Resource Review #1: Google vs. Bing Preference Study

Link.

Catalyst Group. (2009, June). Google vs. Bing Search Engine Preference. Retrieved from http://www.docstoc.com/docs/7723136/Catalyst-Group-Bing-V-Google-Usability-Study

The Catalyst Group, a usability group, set out to gauge users’ preferences between Google’s search engine and Microsoft’s Bing search engine. The sample size of participants was only 12, the number of searches only 2, and all the users were all already Google users making it inconclusive from a scientific standpoint. However, the conclusions and method do raise some interesting points about the difference between the two search engines and factors that users care about.

In terms of methodology, users eye movements were tracked while doing searches, they were then engaged in conversation about where they looked and their thoughts on the two different search engines. Finally, a survey was given asking about different factors between the two search engines.

The eye tracking results reveal more about the sites ad placement than how a user goes about searching. Bing searchers’ eyes lingered longer on or near the top ad bars than did Google searchers. For the survey section, arguably the most important result, relevance of results, came out as a tie between the two engines. For the other factors in play such as design of the site and filtering functions, results came out in favor of Bing. One would think from these factors that Bing would be the winner. However, when asked which search engine they’d prefer users stated they stick with Google in an 8 to 4 split. Rational for this was mostly centered around a familiarity with Google and no compelling reason to switch. As catalyst CEO Nick Gould put it, Microsoft “created something as good as Google and that is not good enough.” If Microsoft is going to edge in on Google’s share of the search engine market, they’re going to have to do a lot better than just as good.

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