Bing Watch . . . Just Bing It!

50-50 chance Bing + iPad

Silicon Valley insider bloggers and Wall Street watchers are speculating early this morning that the new Apple’s iPad could be shipped with the decision engine.  As scheduled, the slate mobile device will be shipped to pre-ordered users this Saturday.   The giant gadget company is closing its gap in term of market value as Wall Street watchers have predicted that one day Steve Jobs & Co. may be on par with the giant software company’s total value.

It’s well known now that Apple is not happy with Google anymore with the giant search engine move into the giant gadget territory including Google Nexus One and Google Android.  Early this year executives from Apple and Bing’s parent met to discuss the potential of adding the decision engine to be pre-loaded into new Apple devices (of course, to replace Google). 

As Bing continues to gain search market share in America and most of those gains were from Bing parent’s distribution deals (such as Verizon, HP, Dell, Motorola, etc.), so the latest Bing + iPad deal could help the decision engine to capture larger portion of share in America.

Bing local search

Bing local just added a new cool feature dubbed as “Nearby” which let users to find alternative places in surrounding areas or streets without typing in new queries.  According to Bing team blog, this new feature allows users to make decision faster.  Bing local also enhanced its data with more details about the venues including type of cuisine and payment options.

 
(photo: Bing team)

Bing = found

In a very interesting interview with David Webster, Microsoft's chief marketing strategist, Ina Fried of cnet.com revealed that the original name for the decision engine was “Bang” instead of Bing.  Citing Webster, Fried noted "It's there [Bang], it's an exclamation point."  Later Webster told Fried, the perfect choice was Bing, as Webster called "the sound of found."  The choice of Bing as the website name was not disappointed so far, as the decision engine continues to capture search market share in America since its launch.

Planned blackout for four hours in honor of Earth Hour

On Saturday night, the decision engine will go dark, but it has nothing to do with the outage similar to early December last year.  However, Bing team is planning to go dark from 8:30PM EDT (5:30PM PDT) to 9:30PM PDT, or for a total of 4 hours, as per the Bing team blog. 

(1) Day Light

 

(2) Dark Night

 

Users will not see those beautiful photographs on Bing homepage in honor of Earth Hour. We hope first time users will not stay away from the decision engine while they need to conduct searching.  The decision engine will be functional as a normal day.

Below is a test screen shoot of Bing homepage on Saturday night (March 27).

 

More Bing more Bang for this spring and summer

As the Platinum Sponsor for this year SES New York, Bing team announced the incoming launch of new features for this spring and summer.  Bing team is going to test several new user interfaces to help users to make decision fast and smart. 

 

One of the new features includes moving the one-click topic tabs from the left column to the top of the page where users finding search results.  As Bing team blog wrote "So over the next few months, we are going to test some new design concepts moving Quick Tabs functionality to the top of the page for 1-click access to our most robust, visual, and organized pages." Those new updates were in response to Bing’s continuing research on user wants and user habits.  For example, to conduct search on a city or location, users will see one-click topic tabs on top of a search results page which show categories such as All, Maps, Weather, Events, and News.

Another new feature is to incorporate Bing’s new partnership with foursquare app which help users to find local information by visualizing real-time data on maps.  The new feature also utilizes the power of Bing’s parent software thru Silverlight cross-browser and cross-OS which now enhances Bing Maps. foursquare app helps users finding friends in the area and to make decision about visiting new cafe shops, restaurant, bars, stores, and so on.

(Photos by Bing team)

Google dominated pay-per-click ads in 2009 while Bing was not even close

About 97% of companies spent on Google AdWords pay-per-click ads in 2009, as per a joint research study by Econsultancy and SEMPO.  Only 44% of companies spent money on Bing pay-per-click ads in 2009.  Meanwhile, Bing’s incoming partner Yahoo attracted only 50% of companies in 2009. 

The average spending on combo Bing + Yahoo is 47% (or, about 50% less than Google).  Although, Yahoo will soon be powered by Bing, the latest data indicates that Bing lags so far behind Google in the companies spending on pay-per-click money. 

