Can Bing Level the Search Playing Field?

“If nothing else, it will at least get people to realize that Microsoft is in this game and that there is an alternative to Google…”

Bing has come out swinging and is currently experiencing more buzz than Live Search ever had. With what appears to be a good product, and an aggressive advertising campaign against Google ($80-100 million), Microsoft looks poised to cement its role in search as the ‘decision engine’.

Based on the assumption that Bing is successful in increasing Microsoft’s stake in the world of search, one benefit that instantly comes to mind is more competition for Google. Overall, this makes the web a healthier place. More specifically, though, this would make advertisers less dependent on Google Adwords. This potential tilt in scales would force Google to listen more carefully to the needs and wants of brands, advertisers, as well as users.

For example, as of June 4th, marketers are officially allowed to bid on competitor’s trademarked terms to trigger display of sponsored search ads on Google in about 200 countries. This has concerned many brands because it has driven up the cost of keeping paid search ads for brand keywords in top positions next to organic search results. In what Google is calling a pro-competitive move, advertising costs are being driven up without much retaliation. If Microsoft, which does not allow bidding on trademarked keywords, held a larger percentage of searches than advertisers would have an alternative and Google would have to think twice before making a move like this.

Google has already reacted to the release of Bing by adding a link to its home page that says, “Discovering the web“, that takes the user to a page outlining Google’s numerous search features. It’s a nice feature which highlights various search functions that many users may not have known about. But it took some pressure from Bing for Google to apply this.

Furthermore, Google has recently been criticized for its move to request and display work from top artists without paying for it. Google’s argument was that they will be giving the artists so much exposure that they should not have to pay for the art as well. The simple fact is Google is a healthy company that pulled in a staggering $21 bn in global revenue last year. There is no need for them to save a few pennies at the expense of hard working artists. This just highlights the greedy and expansionist attitude that has grown on Google without a significant competitor.

Bing’s success would, in turn, most definitely be a good thing. A healthy dose of competition could be exactly what Google needs. Last week, Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft would be willing to spend 5 – 10 percent of operating costs (or $1.12 – $2.25 billion) a year over the next five years on search alone.

Not only may Google have a serious search competitor on their hands, but evidently, one that has both determination and very deep pockets.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Search Engine Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.