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Googling versus Binging
Kapil Ohri | afaqs! | New Delhi, August 20, 2009 A recent Search Engine Report, released by Vizisense.com, an online audience measurement firm, indicates that Bing.com, even after completing more than two months of its launch, still struggles to create any noticeable dent in the supremacy of Google.com in India.

The report reveals that of the total number of searches carried out in June 2009 in India, only 2.53 per cent searches took place on Bing.com, while majority of the searches were routed through Google, which garnered 90.76 per cent share of searches, while 6.33 per cent of the searches were conducted through Yahoo!.

Microsoft announced the launch of Bing.com on May 28 and it was completely rolled out by June 03.

The search volume scenario did not change much for Bing.com even in the month of July. In fact, the search player recorded a marginal decline in its search volume share in July as compared to June 2009.

Bing.com received only 2.28 per cent share of total searches in July, the Vizisense report points out. Even Yahoo! had experienced a minor reduction as it managed to grab 6.21 per cent share of the total searches carried out by users on the Internet.

It seems that the combined loss of Bing.com and Yahoo! Search was Google's gain, which raced ahead with 91.19 per cent share of the searches conducted in July.

The report further indicates that apart from the decline in the number of searches, Bing.com also experienced a noticeable decline in the total number of users opting for it in July, as compared to June.

About 18.26 per cent of the search users used Bing.com in June, while 14.81 users conducted searches on Bing in July. The total number of users conducting searches on a specific search engine is represented by the share of search penetration.

On the other hand, both Yahoo! and Google had gained users in July. Yahoo! got 26.29 per cent, while Goolge.com had received 92.11 per cent of the total search users in June. In July, the number of search users had increased to 27.40 per cent users on Yahoo! and 93.17 per cent on Google.

Although Bing.com has not been able to create wrinkles in Google's search domination in India as yet, it will be an interesting player to watch out for, especially after it signed a search and advertising deal with Yahoo! on July 29. Under the deal, Microsoft Corporation will power the search on Yahoo! properties.

Bing.com and Yahoo! Search, combined together, command a share of 37.90 per cent of the total search users in India in July 2009, according to the Vizisense.com search engine report.

Amit Bhartiya, business head, ViziSense.com, says, "If Yahoo! and Microsoft become successful in keeping these 38 per cent customers, the Indian online search space can display a very different footprint in the months to come."

The findings of the ViziSense.com Search Engine Report are based on a panel study of 40,000 Internet users in India.

© 2009 afaqs!
Comment (10)
From Shashi Shankar Ghosh— Thu 17 Sep 2009 10:01:59 AM We as a country, Are quiet loyal to our brands we use. The toothpaste no matter what is called as Colgate and Detergent powder Surf. Big global brands such as Motorola and Erricson still find difficult in front of Nokia becuase of it's brand loyality.
No one here buys AMD processor although its the best across europe.

Similarly India is a google country, we dont use AOL or Yahoo Search or MSN like the states. we live with Google. we have it on our bookmarks, homepages, and on the desktop.

Now the problem with Bing is that they are not giving anything new and honestly adding a graphic on the homepage is not solving anything, specially for a country where the overall Internet connection is slow as compared to the user. Still the Internet slows down when CBSE results are out.
Guys, you need to change and change a lot........because just being a decision engine in India is not good enough
From Richa— Fri 11 Sep 2009 03:09:55 PM Google has become a habit..so to break tht ..nd intervene...Bing has to take a different route to probe the consumers..nd am sure its not an impossible task...But currently looking at the current strategy of Bing..its not even close to Google..and will find it very difficult to get into the daily life of Indian consumers...
From Ashish— Mon 07 Sep 2009 03:43:46 PM Yes, bing does have a chance in the India market. Especially they have differentiated their search as decision engine. I agree that they are not marketing enough so that people can try and decide for themselveves if it is worth switching (or at least complementing) with Google. Another startegy may be partnering with local niche players guruji.com (in generic search) or TolMol.com (shopping search) or many other player may help. Good luck to Bing
From Mehul Mehta— Mon 24 Aug 2009 03:15:59 PM Competition against Google for search it will be something like some buddy challenging m'soft in O.S , Ideal will be any new search engine has to more innovative ,user friendly cool than Google search like what Gmail is & was against all other mail service provider
From vidya— Mon 24 Aug 2009 12:12:14 PM Well .. I was not even aware that there was a search engine called bing.com . They cant be so quiet if they are competing with Google. People have to know about the product to even try it out.

From vivek— Sat 22 Aug 2009 05:40:24 PM But if we see the features of bing that's also impressive.
we can also get link relate to search topic in left navigation bar.That is so useful.
And we can see tool tip kind of thing that help those just want the meaning not link always.
One other thing in search 60% people searching suggestions regarding some health related issues so in that case bing's results contains symptoms, doctors and then wikipedia..but in google u will see wikipedia then anything else. And lot more nice features .....
Thing is that we are in habit of searching in Google so...
From Loveleen Kaur — Sat 22 Aug 2009 01:07:22 PM I agree with Madhumita, consumers are so conditioned with the Google usage, that they don't even want to think that there can be another search engine in the market. Consumers seems to be satisfied with Google.

But, if Microsoft thinks that Bing is a better search engine then Google, then they should aggressively communicate and demonstrate the difference and superiority of Bing over Google.
Instead of advertising, Bing should go out and educate consumers, especially school kids and youngsters, which will be their potential consumers.

I have seen kids, searching for information on Google, for their school assignments. Bing should go out and reach schools, colleges and educate students about how Bing is a better product (if it is).



From madhumita mukherjee— Fri 21 Aug 2009 07:28:40 PM Google is generic to search engine - hence to change customer's behaviour to opt for another brand is a huge challenge unless there are very strong differentiing features. Just Microsoft brand equity will not garner additional market share. Today Bing is better known for its aethestics but that is not enough to compete with Google. Targetting the youth segment specifically may be a good idea to experiment because youth is more open to experiment new things than the others.
From Cube Root— Thu 20 Aug 2009 04:00:47 PM Google is God of Search and if you look at BING the reason of its lack of performance is in Its Name just (B)ut (I)t's (N)ot (G)oogle
From lipak irho — Thu 20 Aug 2009 01:08:46 PM it's difficult to beat google in the search space. People are so comfortable with the Google search, that they aren't interested in experimenting with any other brand. Microsoft should get into some aggressive experential marketing to promote its search engines. Besides no one knows what additional functional benefits do the microsoft search engine offer...
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