Bing executive: 'We have caught up' to Google in search quality

Bing executive: 'We have caught up' to Google in search quality(latimesblogs.latimes.com)

14 points by mechanician 15 years ago | 23 comments

tshtf 15 years ago |

I still see Bing regularly come up with lousy search results. The other day I did a Bing search for "FM100-6", and none of the top 10 hits were relevant: http://www.bing.com/search?q=FM100-6&go=&form=QBLH&#.... Google, on the other hand, had exactly what I was looking for in the all of the top 5: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=FM10...

This happened frequently when I tried using Bing exclusively.

dhimes 15 years ago | |

Interesting that for FM100.6 Bing algorithm ranks 100.6 more relevant than the literal 100-6, almost as if it doesn't know what to do with the "-" character. Using "Field Manual" instead of "FM" gives results closer to what you were looking for.

danieldon 15 years ago |

Two sites that I've put up in the past 6 months have yet to be crawled by bing (it indexed the main page of one, but has absolutely nothing for the second), despite it indexing links pointing to those sites and me submitting them to be indexed months ago. They are both completely distinct, unrelated and on separate servers. Meanwhile, google started crawling them immediately.

Interestingly, on the one that eventually got the home page indexed by bing, the bulk of the content is still not linked from the main page, but can be fully crawled via deeper links people have posted elsewhere. Google crawled it via those links, Bing still only sees the front page.

tptacek 15 years ago |

This seems like a fabulously awful marketing message. Every time they say it, they concede that Google offered superior search quality up until now. If they're going to compete on features, like "entertainment search" or pretty front pages, they should neutralize the concern about results quality, not turn it into the entire horse race.

qeorge 15 years ago | |

Pretending otherwise would be dishonest.

I like it, in the same way as the Domino's ads that admit their pizza used to suck.

yellowbkpk 15 years ago | | |

But in both cases, the product still sucks. Saying that your product has "caught up" gives the customer a greater incentive to question any future improvements and any other marketing material coming from your organization.

After Domino's said they did better and after a taste-test I discovered it was still worse than Papa John's, I mock the Domino's commercials and will never visit a Domino's again. Same with Bing.

olegk 15 years ago |

http://www.google.com/search?q=(5+MBps)*(2+hours)

http://www.bing.com/search?q=(5+MBps)*(2+hours)

And that's why I use google

_3ex7 15 years ago | |

http://www.bing.com/search?q=999999999999999-999999999999998

http://www.google.com/search?q=999999999999999-9999999999999...

And that's why I use bing

pohl 15 years ago | | |

Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=999999999999999-9999999...

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(5+MBps)*(2+hours)

NeilCJames 15 years ago |

FTA: "We've got a lot of work to do," Mehdi said during his presentation. "It's not like people wake up in the morning, and say, 'Dang, I wish I had another search engine.' "

This is the problem with Bing, not anything technical. Why start a business built around a service that you don't think anyone wants? A product which beats the market leader in one or several clearly defined niches has a chance in the long run, but no one wanted Bing except Microsoft. It was and is a product looking for a market. It would take catastrophic failure at Google for Bing to split the market.

I am not rooting for one team or the other, nor am I against diversity in the market. I just think the quote above reveals something about the product development process at Microsoft that I'd be wary of if I were an employee or investor.

chris100 15 years ago | |

It's like the iPhone (or the Mac, for that matter). No one knew they wanted a better search, until an obviously superior search comes along.

So I wouldn't say it's hopeless for Bing at all. There are so many ways that search could be different from Google's current results...

erikpukinskis 15 years ago | |

Microsoft is in the ecosystem business. The product they provide their customers is an entire software and development ecosystem. They don't have to be best-of-class in every category, but they need to be competitive.

tomjen3 15 years ago |

In other news I am now a good lover.

No, it is just one of those things that isn't the case until other people tell you it is.

ElbertF 15 years ago | |

Jessy? Hi, it's me. I'm just calling to let you know I finally caught up to your boyfriend in love making quality.

I wonder if she'll consider making the switch.

itg 15 years ago |

Since when is a PR statement news? Obviously he won't say anything negative.

alecco 15 years ago |

Meanwhile Google search results are going back to the Altavista days thanks to dumbing it down to help newbs and so many SEO sites. Very often I have to put quotes and plus signs in searches or else Google will just tell me something similar (not just a simple "do you mean Y" link.)

There's a need for a better search engine or a google management shake-up.

Tichy 15 years ago |

Compare "We have caught up" to "We took longer, because we wanted to get it right". I think Steve Jobs delivers it even better, but I am too lazy to look up the exact sentence. Both is saying the same thing, but the second version (in Steve Job's variant) can make the competition look bad.

Bing needs to work on their marketing...

chc 15 years ago | |

I think the two versions are both fairly honest, though, and wouldn't be if reversed. Microsoft has had an inferior search project for a long time and is playing catch-up with Google. Apple simply took a long time getting the device to market, but when they did, it was completely game-changing.

Tichy 15 years ago | | |

Their implementation of multitasking, to which that sentence was referring, still seems to be inferior. Or let's say different, for diplomacy - yet they make it sound as if they are ahead.

timcederman 15 years ago |

They have certainly set the bar on some things, and met Google in others.

One thing that has made it easier for them is the decrease of Google's search quality.

bediger 15 years ago |

I thought Bing was a "decision engine" and Google was a "search engine".

Isn't this comparing apples to oranges, metaphorically speaking?