Interview: What Is Bing

In 2009, Microsoft introduced a completely revamped search engine that had online enthusiasts asking the question, "What is Bing?" Microsoft based the new search engine called "Bing" upon the core search engine formerly known as Microsoft Live Search. Many experts believe that of all existing search engines, Bing has the potential to compete with the search engine giant known as Google.

Search online with Bing.

In 2009, a man by the name of Dr. Qi Lu joined Microsoft's Online Services Division (OSD). For the previous 10 years, Dr. Lu was Vice President of Engineering for Yahoo, and in placing him as the head of the group responsible for the "evolution of Microsoft's search, portal and advertising services," Microsoft was clearly setting itself up for some serious competition with existing search engine giants. Shortly afterwards, Microsoft introduced its first major move in the search engine market - the introduction of Microsoft Bing, an innovative search engine that pushes the edge of search technology. To learn more about this new search engine, LoveToKnow Online contacted a Microsoft spokesperson and asked them to answer the question - What is Bing?

LTK: This year, Microsoft released the new search engine, Bing, which replaces Microsoft Live Search. Could you briefly describe a few of the key features that are an improvement over the previous search engine?

MS: Core to a great search experience is relevance of results, and we’ve continued to make strides in relevance, but with Bing, we are introducing features such as best match where we clearly highlight the “best result” when we think one exists. We also work hard to find information like customer service phone numbers right on the search page when available. Bing also delivers a more organized experience. Content on the web is increasingly dynamic, and customers are routinely looking for text, audio, video and image content, so we built Bing to better return results that include all of these content types.

• Bing also offers high quality instant answers or video previews right on the results page for common queries to help you find just the page you are looking for.

• Additionally, Bing was designed to help people quickly find the information they need by categorizing results dynamically and changing the way results are presented on a page, depending on the query entered - with the added ability to filter results using our refinement tools that enable customers to better navigate results with a simple click.

• Bing also takes into account that people repeat searches over 50% of the time and conduct sessions rather than individual queries. Bing’s search history feature helps people get back to previous queries and see what sites they visited within a session to reduce the amount of time having to “refind” something.

LTK: The Bing virtual press kit describes Bing as a new "search decision experience." Could you explain what Microsoft means when describing the search engine query as a "search decision"?

MS: Microsoft designed Bing to help people with key decisions like buying a product, planning a trip or researching a health condition. We’ve found that 66% of people are using search more frequently to make decisions. In these instances, people need a search tool that intelligently surfaces a range of information to help them make better choices. For all queries, but particularly those kinds of questions (shopping, travel, local and health), we believe Bing is a better search tool.

LTK: Could you describe a few ways in which Microsoft believes Bing will be able to surpass Google in terms of feature or functionality?

MS: The search model developed more than ten years ago has not kept pace with the explosion of rich information and services on the web today, and we feel Bing offers a new experience that cuts through the clutter and provides tools to help customers make faster, more informed decisions. We believe that Bing represents a dramatic improvement to search. For searches in key decision-oriented categories like travel, shopping, health and local, we’re confident that Bing delivers a superior customer experience.

LTK: Does Microsoft also plan to offer webmasters the same (or more) advertising products and analytical services to compete with Google's Adwords and Analytics features?

MS: Advertisers will continue to buy keywords in the familiar adCenter environment. The new presentation of results will have no impact on the way they purchase keywords. We don’t have any specific new features for Bing to announce at this time.

LTK: What advice do you offer webmasters who would like to obtain a high ranking in Bing? Do the same sort of keyword rules apply as for Google, or does Bing use an entirely different system for ranking websites?

MS: From the SEO perspective, there have been no major changes to our indexing at this time. However we are continuously refining and improving our crawling and indexing abilities. We plan to work with publishers to provide SEO tools and guidance that will help them maximize their results. In fact, last week we made available the Bing Toolbox, which is designed to build community and provide all of the content and tools webmasters and developers need to enhance their sites, understand the impact of Bing’s new features, and get the most out of using the Bing API. A great first step is to submit sitemaps and URLs through Toolbox to ensure the Bing search engine has access to their content. Sitemaps can be submitted at the toolbox. The Bing Webmaster blog is also a great resource for additional information regarding SEO and SEM, and the team regularly posts updates and news specific to the Webmaster community.

LTK: Could you share what you see for Bing's future in terms of functionality, features and/or tools for customers, webmasters or otherwise?

MS: Bing is a first step in evolving search into a more refined tool. We will continue to listen to feedback from customers; however, we have nothing new to share at this time.

LTK: Will Microsoft provide its own content in the form of articles, news or answers like Yahoo or Google, or will it serve primarily as a stand alone search engine, but not a content producer?

MS: Bing is a decision engine. It cuts through Internet clutter and intelligently displays a range of information to help people make decisions faster. With Bing we have made the search experience richer by embedding video, image, news and xRank content directly into results when relevant. For example, Bing features more than 16 million videos from many different locations including MSN, AOL, MTV, ESPN, YouTube, MySpace, Daily Motion, Metacafe and Hulu. We also crawl blogs, forums, and news sites and surface them in our web sites within minutes.

LoveToKnow Online thanks Microsoft for offering users and webmasters insight into Microsoft's new "decision engine" known as Bing. Only time will tell whether or not this innovative search tool will surpass the popularity of other major engines. However, one thing that's certain is that Bing does offer an exciting and refreshing alternative.

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