Definition:
Bing is the search engine launched by the company Microsoft in June 2009. Like any other search engine, it works through a query made by a user, to which it responds with ads, organic results, images, videos and news. Although it tries to compete unsuccessfully with Google, it has sustained growth and its advertising revenue has increased in recent years.
The origin of its name is not clear, although there are those who say that it responds to the onomatopoeia of the sound produced when a solution is reached. Others point out that its official version in Chinese bì yìng means “very determined to respond”.
History of Bing
To understand the creation of Bing it is necessary to go back to its predecessor, with the creation of MSN Search by Microsoft in 1998 with the aim of consolidating itself as an efficient and quality search engine, in a period in which these began to emerge. This included a search engine, plus an index and a web crawler.
During the first years of this project, MSN Search worked through the search results of other platforms such as AltaVista or Inktomi, so in 2004 Microsoft began to perfect the launch of its own search results and in early 2005 the final version was launched, which a year later would become Microsoft’s new search engine: Windows Live Search.
This new search engine incorporated its own image search tool, allowed more specific searches, but at the same time more useful, with the aim of exceeding 2 million monthly searches.
In an attempt to give its search engine greater prominence, Microsoft announced in 2007 that it would operate independently of the Windows Live service set, and became known as Live Search. However, the fact that the word “Live” still remained in the name caused certain problems, especially when identifying the brand so in 2009 it was definitively renamed as Bing.
One of the most important announcements for the search engine was in that same year when an agreement was announced between Bing and Yahoo by which the Yahoo search engine was replaced by Bing in exchange for a high percentage of the revenue generated by advertising.
Since then and until today, Bing has struggled to scratch market share to other search engines but the reality is that the shadow of Google is too long and it has always remained at a more than considerable distance from the Microsoft search engine. This has not been without controversy since for many years it has generated losses and a large part of the company’s shareholders has requested the sale of it.
What kind of search engine is Bing
Bing is one of the search engines that is presented as an alternative to Google at a time when more and more users are questioning the privacy of the Mountain View giant. However, their figures are still a long way from the industry leader.
In Spain, Bing’s market share is practically symbolic, as it accounts for 2.71% to Google’s 95.86%, while Yahoo! barely reaches 1.14%, according to a Statista study in 2018. The proportion is similar in the rest of the world, although the Microsoft search engine is somewhat more popular in Anglo-Saxon countries and loses prominence in Latin America and Asia.
Its low popularity does not improve even though it is the default installed search engine in Microsoft Edge and its predecessor, Internet Explorer. However, advertising revenue does improve year after year and in 2018 it entered 7,500 million dollars, a profit much lower than Google’s 120,000 million.
What are the features of Bing
In an attempt to grab market share, Bing has sought to differentiate itself in numerous ways, as well as include useful features. Some of the most outstanding are:
- Interface: Bing presents an interface that always includes a background image about a peculiar place in the world for its beauty that changes every day. Above that photo there is a search box at the top left and in the lower strip are included some small squares with current news. On the top side you can see the results by extending with the preview and their respective list of URLs. The home page is not static, but allows you to scroll and see the images of the home page from the previous days and a brief description of the place they show.in the upper band, the search engine allows you to distinguish queries between the categories of all, images, videos, maps or news, as well as access to Outlook.com, MSN and Office.
- Search results: Bing allows a complete filtering of our searches in relation to their date, language, location, etc.; and in the same way filtering with photos and images. Within the search results we can visualize complementary information such as location of the services, company profiles, ratings and much more.
Bing Services
Among the services available in the Microsoft search engine we can find the following:
- Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads). It’s Bing’s PPC ad platform. It has an accreditation similar to that of Google to recognize professionals who have obtained the necessary knowledge to optimize their tools to the maximum.
- Bing Images. It allows the search of photographs through keywords or through the image itself.
- Bing Maps. It offers a traditional street version, an aerial view and a street level view. It includes information on how to get there, allows you to save searches and transmits the status of traffic.
- Microsoft Translator. With words in more than 60 languages, it enables real-time translation with subtitles of spoken conversations.
- Bing Shopping. Provides information about products related to the user’s search, such as price, brand, and description.
- Bing News: A news aggregator that collects articles from a variety of sources, allowing users to stay up to date with the latest news in real time. Bing News uses algorithms to personalize content based on the user’s interests.
- Bing Video: This service allows users to search for and watch videos from a variety of platforms. Bing Video offers a visual interface that displays thumbnails of videos and provides information about the duration and source of the content.
- ChatGPT integration: In 2023, Microsoft announced the integration of ChatGPT into Bing, allowing users to interact with an advanced language model to get more complete and contextual answers to their queries. This chat feature enhances the search experience by providing conversational and personalized answers, as well as the ability to perform more complex tasks, such as text writing or idea generation.