What forces Google to innovate

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Building a more comprehensive, faster and more accurate search engine than Google is a daunting challenge, and a long list of big companies and start-ups have failed in their attempts. Microsoft endured plenty of ribbing as it spent years building and then scrapping search systems meant to help it compete against Google. But it kept experimenting until it found a way.

“I was a Google fan before, but the more I used Bing the more I like it now”

Before few months if I wanted to search anything on internet I used to say “Hey let’s Google it” rather than “let’s Search it”. But these days I don’t have the same connection with Google; it gives a huge list of unnecessary-irrelevant links while searching.

On the other hand Bing is quite accurate, smart and stylish. The recent innovations by Bing are really worth appreciating – like its travel search engine, its ability to tie more tools to social networking sites and its image search or buying start-ups to help it do so in the future.

Today, no one argues that Google’s dominance is in immediate hazard; I personally believe that Google is doing a little more than copying Bing – monitoring it closely; and then replicating its innovations with a few advancements.

Just a few instances –

• Google replicated travel search engine innovated by Bing,
• Then integration with Social Networking Sites,
• Then helping Start-ups to grow,
• Then Bing-like colorful background,
• Then placement of navigation tools on the left-hand side of the page,
• And recently Bing-like image search.
• (there are more instances available)

Bing’s share of searches has grown to 12.7 percent, from 8 percent, since it was introduced in May 2009, and Yahoo, which has a search deal with Microsoft, still handles a larger share of searches than Bing. And in the newest search frontier, mobile devices, Google has even more market share than on the Web at large.

Still, Bing’s gains have impressed analysts and researchers, who have watched Google, fend off repeated assaults on its lucrative search and ad business, which accounts for some 95 percent of its revenue.

So isn’t it very clear that Bing’s competition and innovation is forcing Google to try and catch up.

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