When thinking about SEO, do you only take into consideration Google or are you still looking at Bing?

Most people still regard Google as the only place to keyword research, the only search engine to worry about but Bing is closing in.  There is a vast amount of traffic available and arguably its easier to compete for the high net worth search terms at bing.  Then after all this is said and done…. how do you use Facebook?  Surely these guys are going to make a play for search traffic.

What has Bing (Microsoft) done to compete with Google?

Bing is proping up the facebook listings

Bing (Microsoft) seems to be getting tighter with Facebook,  if you perform a search inside facebook you will see the usual.  Names, Posts, Groups and now you will also see search results from Bing.  A smart move for Bing surely.  Facebook is the *current* undisputed king of the social space, it is the *current* powerplayer holding most of the cards.  With great power come great responsibility a wise arachnid uncle once said.  It was probably inevitable with Googles launch of “plus” that facebook and bing have almost been forced in to a relationship.  It will be interesting to see how deep this relationship will go….

Cue Skype…. Microsoft practically own the internet telephony giant now and facebook have been promising some skype style integration for a very long time.  So has Skype become a love child of the two giants? Or is it a love triangle that will eventually end up tears.

Back on topic…..

Bing has declared that it is reworking its search algo’s to integrate with the data available at facebook. In a statement released by Microsoft they said the following -

“The best decisions are not just fuelled by facts, they require the opinions and emotions of your friends. Search is now more than a fact finder – [In this update] marrying fact-based search results with your friends’ street smarts to combine the best data on the Web with the opinions of the people you trust the most and the collective IQ of the Web.”

So what might we see in the future:

• The “Likes”, you will see realtime search results showing sites appropriate to your keyword. Friends that also have “Liked” a search result with tell you they liked it. Thinking about myself really, if one of my friends has effectively endorsed the proposed result in bing I am more likely to click it.  Google have also installed a similar feature with the “Plus 1″ or “+1″ depending on how you like it.

• Results tailored by your hobbies, your interests, your friends.

• You will see latest news, special offers etc.  from compainies facebook pages.  For example if you search for “DVD Player” you may get a result in the list from “Sony”, then next to it you might have the latest information available from its “page” at facebook.

So we see the social, we hear the skype, what else is happening?

It pretty much common knowledge that Google has made a lot of its fortune from selling advertisements.  Microsoft just last year teamed up with Yahoo to deliver an advertisement rich “search alliance”.  Early signs are encouraging for this joint venture.  Yahoo has a very large partner network and Microsoft have all of the dollars needed to bring its platform “AdCenter” upto scratch (it has a very long way to go before its anywhere close to AdWords from Google, however Microsoft is a software superhouse less we forget).

In conclusion, what does the future hold?

Well one thing is for sure, we are going to see all out internet war.  Corporate giants taking swipes, Megatron Vs Optimus.  Who do I back?  You can never count google out, I actually think they will be the first company to have an office on the moon.  I just think that the strategic partnerships of Yahoo, Microsoft, Skype and Facebook may well be too strong once it gets going.  For this round at least.

People found this page using these search terms:

• names of groups in facebook (2)

UPDATE: For some reason when I first wrote this page, the space bar didnt seem to work very well, still all updated now, enjoy

Bing is fast emerging as the new buzzword in internet. This search engine from Microsoft has found favors with a large number of internet users, which has contributed to its popularity as a major search engine of all times. The search engine was launched by Steve Ballmer Microsoft CEO in May, 2009 in San Diego at the ATD conference. In June, 2009 it went online; and since then it has received tremendous response from users across the world. The search engine has also earned a few nicknames; most notable among them is because its not google.

Formerly MSN Search, Live Search and Window Live Search, the search engine has gone through several notable changes and presented itself in a completely new look. While some people may perceive it as old wine in new bottle, Bing is a lot more than what it might seem. Prominent changes include listing search suggestion as query is entered as well as list of the related searches based on the semantic technology that was purchased by Microsoft in 2008. Another feather in the cap was added in July, 2009,when Microsoft entered a deal with Yahoo!, whereby, Yahoo! Search would be powered by Bing.

Bing or if you might say because its not google boasts of several interesting features,such as daily change in the background image and Sub links. As it is, the images mostly consist of pictures of famous places across the world, although it may at times display people, animals, or sports. Apart from that, the background images also contain information in regard to the element(s) displayed in the images. It also features a navigation pane on the left side, which includes navigation as well as, prior searches and related searches on the results pages. You also have an extended preview on the right side that displays a broader view of pages and gives the URLs to the links in thepage. The sublinks feature on the other hand displays section links in the articles in some search results. Also in case of certain sites, the customer care service numbers would be displayed in the results. One can also view third party website information inside Bing. This gives you an enhanced view.

The search engine also boasts of several media features as well. One of the most interesting features in this regard is the Videos thumbnail Preview wherein, a video startsplaying automatically when the cursor hovers over the video thumbnail. Moreover, the images search with constant scrolling image results page has modifiable settings for color, layout, size, style as well as people. Videos search with modifiable settings for screen size, length, resolution as well as source happens to be another interesting feature. All these features make watching videos a truly wonderful experience. It further saves your time as well as efforts.

Many people may find the instant answers features to be the most useful among all other features. If you are a sports freak, then Bing is the place to visit. It can directly show scores of a specific game, recent scores of leagues, as well as scores or statistics of players or teams. Similarly, people involved in the financial sector, especially stock market investors should also find these features quite interesting. While entering a stock symbol or company name and quote or stock in search box, direct stocks information such as stock charts, prices, p/e ratio and volume is shown in the web-slice which users may subscribe to. For exporters or importers, the package tracking or tracing feature can be very useful.

With its help you can get tracking information directly, by entering thename or other details of shipping company, such as tracking number.
One can also do math calculations as well. All that you need to do is, to enter the math expressions into the search box, with the help of the math operators or trigonometric functions, and within no time, you will get the direct calculations of the expressions.This includes advanced and complex computations as well. You can also make use of the dictionary feature to improve your vocabulary or just knowing the meaning of aparticular word. The spell check feature can also be very helpful in this regard. Bestmatch, Product shopping, Bing cashback, Health information, Flight tracking and Translate are some other interesting instant answers features of because its not google.

Along with that, you can get a lot of local info as well, such as Current traffic data,Business listings, People listings, Collections, Restaurant reviews, City hotel listing, as well as movies that are played in a particular area. Now, if you are a movie buff, then this feature could be very appealing to you. All you need to do is to enter a movie titleand you would get information in regard to the various local theaters, where the moviethe movie is being shown. Moreover, Bing is also integrated with Hotmail and Facebook,which is another major feature.

So, start using Bing and get an amazing searching experience. Why? Simple; because its not google.

People found this page using these search terms:

• Www googale Com (73)

I have been working with microsoft adcenter for many weeks now. I am finding many aspects almost impossible to work with. Here is the concise list and I will be expected on this over the next few days weeks and months.

1. Partner / content network: its fair to say that although cheaper the quality of traffic available is poor.
2. As scheduling: well this just does not work and it cost me money.
3. Tools and ease of use: well its not adwords for sure,  and you are even worse off if you have any other operating system other than windows.

Let’s get into the nitty gritty when I have some time to do the posts justice.