The latest joint research also shows that many companies have been promoting themself thru social networking media.  The report noted 74% of companies using Facebook and 73% using Twitter to make consumers aware of their brands.

America’s small business advertisers show improvement in Q4-09 while Bing click-through rate (CTR) also increased significantly in Q4-09

During Q4-09 small business advertisers in America spent over $2,100 on search advertising, as reported by WebVisible Report.  While compared to Q3-09, it was an increase about 30 percent and was up over 110 percent versus one year ago. 

Using the dataset on 12,000 advertisers from WebVisible Report, clickz.com found Bing click-through rate (CTR) increased significantly between Q4-08 and Q4-09.   According to the report, Google CTR increased only 32 percent in Q4 2009 from one year ago, while Bing CTR jumped 109 percent, and Yahoo was up 123 percent for the same period.

Bing “Ni Hao” TV ads in UK

Early this month Bing started to promote Bing and Decide in UK with a series of TV ads.  Bing reloads its TV ads for UK market with a new 30 seconds video this week.  This is the number two of three series TV ads. 

The new ad features an Asian girl with unmovable eyes, or maybe be almost blind?.  While she slammed hard on a lunch table, she shouted “You’re talking to me?” “You’re talking to me?”

Not sure if this ads will attract any interest in UK market.  While Google is officially moved out of China early this week, it may be interesting to air this TV ad to attract mainland China’s market.

Click here to watch the video

Bing’s hometown, Seattle claims America’s number one riskiest cybercrime city

As one of the leading high technology clusters in America, as many experts called it Silicon Valley North, Bing’s hometown Seattle was ranked as the number one riskiest cybercrime city in America, as reported by symantec.com the maker of Norton anti-virus software.  The latest data on America’s top 10 cities most vulnerable to cybercrime was based on a joint work between symantec.com and independent research firm Sperling’s BestPlaces.   The rankings were examined by using dataset collected on security cyberattacks, potential malware infections, and users’ online behavior.

Other high tech clusters on top 10 riskiest cybercrime cities, include Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Raleigh NC, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Denver, Austin TX, and Portland OR.  While San Jose was ranked at number 20, Los Angeles was at number 30, and Chicago was at number 35.

Backlinks, backlinks, backlinks

During the Mix’10 trade show early this week, Bing UI team talked about the important and value of color for links (such as #0033CC blue or #0044CC blue).  While it may be true that blue color is important to bring millions dollar to Bing cash register, but for website owners, backlinks are the most important to improve the visibility of their websites to Google search engine and Bing decision engine.

Bing Webmaster Center forum has some useful comments regarding the way to improve Google’s PageRank (PR).  While Bing coding system doesn’t recognize PR, however, the basic technique is almost similar between Google and Bing.  Most contributors to Bing forum agree on one technique which is backlink.  Backlinks are incoming links to a website or page or blog.

According Bing team blog, the forum provides and shares useful knowledge to webmasters and SEOs.  Also, many participants who share their knowledge are experts on the field. 

Here are several quotes from the Bing forum regarding the way to improve PageRank (PR).

• Dr Aldus wrote “on either case (Bing or Google) what you need to have better ranking is get high quality backlinks.”
• gmtheodore wrote “Quality content and lots of backlinks.”
• John wrote “Build a Quality website having great traffic. Build Back links with high PR sites.”
• Quality Directory wrote “Every single and good backlink counts. Forum links help if they're dofollow and come from quality forums that generate high link juice. To get high PR, I will recommend blogging a lot on high PR blog sites. But chasing PR is a tricky business. I will rather concentrate on managing my business than chasing that dark green bar.”
• JSherrod wrote “…So, yes, if you are active on forums, putting links in a signature is great. If you constantly post about your website, your new link building technique will quickly get extinguished by the forums and spotted by the search engines as spam.”

No International, only America for now

While International demands for mobile device software programs (or, mobile apps) will hit $17.5 billion by year 2012 as per GetJar, Bing was quietly removed its mobile decision engine app from Apple iPhone App Store early this week, as reported by neowin.net.  As of now, Bing iPhone app had been removed from all countries except for mobile users in America. 

