So Microsoft is trying to compete with Google, and in a big way!

Microsoft released Bing at the end of May and it looks like they are aiming to compete with Google, good luck with that!

Microsoft describe Bing as “a new Decision Engine and consumer brand, providing customers with a first step in moving beyond search to help make faster, more informed decisions”

At first look Bing appears to be very simplistic (not as simplistic as Google, but can you get any simpler than Google?). When you first view the homepage you might think you have stumbled upon a photographers holiday snaps site.

Simple and also very appealing pictures.

When I search for the term SEO here are the results I get

Similar results to Google (but not exactly the same) and with some related searches that appear to be taken from a list of most searched terms to the left.

The layout itself is pretty much just Google (why try and fix something that isn’t broken, right?)

Moving on to the Local results it appears they have adopted the same approach as Google, it appears that on Bing United Stated they are using yellowpages.com for the sponsored results and then a standard free listing.

It’s a shame that the UK version has limited results and not really that relevant either (see below image). I’m not sure if there is any official sponsored results reseller yet, but they do appear to be getting results from Thomson Local.

There is one area on Bing that I really do like and that is the Travel section, it’s pretty much a price compassion site, but it does have the potential to become to only place to search for flights, although its not on the UK version yet, the US version seems pretty well laid out and user friendly.

There is a lot of positives for Bing but is it really that feasible to be taking on the might of Google?