Have you heard of Bing? What is Bing? We already know that it is a surname. But today it is more than just that. Microsoft has given a whole new dimension to the name ‘Bing’ by launching a Search Engine war against Google. Bing is Microsoft’s brand new search engine. The name is unusual and not what you would expect for a search engine, but it is undoubtedly catchy. However, these are early days and there is a great deal to be learned about Bing.
How does Bing Work?
An unusual name and a marketing budget of $80 million have already served to make waves in the search engine arena. But there is no denying that Bing offers a vast array of features that are already beginning to attract users who have been asking “what is Bing”? To begin with, Bing offers search results category-wise. For instance, if you conduct a search on a well known politician, you will find a list at the top left hand of the page offering related categories. In a column referred to as the Explore Pane, there are links called Quick Tabs.
These tabs cover topics such as:
• Images
• Biography
• Facts
• Quotes
• Speeches
• Issues
• Video’s
This is how the searcher is informed that there are related topics such as the politician’s biography, his speeches and issues he is involved in. However, at the beginning, this won’t happen with all search topics. But the process of categorization will keep increasing with time. Features such as this help define what is Bing.
In-depth Information
Users are encouraged to fine tune their search parameters by clicking on the category links and getting the detailed lists in the main results page as ‘Web Groups’. Hence, the users get detailed lists under the general search results. In this manner, the users get almost twice the number of results they would normally get on any other search engine. This increases the likelihood of more results that will match the users search parameters.
How Is Bing Different?
While other search engines show matches for a related search, Bing seems to compile a set of the search results and organizes them. However, Bing does a lot more because each Web Group is a related search. For instance, if you click on a Quick Tab such as ‘Speeches’, you will get 10 Speech specific results. Does this describe what is Bing?
The Bing Factor
A unique feature of Bing is the Search History area. You don’t have to be logged in for Search History to be activated. Provided you do not change your browser, Search History will keep tabs on your queries for up to two days. Of course, if you clear your browser cookies or manually erase your history, the entire history will be removed.
One of Bing’s other strengths is the ‘direct answer’ feature. This provides the actual answers to a query at the top of the page. This is remarkably relevant and user friendly. The descriptions of these features will hopefully serve to answer your question, “What is Bing?”