Bing mobile app for iPhone and iPod Touch was launch in mid-December last year.

Since it’s a free mobile app, it’s also one of the very popular iPhone apps for download.  Mobile users use Bing app which also has voice recognition technology to conduct local search, find images, and utilize maps and driving directions.

Since the launch of App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch devices in mid-2008, the Apple Store is reported to have over 150,000 iPhone apps, including Bing app of course.  While Bing’s rival, Google has over 30,000 mobile apps at its Android Marketplace.

The latest Bing’s shift to remove its International iPhone app could be seen as a positive act as the decision engine has fewer resources than its rival Google and Bing team may have to focus solely in America for now.

Bing continues to gain search market share in America since its launch.  This week’s data from Nielsen show Bing has captured about 12.5% share of all searches conducted in America, while last week’s data from comScore show Bing has managed about 11.5% of search market share in America.  Both data points are great news for Bing team.

(photo of Bing iPhone app: Bing.com community)

 
(chart: GetJar.com)

Bing Maps + Worldwide Telescope

Bing Maps releases a new feature which integrates Worldwide Telescope (WWT) into Bing Maps application.  Worldwide Telescope was first announced by Bing parent (Microsoft) on February 2008. 

A small part of the Bing Maps and WWT integration was presented during TED in February this year.  The WWT website has been very popular among students and space enthusiasts.

By utilizing very powerful software from Microsoft, Silverlight, users can easily explore any objects on the sky thru the sophisticated of WWT.   As Bing Maps team blog wrote, “The application is pulling tons of collections from the Worldwide Telescope Community including Constellations, Solar System, All-Sky Surveys, Spitzer Studies, Chandra Studies, Hubble Studies, Astrophotography, Radio Studies, NOAO Studies, Gemini Studies, Messier Catalog, Planets/Moons, Earth (Bing!), Panoramas, and Tours.”

 
(photo: Bing Maps)

Share of Total Number of Queries, Bing versus Google, February 2010

Bing continues to gain share of searches (total number of queries) in February.  While last week’s data from comScore show very encouraging news for the decision engine, Nielsen Company show Bing captured a little bit larger share of all search queries conducted in America.

As per the latest data published by Nielsen Company, Bing captured 12.5% share of all searches conducted in America during the month of February, compared to January which the decision engine has only 10.9% share (an increase of 1.6% share).

While Google dropped slightly to 65.2% share of all searches conducted in America in February, compared to January which the giant search engine has about 66.3% share (a drop of 1.1% share).

Since the start of the New Year of 2010, Bing has gained a total of 2.6% share of all searches conducted in America, while Google has dropped about 2.1% share of all searches.

According to Nielsen Company, Google captured close to 6.0 billion search queries while Bing captured about 1.15 billion search queries during the month of February.

Bing was the primary sponsor of a major event of Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 which was run from February 12 to February 28.  As American athletes performed very well, this international event has helped the decision engine to gain attraction from sport fans.

Text “Powered by Bing” appears on MSN newly redesigned website

With the launch of MSN newly redesigned homepage during the past two weeks and finally it’s out of beta, users will see Bing decision engine logo everywhere.  

If a user clicks on a news item and then go to MSNBC News section, a top search bar will show a text “Powered by Bing” (in grey color). 

With the same strategy to MSN, a similar text “Powered by Bing” may also appears on Yahoo search in the near future, as the partnership has already been approved last month.

 

Microsoft distribution deals will help Bing Mobile

Last week partnership between Bing and Motorola for handsets sold in China is just the beginning of more distribution deals from Bing’s parent Microsoft with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).  According to the latest mobile usages data from comScore, Motorola mobile devices are being used by about 23% mobile users in America.  Sooner or later more Motorola devices will be pre-loaded with Bing decision engine around the world.

