotted very well - a push and tweaks in their search technology will work now and this looks like the right time for them :) and reg MS we saw several tries, msn search then live.com then bing.com then? :)

[cryptblade]

Doesn't matter, jag. You are missing the point. The search engines are not search engines. They are media companies. They are public companies. They answer to shareholders, not SEOs, not search users. Their ability to operate as a company is dependent upon delivering enough searchers to advertisers to stay in business.

You talk about tweaks this and SERPS that - who cares?

At the end of the day, search engines need to
1- make searching an invaluable experience to draw and keep searchers.
2- deliver enough searchers to attract advertisers.
3- get enough advertisers and make enough from advertisers to stay in business.

That's all a search engine is.

This is why newspapers are suffering so much. THEY used to be the media company, the media source. Now it's the search engines.

Bing doesn't really answer to searchers. Bing answers to advertisers who demand searchers to warrant them spending their budgets on Bing.

Yahoo does not have the capital or assets to engage in a war of attrition with Microsoft. Microsoft's market cap is much larger than Yahoo and MSFT has deep deep pockets. They lose money on Xbox and has definitely managed to eat into Sony's Playstation market share. Even though Wii is helping Nintendo to come back into relevance, Wii's adoption isn't nearly as high as Xbox or PS adoption - and frankly, as entertainment, lots of people have multiple systems like they have multiple cars (my family alone has a Honda, a GM, and a Hyundai).

Yahoo is the one vulnerable. No one should be fooled by Bing's ability to take on Google - only time will tell. But Yahoo at a slim 20% market share is vulnerable to slippage, particularly since Yahoo does not make any strides in innovation and instead has pursued maintaining its market share through channel sites.

Not that MSFT has done much better - but MSFT has deep pockets to keep at it again and again - while Yahoo does not. So it doesn't matter what Yahoo does, what tweaks it makes. If the cost of switching engines for the user is ZERO dollars, rupees, or yuan, and advertisers start seeing increased ROI from Bing, Yahoo will lose advertising revenue. And if it loses advertising revenue, it arrests search R&D as well as expansion/acquisition power. Without that, Yahoo is very vulnerable.

[jag]

Referred the base to be the search and about advertisers start seeing increased ROI from Bing, Yahoo will lose advertising revenue.

Don't you think this is a way way long, as many had already stabilised in their specific regions and trends change than and then. Hope Yahoo R&D plays back well atleast to stand out

Let us see :)

Best,

[cryptblade]

Don't you think this is a way way long

Of course this is a ways off.