Bing catching Google with creativity and hustle
According to reports out of the US, Bing is now at 10% of the online Search Market. Becoming the fastest growing US Search Engine in the Top 10 according to the latest Neilsen Report.
The number of searches in the US was 1.1 billion for the month of August, which is a growth of 22% on the previous month.
Although Google, of course remained on the top spot, it is an amazing feat by the new player in online search. Ok, I hear you, 'We're not Yanks, we do things differently over here in Australia'. Correct, and Bing has indeed found it a little bit harder to dent Google domination of the Australian Search Market.
To counter this, Bing has taken some great and creative steps in Australia to encourage growth, running advertising campaigns in PBL media properties including Channel 9, Go!, NineMSN websites and ACP Magazines. In addition to this, last month Microsoft ran a competition to 'find' $10,000 hidden somewhere on the Internet.
In a stroke of genius, the only way to win at this is by using the latest addition to the Internet Explorer family, IE8. This campaign was unique, incorporated two of Microsoft's new products, and spread virally.
Joe Pollard, CEO, ninemsn, last month commented: "Establishing Bing as an alternative search engine in the Australian marketplace is an exciting challenge for ninemsn. One of the best ways to meet this challenge is through building the Bing brand and encouraging trial through education of its outstanding product attributes."
Will Bing get anyway in the Google Battle? Will Bing change the face of search? It's going to take a while, that's for sure, but its taking all the right steps.
James Richardson
Co-Founder
James is Co-Founder of Optimising who’s worked with everyone from national retailers and franchise groups to fast-growing eCommerce brands. He’s as interested in how AI engines send traffic as he is in old-fashioned rankings, and spends a lot of time testing how brands show up across search.
He started out running sports fan sites and early eCommerce stores, picked up a few senior sales and marketing roles at ASX-listed companies, then decided to build the kind of SEO agency he actually wanted to work at. Outside work, James is usually being out-negotiated by his three daughters, hosting very serious pretend tea parties, or supervising yet another cubby house build in the lounge room.
