4 ms·

Will any Bing users suddenly switch to Google because of this? Probably not. Will people who've never heard of Bing be reading about them in the paper tomorrow?

Will any Bing users suddenly switch to Google because of this? Probably not. Will people who've never heard of Bing be reading about them in the paper tomorrow? Yes. Will complaining about competition from underdogs make Google look bad to some? Yes. I don't see how making this a public issue is a win for Google. Seems like something they should have kept in their back pocket. "Keep your enemies closer", as they say.

alecco 16y ago
If the privacy bit is properly reported in MSM, it should definitely raise some concerns. Think corporations with sensible data and all that.
- chaosmachine 16y ago
  The thing is, Google monitors which search results you click, too. Bing's toolbar just does it via browser integration. Google can and does track clicks from Bing via Google Analytics. Every time you click a result on Bing and land on a page using Google Analytics, Google knows about it, and they record your Bing search terms from the referrer. The same is probably true for pages with Google ads.
  - alecco 16y ago
    But as Matt Cutts pointed out, there's a very clear red warning on Google Chrome while IE just silently gives you a very unsuspicious disclaimer.
    - teaspoon 16y ago
      What does Chrome have to do with this mode of tracking? Google Analytics will capture a referrer from any browser that includes it, and no browser that I know of displays a "red warning" when including it.
      - kissickas 16y ago
        NoScript provides a yellow warning, and is by default opt-out.
  - Matt_Cutts 16y ago
    We don't use Google Analytics data in any way in our rankings. I've said that plenty of times before, but it's worth mentioning.
    - chaosmachine 16y ago
      I didn't say you did, Matt. It seems like my post is being misinterpreted, so I'll try to clarify: The parent post was concerned about "the privacy bit". What I'm pointing out is that the same information (search terms in the referrer) is captured by Google Analytics (and by Apache logs, and by advertisers, and by Facebook via "like" buttons, etc, etc). From a privacy standpoint, there's nothing particularly new going on here, IMO.
knorby 16y ago
I really doubt there is a person out there who will read about this tomorrow and has not heard of Bing, considering how much advertising Bing still does. You also have to consider how any CNN type article of this post will read; the points that Microsoft lied publicly and "stole" results from their competitor, just to keep up, will stand out. There has been enough of a negative buzz for Google about how SEO-ized their results are, so it certainly seems like they have reason to bash the quality of their competitor right now.
j_baker 16y ago
Will this cause people who haven't heard of Bing to know about it? Yes. Will the headline "Google claims Bing is copying its search results" leave a good first impression on those users? Probably not. Whether or not people perceive the claim as accurate or complaining or whatever, first impressions are still powerful. If the first time you hear of Bing is the accusation that they're copying someone else's results (true or not), that's probably not a first impression you would want people to be left with if you were Microsoft. Chances are, people are going to read this as "My trusted search provider accuses unknown search provider created by the same people as Windows Vista of stealing its results".

alecco 16y ago

If the privacy bit is properly reported in MSM, it should definitely raise some concerns. Think corporations with sensible data and all that.

chaosmachine 16y ago
The thing is, Google monitors which search results you click, too. Bing's toolbar just does it via browser integration. Google can and does track clicks from Bing via Google Analytics. Every time you click a result on Bing and land on a page using Google Analytics, Google knows about it, and they record your Bing search terms from the referrer. The same is probably true for pages with Google ads.
- alecco 16y ago
  But as Matt Cutts pointed out, there's a very clear red warning on Google Chrome while IE just silently gives you a very unsuspicious disclaimer.
  - teaspoon 16y ago
    What does Chrome have to do with this mode of tracking? Google Analytics will capture a referrer from any browser that includes it, and no browser that I know of displays a "red warning" when including it.
    - kissickas 16y ago
      NoScript provides a yellow warning, and is by default opt-out.
- Matt_Cutts 16y ago
  We don't use Google Analytics data in any way in our rankings. I've said that plenty of times before, but it's worth mentioning.
  - chaosmachine 16y ago
    I didn't say you did, Matt. It seems like my post is being misinterpreted, so I'll try to clarify: The parent post was concerned about "the privacy bit". What I'm pointing out is that the same information (search terms in the referrer) is captured by Google Analytics (and by Apache logs, and by advertisers, and by Facebook via "like" buttons, etc, etc). From a privacy standpoint, there's nothing particularly new going on here, IMO.

knorby 16y ago

I really doubt there is a person out there who will read about this tomorrow and has not heard of Bing, considering how much advertising Bing still does. You also have to consider how any CNN type article of this post will read; the points that Microsoft lied publicly and "stole" results from their competitor, just to keep up, will stand out. There has been enough of a negative buzz for Google about how SEO-ized their results are, so it certainly seems like they have reason to bash the quality of their competitor right now.

j_baker 16y ago

Will this cause people who haven't heard of Bing to know about it? Yes. Will the headline "Google claims Bing is copying its search results" leave a good first impression on those users? Probably not. Whether or not people perceive the claim as accurate or complaining or whatever, first impressions are still powerful. If the first time you hear of Bing is the accusation that they're copying someone else's results (true or not), that's probably not a first impression you would want people to be left with if you were Microsoft. Chances are, people are going to read this as "My trusted search provider accuses unknown search provider created by the same people as Windows Vista of stealing its results".