 
Rumorville marriage between Bing and Apple has become a hot discussion for tech watchers since January.  To soft-polished the relationship, Bing has also launched app for iPhone and iPod Touch last December.  As per comScore, Apple iPhone has over 25% of market share in smartphones.  Tech insiders have found evident of feuds between Google and Apple that were not search engine related including the latest Google acquisition of AdMob.  Lately, we are witnessing a poaching war between Google and Apple (hiring smart people from one company).  With those bad circumstances happening between Apple and Google, all will benefit Bing Mobile (m.bing.com). 

Other partnership deals have already been inked on paper and on the field of practice, such as last summer’s $500 million contract with Verizon Wireless.

With last month’s announcement of a brand new Microsoft mobile OS dubbed as Windows Phone 7 Series, Bing will get helps from every corner.

In summary, Bing Mobile just might have an edge.

 
(tables: comScore)

D’oh-cision engine to sponsor The Simpsons

As part of multi-million pound sterling (GBP) ad campaign in Europe, especially to target UK searchers that already started on Wed (March 10), Bing begins a new TV campaign to sponsor The Simpsons show.

According to UK local business news, marketingweek.co.uk, "Bing and decide" commercial will appear during sponsorship credits before and after each episode for duration of three months.  Bing TV ads will also appear during commercial breaks. 

The Simpsons is the longest run animated TV show and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Note: The word and sound of "D'oh" is a trademark of 20th Century Fox.

Pre-loaded Bing on Motorola devices in China

Bing adds a new friend in mobile devices company with a global alliance with Motorola.  Motorola was famous for its Razr phones during the mid-2000s.  Bing’s partnership with Motorola will allow the decision engine to be pre-installed on any Motorola devices, but now only for China market.  Bing will provide search function and maps function on Motorola devices starting in Q1 2010.  In the first stage of the partnership, pre-loaded Bing is only available on Motorola devices powered by Google Android OS.

The timing of Bing to collaborate with Motorola is very important for the decision engine while Google is slowly pulling out of China search market.  Search market in the most populous internet users in the planet is currently dominated by baidu.com.  On the other hand, Motorola will enter a very competitive mobile market where China also has many local mobile device makers. 

Bing and decide in UK

Bing ad is finally on air for UK TV watchers on Wednesday (March 10).  The TV commercial was developed by ad agency JWT. 

The first of many ads for the decision engine targeting UK users suggests that Bing can help to decrease information overload.  Bing will help users to decide quickly.

Click here to watch the first Bing commercial in UK.

Bing-it-on . . . capturing 11.5% search market share in America in February 2010

 
Bing is on fire again in February 2010.  Bing captured 11.5% of search market share in America, compared to January which was at 11.3% (an increase of 0.2%), as per data from comScore obtained from JP Morgan's Imran Khan, reported by businessinsider.com and barrons.com.

Google’s search market share increased slightly to 65.5% in February, compared to 65.4% in January (an increase of 0.1%).

 
Since Bing launch over nine months ago, Bing has gained a total of 3.5% of search market share.  While for a same period, Google only increased 0.5%.  Bing outperformed Google with a ratio of 7:1.

Bing homepage photo contest for kids in America, starts on March 29 and will end on April 11

Bing is building search market share momentum with attracting younger users including school kids to continue use the decision engine and to decide materials for their homework and other needs.  Also, to ease budget crisis in many schools in America, Bing is trying to help some of those schools by offering a homepage photo contest which is now only available to America’s schools. The contest will start on March 29 and will due on April 11.  The winning photo will be show on Bing homepage on Earth Day (April 22).

Like Google’s Doodle contest which also targeting school kids, Bing offers prizes for a total of over $70,000.  Photo contest for kids are divided into four age groups (ages 5-10, 11-13, 14-17, and 18 plus), as reported by Bing team blog.

Aside offering top-prizes, Bing will hand out $100,000 per day for duration of 7 days, from April 13 to April 19.  The $100 grand will be given to the first 20,000 people who vote during the voting period where each voter will receive $5.00 GivingCard for DonorsChoose.org and the fund will be delivered to the kids’ schools.

Click here to find out more about the Bing homepage photo contest for kids.

