Google vs. Bing: Product Searches
When beginning the Google vs. Bing product searches I had to think of something I would find myself searching for. In a discussion with my father about various topics Flat Screen TVs came about and we kept coming back to it over and over for reference. This became the staple of our conversation in comparisons of search engines therefore it seemed natural to use it for my own research.
Search Term: flat screen tv
Use: broad search
Bing:
If you click on the link above you will see exactly what I see when conducting a search for the phrase in question. What strikes me about Bing is the way it categorizes everything for you into buckets for easy refining of search options. This is tremendously useful for people who make use of broad searches. We see on the left hand side of the screen the following refinements for searches:
- Shopping
- Buying Guide
- Top 10
- Repair
- Accessories
- Images
- Videos
With these options I am easily able to refine my searches to fit my exact needs. If I want to buy a new television I would undoubtedly click on “Shopping” and see what they have to offer. We are met with a large list of potential options to click on. So once again we need to refine our search. We can sort by product category, brand, or price which seems like a somewhat limited option. What if I want a 52″ television? What if I only want to buy a 1080p? What if I want a blue one with flame decals to make it go faster?
When looking at the “Categories” option we see: Office Products, Electronics, Home Furnishings, Computing, Sports & Outdoors, Cameras & Optics, Lawn & Garden, Movies, Kitchen & Housewares, Tools & Hardware, and more.
Wait…did I just read that right? “Sports & Outdoors“? This I have to see. Now we see a flaw.
Bing Search Results: This is not a flat screen TV
Behind the pretty facade we see Bing can return results completely irrelevant to my needs. We see a list of treadmills. Why on Earth would we see treadmills when looking at televisions. Did Bing just call me fat? Lazy? Couch Potato? Is it a satirical cultural observation about us Americans? Not really. When we visit the page for one of the treadmills we see that it has a flat screen tv built into it. So these do have something to do with flat screens, but not quite what I want.
We see further evidence of problematic search results when we see the category “Bedding”. Bedding is defined as “coverings that are used on a bed”. My imagination runs wild with possibilities. Flat screen bedding. I would never miss an episode of Family Guy on Adult Swim ever!! Unfortunately the reality of the results is lacking We find a baby monitor, a guard, and some wall mounts. No bedding. Conducting some SEO analysis of the Guard we see that “Bedding” is listed nowhere in the source code, meta information, page content, or back links. How this became listed as bedding is unknown to me.
If we search for flat screen tv using Google (click on the link above to see results page) we see a rather vague representation of what is out there on the internet. We see our top results are Nexttag (an aggregator), Cnet Reviews PC World, Mahalo (which doesn’t actually answer any questions just asks me to search again), BizRate Price compairson, and Gizmodo Article about Falling Flat screen TV Deaths. Don’t get me wrong I love Gizmodo but is this what the average searcher is going to want to see? I am going to have to make use of Google’s “Search Options” to find any thing really useful.
When we look at related searches to flat screen tv we see a large selection of other terms we can use to help refine our search.
Really Google? That's your number one related search?
Wait a minute….wait just a darn minute. What’s that top related search term? Is it really Circuit City? Really Google….reeaallyy??? I could have sworn that I was informed of their closing six months or so ago. According to Google they are still alive and kicking. Good for them. Either that or they are the internet’s premier “website zombie” coming back from the dead to walk the online world once more.
When we shift into the product reviews option we see a number of sites that are rather reputable including CNet, PCWorld, and Consumer Research. Added on the that we are easily able to read forum posts and sort all results to those which are current from the past 24 hours to the past year helping to make me a more informed consumer.
But now onto the meat and potatoes of this investigation, the shopping results. We see a wondrously large list of models able to be sorted by price or rating. Bing certainly has Google on broad search refinement. It’s not looking good for Google. However when you click on product you are met with specific product reviews, technical specs, and price comparisons. Huzzah!
Instead of directing me to sites that have the information I am looking for Google does exactly what any website (search engine or otherwise) should do. They flat out give it to me.
Results:
Take into account the fact that people who use the internet are getting smarter. We are learning how to search. We refine our searches on our own to ensure that we find exactly what we are looking for. I always tell my clients that we could use overly broad searches and hope that people find what they are looking for on my site, or we could focus instead on “long tail keywords“. This will not drive the amount of traffic to the website but it will drive traffic who are actually interested in your website to your website.
If I had no idea what I wanted then I would without question use Bing. If I knew only that I wanted something related to a flat screen tv I would use Bing. If I knew I wanted to purchase a flat screen tv not an accessory, not “bedding”, not a treadmill with a TV in it then my decision would be different. If I went into my search wanting to learn about televisions, see specs, prices, reviews, then I would not choose Bing. Bing does not provide enough information (product specific or otherwise) on televisions and their indexing confuses me. My television is not bedding it does not belong in a home and garden section, and no I do not want a treadmill.
I give this round to Google. Lets be honest most people (it’s fairly safe to assume) would not merely search for flat screen tv and hope they find what they want. A search of 52″ flat screen tv would be more likely. When this is done we see a more accurate depiction of what we would find. When this search was conducted Bing produced (ranked 6) a real estate website that asks the question “Does the flat screen come with the house?”
On the other hand Google returns sites where I can purchase, learn, or find 52″ flat screen televisions. When we dig into the shopping sections I am not going to be bounced around the internet to TV sites or, in the case of more than on one Bing result shown in the top 15, a 52 inch tv stand. Google returns 52 inch televisions that I can then spec out price out and make an informed decision.
On a personal note I still want to know where to find a blue flat screen with flame decals so it goes faster.
Search Engine Marketing: "Shogyo Mujo" 
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