Bing begins with a series of TV ads in Great Britain with a popular tagline "Bing and decide"

After a very successful TV ads run in America since launch, it’s about time to move into a new territory with a multimillion-dollar TV ad campaign in Great Britain.  However, the move of Bing into Google’s Great Britain territory would be still far away, as per the latest traffic data, Bing controls only about 3% of search market share in Britain, while Google remains at above 90% of search market share in Britain. 

According to guardian.co.uk, there are three TV ads produced by the international media agency JWT.  The three TV ads will run about three months.  The first TV ad starts on this Wednesday (March 10) and uses a popular Bing’s tagline "Bing and decide."

Bing’s winning strategy through modern farmers

Peasant farmers only had known Bing thru cherry varieties, including sweet, sours, color, and size.  Modern farmers start to know Bing thru virtual crops, as the decision engine began a pilot project with Zynga, also known as the provider of Farmville online gaming. 

While playing Farmville games, Bing offered “free farm cash” to attract Farmville fans.  The free farm cash is some kind of virtual currency where fans can buy properties, build lands, and retain a farm.

According to Bing team blog, Farmville has about 31 million active players on a daily basis.  The winning strategy for Bing is that within the first 24-hour of the pilot project with Farmville, Bing has attracted over 400,000 modern farmers to join Bing Facebook fans club.

(Picture: Bing community)

Decision Engine + Real-time Engine, why are you so scared to say “I Love You Man”

In yesterday’s interview with Search Engine Land Editor-in-Chief Danny Sullivan at SMX, Bing’s boss Mr. Ballmer told the conference audiences with high optimistic about his decision engine to capture larger search market share.  And, also Mr. Ballmer believes that one day Bing will be the number one search engine in the planet. 

When Sullivan asked whether Mr. Ballmer’s company should buy Twitter, he replied “Not clear to me.”  This means that Mr. Ballmer didn’t deny the possibility to catch his match in real-time engine.

So, now, with plenty of cash on hand, it’s about time for the decision engineer to say “I Love You” to the real-time engineer.  A large number of analysts and bloggers (incl. the Microsoft insider reporter) have suggested that Bing parent should consider buying the real-time engine Twitter at any cost. 

While the two had jointly announced the partnership during Web 2.0 Summit last year in San Francisco, however, Bing is still sharing the bed with its rival Google. #SMX

Bing + SMX West (March 2-4) at Santa Clara Convention Center, California

 
Bing will bring its troops in full force to SMX West at Santa Clara Convention Center, California, starting today Tuesday (March 2) to Thursday (March 4). 

Bing’s boss, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, will be on stage as a Keynote Conversation with Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land and co-chair of SMX.  According to Bing team blog, Mr. Ballmer will discuss “Microsoft’s commitment to search and how Bing is working to evolve the search experience.”  Also, Bing's 10-year partnership with Yahoo will be one of the topic of discussion.

Here is a list of "do not miss" events:

March 2 (Tuesday)

• 9:00AM to 9:45AM -- Keynote Conversation with Steve Ballmer
• 1:15AM to 2:30PM -- Bing: What’s Happening? with Stefan Weitz, Director of Search, Bing; Q&A - Eric Gilmore, Group Product Manager, Bing
• 9:00PM to Dawn -- SMX After Dark in the Santa Clara Hyatt pool side

March 3 (Wednesday)

• 10:45AM to Noon -- Bring In The Bling Via Bing Cashback with Meagan Rochelle, Search Solutions Specialist

Full coverage of SMX West and keynote is available thru searchengineland.com

 
(photo of Mr. Ballmer and Mr. Sullivan: searchengineland.com)

Bing Autosuggest + Query History

Bing Autosuggest implements additional support for query history.  To reduce time to re-type the previously query, the new feature allows users to look into the pull-down menu by typing at least the first two characters of the query word or subject (for example, type "ol" will show "olympic").  According to Bing team blog, 44% users usually maintain their queries history for over one week, so the new feature will help people to find decision faster.  For privacy purpose, the new feature also allows users to turn ‘on’ or to turn ‘off’ the query history.  The Autosuggest feature also distinguishes the history query in purple color.